THE
NBOX
i
On a rainy Tuesday after-
noon, a classroom at UBC's
School of Architecture and
Landscape Architecture (SALA)
is buzzing with bright ideas.
Inside, four groups of kids,
all under 15 years of age, have
been tasked with creating an
environmentally friendly
product. They are past and
present participants of the
PowerPlay Young Entrepre-
neurs program, which helps
students in grades 4 to 8
launch their own businesses.
SALA professor Mari Fujita
is hosting this event to offer
some of her graduating stu-
dents the opportunity to men-
tor young entrepreneurs, and
at the same time offer the kids
a fun innovation challenge.
Fourteen-year-old Pari Soni
is part of a group that's design-
ing ways to use upcycled ma-
terials to make wind chimes.
Their colourful prototype is
taped to a board in the corner.
"In schools, a lot of arts
and crafts materials like
pencils, buttons, ribbons and
fabrics get thrown into the
landfill," Soni says, making
her business case. "Our wind
chimes can turn those materi-
als into something beautiful.
And if you break one, we can
repair it, or, if you don't want
it, you can give it back to us;
we can deconstruct it and
make it into a new one, so the
cycle continues."
Many of the kids in the
room already have active busi-
nesses. Soni, for example, sells
handmade notebooks ($3-6) and
custom travel tumblers ($7-12)
on Instagram. She can also be
spotted with her own stall at
the Clayton Community Market
in Surrey. Last November she
received an order for 500 Note
Well notebooks, which took her
over a month to fulfil. "Because
I'm still in school, I'd work on
them every weekend," she says.
"One time I binge-watched the
entire Toy Story series on my
couch while making them."
As each group goes up to
pitch their ideas to the room,
passersby pause to see where
all the excitement is coming
from. And when peers and
mentors ask questions, the
young entrepreneurs use hu-
mour, facts and figures to back
their businesses.
This is what Bill Roche envi-
sioned when he first developed
PowerPlay as an experiential
learning program in 1999.
Roche started his career in
engineering but pivoted to
serve his passion for teach-
ing and education. "So many
of my friends and colleagues
expressed that they weren't
happy in their careers but
felt like they had to do [those
THE KIDS ARE
ALL RIGHT
How Surrey-based PowerPlay is nurturing
entrepreneurship in B.C. by Rushmila Rahman
E D U C AT I O N
11
B C B U S I N E S S . C A
N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 24 Illu s t r a t i o n : J a n ik S ö ll n e r/ N o u n P r oj e c t
"
In schools, a lot of arts and
crafts materials like pencils,
buttons, ribbons and fabrics get
thrown into the landfill. Our wind
chimes can turn those materials
into something beautiful. And if
you break one, we can repair it, or,
if you don't want it, you can give it
back to us; we can deconstruct it
and make it into a new one, so the
cycle continues."
CRAFT PROJECT
PowerPlay partici-
pants like Pari Soni
(top) and Ishaan
Dhaliwal (left) get
to test out their
business skills in
the real world
