Students and founders bring entrepreneurial thinking to elementary school

CHANGEMAKER - The big market day is approaching: Primary school pupils present their work at the weekly market in Steyr on June 15

Students and startup founders from the FH OÖ Campus Steyr are bringing entrepreneurial thinking and action to life for primary school children. On Thursday, June 15, the children from VS Ennsleite and Wehrgraben will offer their products and services for sale at the weekly market in Steyr. They will donate half of the profits to Childrenplanet.

After several workshops by students of the FH Upper Austria Campus Steyr in the Wehrgraben and Ennsleite elementary school, the time has come on Thursday, June 15: The children of the 3rd and 4th grades will offer their lovingly and imaginatively crafted products and services for sale at the Steyr weekly market on the Steyr town square. The large stall next to the Leopoldi Fountain will be accompanied by an attractive supporting program. For example, the pupils' choir from Ennsleite elementary school will be singing, children will be making music and the Kleine Schwarze will be offering fresh coffee. The children can also sell Buburuza ice cream in cups and Leibetseder fruit jams.

While one group of children is selling, the other group of children can visit various businesses in Steyr. The children will thus go home with many business impressions and will be able to celebrate a success if many customers buy their lovely products and money can be donated to children in need. The "Market Day" is the highlight of the four-month Changemaker program.

The Changemaker Program

• More information also at: https://www.changemaker.university/
• The Changemaker Program was launched in 2017 with the WU Start-up Center in cooperation with ifte (Initiative for Teaching Entrepreneurship - awakening, promoting and strengthening entrepreneurial attitudes (non-profit association), www.ifte.at)
• With the Changemaker program, we make entrepreneurial thinking and action tangible for primary school children. We arouse interest in economic interrelationships and encourage children to participate confidently in the economy and society through active project work.
• The inspiration for this was provided by "Lemonade Day", an American initiative that allows children to become entrepreneurially active in a playful way and in which more than 1 million young people have already taken part.
• Together with our partners from the Initiative for Teaching Entrepreneurship and the University of Teacher Education Vienna/Krems, we set out in 2017 to develop an "Austrian-style" Lemonade Day with which we want to bring as many primary school children as possible into contact with entrepreneurship in an entertaining and exciting way.
• The basic idea is simple: we train students in the fields of entrepreneurship and education and these "changemakers" support primary school children in implementing their first own entrepreneurship project, i.e. in putting their own ideas into practice.
• The school workshops cover topics such as:
• How do I find a good idea?
• What is my market and who are my customers?
• How can I run a sustainable business?

Contact for queries:

M.A Bernadette Hartl, Coordinator 's'cowerk', Startup Center at Campus Steyr, Wehrgrabengasse 1-3, 4400 Steyr, Tel.: 0664 80484 33990, E-Mail: bernadette.hartl@fh-steyr.at