Columbia Basin Trust and JA British Columbia Launch Free Youth Business Programs

Youth aged 14 to 18 across the Columbia Basin can now sign up for free after-school programs that teach them to build and pitch real businesses, thanks to a partnership between the Columbia Basin Trust and JA British Columbia.

The initiative offers two tracks. In Be Entrepreneurial, participants develop a business idea and pitch it to a panel of judges. In the Company Program, youth work as a team to build and operate an actual small business — a compressed version of what founders do in their first year, minus the rent and payroll.

"These programs enable youth to explore entrepreneurship and the business world and consider if they might wish to pursue it as a career path," said Angie Elsmore, manager of special initiatives for the Trust. "They get to challenge themselves, have fun, develop leadership skills, work as a team and build self-esteem, helping prepare them to contribute to their communities."

What does this change for Basin families?

Practically speaking, it removes two barriers at once. First, cost: the programming is free. Second, geography: sessions run virtually over Zoom, with in-person programming starting in Cranbrook later this fall, so a teenager in a remote Basin community gets the same access as one in a larger town.

That reach matters in a region where extracurricular business education has historically been thin on the ground. Registration is open now at ourtrust.org/jabc-workshops.

A summer camp proved the model

The new programming follows a free, five-day summer entrepreneurship and innovation camp held this summer, co-hosted by the Trail Youth Action Network. At the camp, youth worked with mentors to build business ideas, develop leadership and teamwork skills, and pitch their ideas for prizes.

Glenn Dodge, vice-president of programs at JA British Columbia, pointed to that Trail camp as evidence the format works.

"At JA British Columbia, we believe in helping young people develop the skills and mindset to build thriving communities," Dodge said. "As demonstrated by our recent successful summer camp held in Trail, these programs are not only inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs but also encouraging young people to consider how they can contribute to their communities in the future."

What participants actually take away

One camper, Malina Zmavc, described the experience in concrete terms rather than marketing language.

"With the objective of creating a business within a small timeframe with new peers, the JABC Summer Entrepreneurship experience strengthened skills such as leadership," Zmavc said. "The experience further strengthened my communication skills through presentations and discussion periods. I am very grateful that Columbia Basin Trust partnered with JA British Columbia to bring this program to the Kootenays."

That skill set — leadership, communication, pitching under time pressure — maps directly onto what employers and post-secondary programs screen for. For a 16-year-old weighing career options, a judged pitch competition is a low-stakes rehearsal for the real thing.

Part of a wider youth infrastructure

The Trust isn't building this from scratch. It already backs the Basin Youth Network, which supports 27 community youth networks throughout the region. The new JA partnership plugs entrepreneurship training into that existing footprint.

For practitioners and parents tracking youth development in the region, the signal is clear: the Trust is treating entrepreneurial literacy as community infrastructure, not a one-off event. With fall registration open and a proven camp format behind it, the program's next test is whether virtual delivery can replicate the engagement the Trail camp generated in person.