ARCHIVED: Small Business and Red Tape Reduction
As winners of the Province’s inaugural Celebrate Entrepreneurship Award a team of 12 secondary school students from Vancouver received $3,000 to support the growth of their innovative air freshener business named Waft.
The students, part of a Junior Achievement BC (JABC) after school program, were presented with their award during the JABC annual awards ceremony last night. They established Waft., a business that produces organic, handmade air fresheners. Targeting smelly school lockers, the students quickly expanded to craft fairs and online sales. Showing their community spirit, the students donated 10% of their profits to Create Change, a Vancouver-based non-profit which supports thousands of girls in Northern Ghana through secondary school and university.
The new Celebrate Entrepreneurship Award was created in October 2015 to showcase the spirit of innovation in secondary school students throughout the province. As part of the award, the Waft. team will receive $3,000 to support the growth of their business.
JABC has been teaching work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy in British Columbia for 60 years. In 2015 the Province provided JABC with $1 million over three years to support its programming. With this investment JABC intends to double the reach of their programs by 2020 and will be piloting a new program “Be Entrepreneurial” later this year.
JABC programs provide youth with the skills they need to make better financial decisions, start a company, develop a career plan and express their innovative spirit. They are a part of an international non-profit organization that delivers business training programs through partnerships with local schools together with individual volunteers from local business communities.
Quotes:
Coralee Oakes, Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction –
“I want to congratulate the students of Waft. for their innovative business. Young people like this are essential to B.C.’s small business growth and prosperity. That’s why we’re continuing to invest in programs like the JABC Student Company Awards Program to spark an entrepreneurial spirit at an early age and give them the business skills and coaching they will need for successful careers in communities throughout our province.”
Jan Bell-Irving, president and CEO of Junior Achievement British Columbia –
“We are truly grateful for the Province’s support for our JA Student Company Program through the creation of the Celebrate Entrepreneurship Award. We believe the award will help further the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in our youth and encourage them to continue developing new, viable business ventures in British Columbia.”
Quick Facts:
- The winner of the inaugural Celebrate Entrepreneurship Award was chosen by the B.C. Small Business Roundtable.
- B.C. continues to foster an entrepreneurship culture, including the declaration of October as Small Business Month and supporting programs that expose youth to business training and prepare them for future careers in business.
- The Province created a permanent B.C. Small Business Roundtable in 2005, giving small businesses a voice in government. The Roundtable brings together small business owners and industry association leaders to provide advice and recommendations to government and to improve the small-business environment in British Columbia.
Learn More:
Watch Minister Oakes’ video message announcing the winners: https://youtu.be/Vh33LRm9q2I
Waft.: http://www.waftscents.co/
Junior Achievement British Columbia: http://british-columbia.jacan.org/
Junior Achievement Canada: http://www.jacan.org/
B.C. Small Business Roundtable: http://www.smallbusinessroundtable.ca
