WEYBURN – Winners of this year’s YouthBiz competition have been announced, and a total of $2,100 in prize money was presented to students in southeast Saskatchewan for their efforts in describing their business ideas, developing their digital knowledge and building their financial literacy skills.
This year, 237 students from 13 schools in the region participated in the youth contest. YouthBiz is a youth entrepreneurship program, offered by Community Futures (CF) Sunrise.
In the Grade 6-8 category, first place and $500 in prize money was awarded to Kaybree Fettes and Lydia Becker from Radville for their aquatic learning centre, The Explorium.
Second place and $300 went to Alexis Schaeffer of Weyburn for her existing craft business, Xis Crafts. Third place and $150 was awarded to Gabriel Avery and Dakota Anderson of Midale for their baking business, Bake Your Day.
In the Grade 9-12 category, first place and $500 went to the Entrepreneurship 30 class at Weyburn Comprehensive School for describing the operations of their Junior Achievement business, Cloud 9 Blanket Co.
Haylee Scrupps from Midale Central School earned second place and a prize of $300 for her bookstore Explore the Books. Third place and $150 was awarded to Ava Anderson and Kaydence Stephens from Midale for their sporting goods store, Ballz Fore Days.
“Once again, we’ve had tremendous response to this long-running youth business program. These young people have worked very hard to build financial and digital literacy skills, develop their knowledge of the business world and explore entrepreneurship. Many have said that this taste of business ownership makes them hungry for more. And that’s great news for southeast Saskatchewan! This is the 16th year for YouthBiz and over the years we’ve seen over 3,050 young people in southeast Saskatchewan discover the world of small business. Pretty incredible results,” commented Andria Brady, CF Sunrise General Manager.
The YouthBiz Program encourages students to explore the business world by developing skills needed to be an entrepreneur. They write about a business idea that they’ve imagined or already operated, and evaluate the potential profitability of their venture.
This year, the program focused on the digital world and students were required to develop a business website as part of their YouthBiz entry materials.
“The websites, social accounts and extra digital materials developed by students were outstanding. One young entrepreneur, Kamryn Doud of Radville, demonstrated how her jewelry business, Dzigns, used an online presence to connect with customers. Kamryn was presented with the Go Digital Sask Award. She’ll receive help from CF Sunrise’s Go Digital Sask team to amplify her company’s e-commerce footprint. It’ s very exciting to link these two highly successful CF Sunrise programs together, YouthBiz and Go Digital Sask,” commented Brady.
Additional Achievement Awards were given to students whose entries displayed outstanding qualities worthy of special recognition.
Students from Midale Central School earned an award for their detailed Income Sheets. The award for Engaging Audio Commercials went to the Grade 6 class at Carievale School.
Aisley Ball from Carnduff Education Complex baked samples of her Tiny Bites food creations and won an award for Product Prototypes. Alexis Schaeffer won an award for Xis Craft’s Social Media Sales.
YouthBiz winners and samples of their entry materials are featured on the CF Sunrise website: https://cfsask.ca/sunrise/sunrise-services#YouthBiz.
Special thanks to the mentorship provided by teachers in the region, and the generous support of the 2022 YouthBiz sponsors: Go Digital Sask, Weyburn Credit Union, Affinity Credit Union and SaskTel.
