The Santee Youth Business Fair was held, with nearly 60 youth showing that youth entrepreneurship is alive and thriving in East County. These young entrepreneurs spent their summer developing unique businesses, leading to them showcasing their talents at the Santana High School Gym on Aug. 10. The event was hosted by Momentum Tutoring, Santee Chamber of Commerce, and Santee Kiwanis Club. It was also supported by the City of Santee, with Mayor John Minto, who personally signed all the one-day business licenses. They also received help from San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Program Grant.
Some of the programs rising stars were Morgan, 12, of Bee Genuine, selling organic honey, garden charms, and chicken breeding. Gemma, 11, of Mexican Gems imports artisanal treasures from Mexico and crafts her unique items, including blinged-out bookmarks and on-of-a-kind aprons. Taylor, 13, of Taylor’s Crochet, offered high-quality plushies including the “quirky” Emotional Support Pickles, a hit among friends and family.
Terri Bozhor is the founding director of Momentum Tutoring and Youth Biz Club. Momentum Tutoring is a 501c (3) nonprofit dedicated to academics, mentoring, and enrichment.
Bozhor said Santee’s Expressions Dance & Movement Center came to the event to provide vendors and participants with a dance performance during lunch hour. Being the second year of this event, Bozhor said it went extremely well.
“This year, we did it again, with improvements,” she said. “After the fair last year, I started a youth business club, because the kids were so inspiring. This year, we met once a month, and gave the kids time and space, let them get to know each other, and supported parents, and raised some ideas on how each one of them could improve their business. This year, there were comments from parents on how the kids had elevated their booths from participating last year and attending other events. This year the fair improved 100%.”
Bozhor said there was a wide variety of businesses this year from soaps, freeze dried candy, local honey, lots of jewelry in different forms, a couple of amazing woodworkers, fabric purses, amazing crochet, animals, and different setups. She said the age range of these participating vendors is 5 to 17-year-olds, with most vendors being between 10 and 15 years. “That seems to be the age where they are wanting to learn more,” she said.
“I have been teaching for 24 years,” she said. “Having the ability to apply what they are learning in class to real life situations. When you are learning to run your own business you are using multiple skills, creative and critical thinking skills figuring out what product you want to make, how much do I make, how much will it cost, what do I need getting ready to go to the fair, how do I prepare getting there on time, and all the logistics of getting there.”
Bozhor said other skills learned are interacting with other individuals, or people who want to buy their products is huge.
“Especially since COVID, many of us have gotten out of the spirit of really communicating and this gives kids the ability outside of the classroom to grow, even if they are shy,” she said. “What I have found is that when you introduce these kids starting their own business with each other, they get inspired, then they grow even more. Seeing these kids doing something like this inspires other kids to start their own business. From what I hear from the kids and parents, it really makes them apply their learning. As a teacher and tutor, it is my job not only to teach them basic skills, but to inspire them to, ‘What are you going to do when you grow up? What are your gifts, talents, and strengths?’”
Bozhor said not everyone has the same skills, but she wants youth to stop comparing themselves to each other and other influences and begin to focus on what they are good at, and what they can bring to the world, service, and joy.
“I think that if we start to celebrate the different abilities of students and show them how they can contribute it in service to the community, and also earn their own money, they learn to be less entitled and more inspired to make their own money in the service of the community,” she said.
Bozhor said youth beginning to understand business and financial literacy at a younger age, can make a huge difference in their future and self-sufficiency.
“We have several cases where we have already seen this, “she said. “One example is one of our students had a successful soap business. Through working with the business club, being an intelligent person, and being inspired, she asked her mom if she could use some of her college money to invest in a freeze-dried machine to make freeze dried candy, which is very popular right now. Now, she has already earned back half the money she invested from her college money, and it is going to keep growing. So, she is growing her college fund as a freshman in high school herself.”
Bozhor said part of the business club is teaching financial literacy.
“Financial literacy is a problem in our community,” she said. “We do not know much about how to save, comparing budgets. I am passionate about it because I struggled with that myself and I see it in the community. The only way that we can change that is through education, and everyone agreeing that it is okay to talk about finances, learn what is smart, and teach the kids, and their parents, because they need to work together.”
Bozhor said it is reapplying for Supervisor Anderson’s grant again but is not sure if they will get it again but is very hopeful. She said the business club must charge a small fee without grants, sponsorships, and donors to keep this program going, and teaching the students asking for grants for their own businesses.
“All of our programs are important, but the Youth Biz Club is really important for the community for development,” she said. “The city thinks so too. On Wednesday, at the Santee City Council meeting, they recognized 11 youth businesses from the fair that were particularly awesome.”
Bozhor said any sponsors, or businesses, are welcome to come meet the kids.
“If anyone is interested in contributing to our Youth Biz Club or financial literacy, we offer tuition assistance funded through donations, so I encourage people to come into the center and see it working and talk to us. If they are wanting to contribute to us, they will see what they are investing in,” she said.
