Open this photo in gallery:
Thanks to an after-school entrepreneurship program, 17-year-old Thomas Chau went from not knowing what to do after graduation to accepting an offer for business school this fall.Jennifer Gauthier
Entrepreneurship wasn’t on Thomas Chau’s radar until he started selling candles.
The 17-year-old from Vancouver had entered Grade 12 without clear post-secondary plans and was looking for inspiration.
“I was very, very lost,” Thomas says. “I was interested in different things, like law and economics and even trades. But I didn’t really know where to go with those interests.”
A teacher suggested Thomas get involved in the Company Program at Junior Achievement (JA) British Columbia – a free, after-school entrepreneurship program where students spend 16 weeks creating, launching and operating their own ventures.
He and 16 other students formed a company called Serenity Candles, using sand, seashells and a coconut soy wax blend to create what Thomas calls an “ocean in a candle.” After “a lot of hard work and long nights,” the team earned more than $2,000 in gross revenue selling at local craft markets and ended up winning the CIBC Student Company of the Year award, which came with a $3,000 prize.
“We learned how to think as entrepreneurs and how to take risks and put ourselves out there – not just business skills, but important life skills,” says Thomas, who won a JABC Junior Entrepreneur Award for his work as vice-president of sales for the company. “I went in very, very shy. But I learned how to speak in public to people as I sold my products.”
Thomas says the experience is largely the reason he decided to attend the UBC Sauder School of Business, where he will be starting this fall. “As an entrepreneur, you get to see all of your hard work pay off and that’s a big reason why I love it.”
Open this photo in gallery:
Sisters Sariah Morgan, 16, and Ariella Morgan, 9, are co-founders of Young Bosses in Business, which hosts pop-up markets for youth-owned businesses around the Greater Toronto Area.Wayne McDonald Photography
An ‘uptick in interest’ in entrepreneurship among young Canadians
It’s a good time to be a young person interested in running a business. In recent years, youth entrepreneurship programs, summer camps and mini markets have popped up across Canada.
Young Bosses in Business, a registered charity founded by sisters Sariah Morgan, 16, and Ariella Morgan, 9, with the help of their mom Shantell Elson, hosts pop-up markets for youth-owned businesses around the Greater Toronto Area. The events, which include fashion and talent shows, are run and staffed by kids, says Ms. Elson.
“When children come through [to volunteer], we don’t turn anyone away. We find something for each young person to do,” she says.
The popularity of the markets, which have supported more than 150 youth businesses since 2022, prompted the family to launch Young Bosses in the Making: free programs where kids six to 18 learn entrepreneurial skills and work toward launching a real business.
“I hope [the programs] help them feel brave so that when they’re in the mini market, they’re not scared to talk in front of people and they know they can do this,” says Ariella.
Craig Lovell, program manager at JA British Columbia, says that while the organization has been operating in B.C. for 70 years, he’s seen an ‘uptick in interest’ in JA lately.
“I think we are increasingly seeing kids where the fire has been ignited and they’re realizing that maybe I can do something [with my career] that is separate from just getting a job,” Mr. Lovell says.
Brad Poulos, an entrepreneurship lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University, isn’t surprised there is increasing interest in entrepreneurship among Gen Alpha (born roughly between 2010-2025). They may be young, but they’re likely aware of the tough job market and economic uncertainty faced by the adults in their lives, he says.
“Any notion of corporate loyalty went out the door at least a generation ago, and with the advent of AI, I think more and more people are going to have to find themselves generating their own income as opposed to working a traditional job,” Mr. Poulos says.
Entrepreneurship gives young people a sense of control over their destiny, he adds.
“Life isn’t happening to [these entrepreneurs]. They’re making it happen.”
Open this photo in gallery:
Young Bosses has expanded to include free programs where kids six to 18 learn entrepreneurial skills and work toward launching real businesses.Wayne McDonald Photography
Developing life skills by running a business
For 16-year-old Cody Russwurm, entrepreneurship has provided a pathway to working that suits his skills and abilities. Cody, who is on the autism spectrum and has cerebral palsy, is the face of Cody’s Egg Shack, a Walkerton, Ont., shop where customers can buy farm-fresh and pickled eggs.
“We wanted to see what Cody was going to be capable of [on the family farm],” says Cody’s mother Shannon Russwurm. “We got some chickens to see if we could get him interested in gathering eggs. He quite enjoyed it, so we expanded the flock.”
Ms. Russwurm says they didn’t know what to do with all the eggs, so they started selling them via a self-serve fridge on the road outside their farm. She shared Cody’s story on social media and it took off. Cody’s Egg Shack now has 90,000 followers on Facebook and a brick-and-mortar store.
In addition to gathering eggs, Cody sometimes helps with the pickling. “But he really loves the storefront,” Ms. Russwurm says. “He likes talking to people and running the till and the debit machine.”
“I love being an entrepreneur,” Cody says in an email. “I’ve learned how to interact with people better and that helping run a business is hard work.”
Interacting with customers has been good for Cody’s development, Ms. Russwurm adds. “We’re growing life skills on a daily basis and he doesn’t realize that he’s doing it.”
Open this photo in gallery:
By running the egg shack on his family farm, 16-year-old Cody Russwurm is developing practical life skills without even realizing it.Amanda Sills Photography
Geena Jackson says that developing social, professional and life skills is a huge part of the Bears’ Lair Dream Camps she runs in Indigenous communities across the country – a spinoff the Bears’ Lair TV show that Jackson executive produces where Indigenous business owners pitch their businesses to judges.
In the weekend-long “mini bootcamps”, young people aged 11 to 18 learn about entrepreneurship, public speaking, financial literacy and working together as a team, Ms. Jackson says.
Participants are invited to think about what might be missing from their community, whether that’s a market for fresh fruit and vegetables, a sports store or private tutoring. Coaches help the kids develop the pitch for their business idea, which they present in front of judges.
Ms. Jackson notes that half of the Indigenous population of Canada is under the age of 25 and Indigenous businesses are created at nine times the Canadian average.
“We know that the future is the youth,” she says. “We know that we need to give them opportunities where they can flourish. We want to show them what is possible.”
Some program participants have turned their ideas into real businesses outside the camp, says Ms. Jackson, including a popcorn business that travels to Indigenous events and a grocery delivery service for elders. But even those who don’t start ventures take powerful learnings from the sessions, she says.
“They are able to look in people’s eyes and shake their hands and articulate their ideas confidently,” she says. “They know that when they throw ideas out there, that people are going to listen and take them seriously.”
Open this photo in gallery:
Cody, who is on the autism spectrum and has cerebral palsy, says he loves being an entrepreneur.Amanda Sills Photography
‘Power skills’ for the future
Elspeth Murray, the director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Social Impact at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., says all this youthful interest in entrepreneurship is “good news and bad news” from a Canadian productivity standpoint.
“If we end up being a nation of micro or small businesses, we’ll take a hit productivity wise. However, if a small percentage of these scale up and grow into something large – everybody refers to the Shopify story – then over the longer or medium term, our productivity will improve.”
She adds that regardless of whether their venture succeeds or fails, entrepreneurship can help young people develop the “power skills” they need to succeed, such as collaboration, leadership and calculated risk-taking. Programs that encourage that exploration can only be a good thing.
“What’s so great about some of these programs is it’s not, ‘Sit in the classroom and let me tell you how it works,’” she says. “You’re going to go and see how it works yourself.”