This week we are handing the reins over to K.C. Dada, Program Director for Birmingham Education Foundation. Bridgeworth is a proud partner in the Birmingham Education Foundation’s inaugural Lemonade Day.
At the Birmingham Education Foundation, we are committed to supporting our students on their paths to college, career, and life readiness. And as Birmingham continues to grow and thrive economically, inspiring future entrepreneurs is one way we live out that mission. In previous years, Birmingham Education Foundation (Ed) hosted an annual entrepreneurship conference for 7th-grade students to build their own business and present their ideas to a panel of judges Shark Tank style. This year, Ed became aware of a national youth entrepreneurship program called Lemonade Day that would offer the opportunity for students to bring their business ideas to life.
Lemonade Day was founded in 2007 by Michael Holthouse. As an INC. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year and a two-time “Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Company” winner, Michael is passionate about entrepreneurship and proactively supports youth and experiential learning through his foundation Prepared 4 Life. The objective of Lemonade Day is to teach youth how to start, own and operate their own business – a lemonade stand. Children learn the entrepreneurial skills necessary to be successful in the future and become contributing members of their communities. They learn how to create a budget, set profit-making goals, serve customers, repay investors and give back to the community. For kids, one of the best parts is that after covering their expenses and paying back their investors, they can keep what they earn. We encourage them to spend some of their profit as a reward for their hard work, save some of their profit for a rainy day or to re-invest in their business, and share some of their profit with the community that supported them. Lemonade Day is now active in over 100 cities throughout the nation, and we were glad to add Birmingham to that list this year.
On March 20, 2019, Ed hosted its annual conference and encouraged students to pitch their Lemonade Day ideas in the Shark Tank. 5 Birmingham City 7th grade classes participated in the conference this year: Hudson, K-8, Huffman Middle, Wilkerson Middle, WJ Christian K-8, and Wylam K-8. Based on the students’ pitches, 15 top performing groups were selected to receive a donation of $100 to bring their lemonade stand ideas to life on Lemonade Day.
With the help of Bridgeworth Financial, Birmingham Education Foundation was able to provide $1500 in start-up funds for those 15 groups.
On April 13, 2019, the inaugural Lemonade Day Birmingham was a success as our city’s youngest entrepreneurs put their business plans in action. The event was supported by Cadence Bank, Bridgeworth Financial, Buffalo Rock, Corporate Challenge, and Jackie Robinson Day. We were so impressed by what these students were able to accomplish on Lemonade Day. Students profited between $50 and $300 running their businesses on April 13th. Students created a variety of flavors of lemonade, offered real fruit toppings, and even sold candy and snacks for their customers to enjoy. I even hear that students didn’t close their business after April 13 and are setting up shop occasionally throughout the city. Students submitted business results that will enter their group into local and national competitions. Hopefully, we have a national winner!
We are excited to begin planning for the second annual Lemonade Day Birmingham for 2020. For more information about Lemonade Day visit the national website at LemonadeDay.org or email the local City Director at [email protected].
Bridgeworth, LLC is a separate entity from Birmingham Education Foundation.
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