Raising Entrepreneurs

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Held on the first Sunday of May every year since 2007, Lemonade Day (www.LemonadeDay.org) offers young people the opportunity to savor the sweet taste of success that comes with setting up, owning and operating their very own lemonade business.

Lemonade Day has gained considerable momentum, growing from 2,600 stands in 2007 to 11,200 in 2008 – an impressive 400 percent growth! With significant backing from Imperial Sugar and thousands of other supporters, Lemonade Day 2009 is destined to be even greater this year with an expected 25,000 lemonade stands staffed by as many as 75,000 eager young entrepreneurs.

“Lemonade Day is a recipe for helping kids become more successful in life,”  said Michael Holthouse, co-founder of Prepared 4 Life and the inventor of Lemonade Day. It’s about engaging our entire community to help teach our youth the business skills and character traits they will need to become successful leaders and entrepreneurs. As the old saying goes: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! We are teaching kids how to make lemonade in more ways than one.”

Holthouse reports that, last year, the combined youth of the Greater Houston community sold over one million cups of lemonade and, with their profits; they contributed more than $200,000 to local charities.

“This is an amazing example of how everyone can get involved – on Lemonade Day everyone has a job: it’s either buying or selling lemonade. With the simple act of purchasing a cup from one of our youth, we are demonstrating that we care about their future,” Holthouse added. “The success of Lemonade Day has caught the attention of many other cities around the nation, so this year we have added two additional cities and plan to add 10 more next year. Our goal is to reach 100 cities over the next five years and train over one million youth in the process.”

Once children are registered, Prepared 4 Life – along with its many partners – provides all young entrepreneurs with free yellow backpacks filled with the educational materials they need to start their own successful lemonade business. The educational process for youth centers on the pairing of the child with a caring adult who serves as a coach to help him or her get the most out of their experience. The backpacks include an Entrepreneur’s Workbook and a Caring Adult Guide with proven step-by-step strategies that make the experience fun and rewarding. Children learn many important life skills including: setting goals, business planning, finding an investor, selecting a site, advertising, purchasing supplies, developing and pricing their products, serving customers, making a profit, basic accounting, opening a bank account, and ultimately giving back to the community. All materials are available in English and Spanish at www.LemonadeDay.org.

Source: PR Newswire