An online “odd jobs” matchmaker for teens, tech support for seniors and others seeking help, a next level walker with winter tires and other features . . . these were a few of the business ideas that Grade 11 students from Huntsville High School came up with recently.
Five groups of students from teacher Liz Angell’s business course took part in a mock “Shark Tank” at The Hub on September 13.
Presenting to a handful of local entrepreneurs, the students were given feedback on their presentation and their idea as a whole.
The most polished presentation was the first one. The group of five was presenting a tech support café idea that would match seniors with teenagers. They even wore aprons emblazoned with their company logo.
“Picture this, you just opened Facebook for the first time ever. You see a bunch of notifications, a sea of buttons, and loads of logos,” the presentation began. “Imagine not staring at that screen alone. You walk into a nice cafe that’s nice and sunlit, comfortable. You sit in a nice, comfortable chair, and one of our friendly experts sits right next to you.”
“Welcome to The Bridge.”
This was the first of five quality ideas that with a tinkering here and a tinkering there could be viable businesses in the community—or any community for that matter.
There was the socially conscious Daily Choice: a vending machine that provides food, drinks, daily essentials and more to the less fortunate. Those using food banks or shelters would get a card that allows access to the vending machines up to three times daily.
The Snow Sure walker to add mobility in the winter months for seniors that has “swappable multi-tread wheels made from recycled rubbers,” an aluminum frame, heated handles, knitted seats for a break, and more.
Ready for the Future is a website that connects willing youth workers with those in need of services such as lawnmowing, snow removal, gardening, and other daily tasks.
The Creosphere was also a big hit among the local entrepreneurs. An all-in-one, user-friendly app for designing, image editing, and other like functions to compete with the mainstream, uber-costly industry standard subscription services.
This was the second “Shark Tank” at The Hub featuring business students from HHS. Last year, Grade 9 students took the stage in the inaugural event.
Angell says the first time around went so well, it only made sense to do it again!
“It’s important for (the students) to meet business owners because they’re learning how to start a venture plan,” she says. “Why not get some feedback from people in the community? It’s important for us as a high school to get out in the community.”
Hub co-founder Erin Horvath is happy to keep supporting young people in the community this way.
“You can see in some people the passion about a certain topic or certain idea,” says Horvath. “Or you can see they already started to get their foot in the door with certain aspects, whether it’s technology or senior care. I do hope a lot of them will take the steps to make these (ideas) a reality and not necessarily wait 10, 20 years to do it. Why not take a step forward with these pretty great ideas.”
Now it’s up to the students to take the feedback, keep working on their business ideas, and find a way to make them a reality.
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Fantastic ideas all around! Next step would be to support the kids that want to take it further and start planning and implementing!
I am impressed with these very forward thinking ideas. Young minds are the future but why wait!
As Gretsky said “skate to where the puck is going”!