Eight-Year-Olds Pitched Businesses at Longview's KIDZ BIZNIZ Expo

Half of the roughly 20 vendors at Saturday's KIDZ BIZNIZ Young Entrepreneur EXPO in Longview, Texas, were children as young as 8. They set up their own tables at the Longview Exhibit Center, promoted their businesses, and closed the day by pitching a panel of three judges in a contest.

Rain cut the crowd. "Normally it's packed," said expo volunteer Victoria Holmes. "I think the rain hampered us a little."

What is the expo for?

KIDBIZNIZ Expo CEO Sherol Allen said the annual event has a clear objective. It teaches children about money management, provides them practical ways to look at their communities, and shows them how they participate in those communities.

The format puts the burden on the children. Each young entrepreneur got a table and had to flag down passersby. In practice, parents did most of the talking for many of the children.

One exception was 8-year-old Promise Mwanda. She showed off her collection of Croc charms, one of only two young vendors selling them at the expo. Asked why people should buy her charms, she answered plainly: "I have more variety."

Promise set up next to her mother, Queena Mwanda, who runs Mwanda's Craft Therapy & Retail. The Tyler-based business is an arts and crafts shop that also invites people to spend more time on the arts as a form of meditation.

"Crafting is therapeutic," Mwanda said. "It helps people to unwind, open up and communicate."

Who else was selling?

Albert Xavier, 34, shared a table with his mother. Their company, Hubb.Herbs, sells natural remedies: essential oils, teas, soap and other household products made from natural ingredients.

Xavier framed his goals in two parts. "I wanted to improve people's health and well-being," he said. "I also want to make a million dollars in two years."

Isaiah Haggerty, 11, took a different route to the vendor table. He has published two fiction books as part of a series he calls "The Unstoppable Trio." The published titles are "Adventures in Metroville" and "Adventures in Vilesborne: The Vanishing City." Both follow three young boys, best friends, who discover they have super powers and decide to use them to be heroes. Isaiah said he loves the superhero genre.

His start came from boredom on the road. His mother, Stephanie Seaton of Dallas, is also an author whose writing carries messages of self-care and personal healing.

"I got my son interested in writing his own books as we were both traveling promoting my books," Seaton said. "He started writing his own stories because he was bored."

Seaton's latest work, "When Loneliness Speaks Louder Than Faith," is available on Amazon, along with her son's two books.

How did the expo teach money skills?

A sectioned-off part of the exhibit center hosted a "Reality Day" activity. Children moved between a set of tables and learned different aspects of independent, adult living. The lessons included budgeting: calculating how much money comes in every month compared with expenses.

The event ended with its pitch contest. Each young entrepreneur stood before three judges and talked about their business. The results:

• First place: Madison Apiyo, 13, of aspiring jeweler Madison Jewelry
• Second place: Yvonne Gordon of Gloni, an aspiring beauty designer
• Third place: Marshayla Caldwell of McArtz, an aspiring artist

What does the model show?

The expo runs on a simple mechanism. Children sell a real product to real passersby, absorb a budgeting lesson in the Reality Day section, then defend their business in front of judges. Allen's stated objective of pairing money management with community participation gives the event a curriculum shape rather than a fairground one.

For the vendors, the economics start small: Croc charms, essential oils, self-published fiction. But the pitch contest gives each child a public record of the day, and Isaiah Haggerty's two published books suggest some participants leave with more than a table's worth of experience.