Lemonade Day offers taste of entrepreneurship

I had a lemonade stand when I was a kid.  Many, actually.  I remember how I felt when I made my first dollar.  Not the dollar I got from my first allowance or from the Tooth Fairy, but the dollar that came from my own enterprise, my own first business: a lemonade stand.  It was exhilarating! It was transformative.  I was developing what would turn out to be a life-long passion for entrepreneurship.  And it started when I was 10.

Nov. 14-20 is Global Entrepreneurship Week, a period when entrepreneurship is highlighted and celebrated around the world.  Entrepreneurs fuel the economy and many, like Henry Ford and Steve Jobs, even change the world.

Yet people are worried about where the next great innovator will come from.  I think they are right to be worried.  Our children don’t grow up thinking, “I want to be an entrepreneur.” They aren’t being taught, explicitly, to take risks, think big, make bold choices and go it alone if that is what it takes.

I’m spearheading a Greater Indianapolis Area initiative, called Lemonade Day, that provides kids the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship by learning how to start, own and operate their own lemonade stand business.  In 2010, our first year, more than 7,400 kids participated, and this year 10,000 kids got involved.

First, the child sets a goal: “I want a Lego set. Or a bike or an Xbox 360.” And after weeks of preparing to start his lemonade business, he opens up shop, sells lemonade, turns a profit, saves a little and shares a little and then he buys a Lego set for himself.  The next year, the kid reinvests his earnings into the lemonade business and buys more Lego sets.  Years later, this same kid creates a new toy product that is better than Legos and has the courage to start a new company because he is viscerally experienced at entpreneurship.  That’s the experiential trajectory I’m looking for with Lemonade Day.

We should be teaching our kids that it’s possible to control your own destiny. To have a great idea, to feel so passionately about it that you’re willing to take risks – maybe risk everything – to pursue it and make it happen.  Can you imagine if Oprah Winfrey decided to be a schoolteacher or if Bill Gates became an engineer?  What if they didn’t have the courage to strike out on their own? Or maybe a more fitting question is this: What about all of the other Oprah Winfreys and Bill Gateses who never were because those early forward-thinking, far-reaching ideas weren’t appreciated and nurtured?

My goal is to expand Lemonade Day so that every child in our community is exposed to entrepreneurship at an early age.  Join me in inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.  I need parents, teachers and community leaders to join me in encouraging kids to sign up for Lemonade Day.  Most of all, I need entrepreneurs and other business leaders to join me as sponsors and in expanding this initiative.  We need to lead the way.

We’re ramping up for Lemonade Day 2012.  I can’t wait to see what these kids do.

• Scott Jones is an inventor and entrepreneur from Carmel, IN.

This article first appeared in the IndyStar printed edition on Saturday, November 12.