Kids with big business ideas wow crowds at education show

Karina GriftHerald Sun
KIDS with a head for business stole the show last week at one of the largest educational conferences* not just in Australia, but the whole Asia Pacific region.

Three young kids from Coopernook Public School in regional NSW wowed 8000 attendees to the EduTECH Conference, held in Sydney, with their Cap Lures made from discarded bottle tops.

These plucky kids from the bush were at the conference to showcase their winning entry of the 2016 Kidpreneur Challenge and to encourage other schools to get involved in the challenge this year. Their sustainable fishing lures* sell for $5 and were so popular they almost sold out.

Kaios, 11, Ty, 11, and Shawn, 13, learnt so much during the challenge that with the backing of the school and the community, they have now designed and developed other products including a fishing reel on a wrist band (so you can fish anytime, anywhere), a fishing rod holder that attaches to a bicycle and beanies to keep your head warm on cool fishing nights.

The self-confessed fishing buffs* said they were having a lot of fun working together and building their business.


“We wanted to recycle and up cycle, that means that you take something old that would normally just get chucked out and not get used again and you recycle it into something newer and better,” said Ty. 

The young entrepreneurs showing off their wares. Picture: supplied

Ty, who came up with the original idea, said the boys had put their own ideas into the product to make it even better and so they considered themselves all bosses of the business.


“We want to eventually get it up to a good enough level where we can make a product and get back all the money that we have used.’’

The boys were able to develop their idea through a program called Club Kidpreneur, which is aimed at students in years 4-6 learning how to become business bigwigs*.


Each year the organisation runs the Kidpreneur Challenge — a national competition run in schools to help kids learn about creative thinking and building a business. The competition has also raised more than $600,000 for charity.

Cap Lures merchandise. Picture: supplied

Participants learn entrepreneurial* skills and must design, produce and sell their products or inventions at a marketplace. They must name their business, brand their product, price it and market it as well as repay the $25 start-up investment.

Club Kidpreneur is encouraging all schools to sign up for the 2017 challenge.

The EduTECH conference itself was about more than just fishing lures. Some of the biggest technology companies, including Google, Microsoft and HP, were there to talk about what’s next when it comes to technology and education.

While robotics and virtual reality goggles were a popular item, school principal Natasha Eaton, who was a guest speaker at the event, said the future was all about kids learning how to code.

Some other young business minds from the Kidpreneur competition. Picture: Jason Edwards
“They are talking about 40 per cent of jobs in the future requiring automation, which is coding, so we need to be bringing this into the classroom right from kindy (kindergarten),” Ms Eaton said.


For more information about Club Kidpreneur visit: clubkidpreneur.com