Rockin’ Kid Entrepreneurs in Hawai’i Take on Lemonade Stands in a Big Way
This past spring when I (Sarah) learned that one of my best friends, Alyssa, would be quitting her corporate full-time job and moving to Hawai’i, I knew I would miss her greatly, but I was very happy for her at the same time…oh, and maybe just a little jealous also. 
Naturally concerned about my friend’s well-being and wondering what she would do once she arrived, I introduced her to the one man I knew in Hawai’I, Steve Sue of BizGym. I begged him to look out for her and help her find a cool job. Graciously, Steve went above the call of duty and made Alyssa a coordinator for his groundbreaking youth business competition called Lemonade Alley.
Kid entrepreneurs from all over the island have competed to make it to the final round on November 12, where 32 teams of 2-5 students will build their own lemonade stand on ‘Iolani School’s baseball field, pitch their business, sell their secret recipe, and have the chance to win $1000! All the proceeds from their lemonade sales will go to benefit charities.
To prepare for the competition, contestants work with local business mentors polishing their business plan, using BizGym’s Story Tree 1-Page Business Plan tool and a variety of hands-on workshops. One of the workshops helped them design and build a mini prototype of what their full-size lemonade stand would look like.
It would be conservative to say the whole island is buzzing about the event. The competition has gained awesome sponsors to donate everything from cash and supplies for building the lemonade stands, to balloons, cups, ice, sugar, lemons, pink lemons, papayas, bananas, and oranges. The mayor of Honolulu even proclaimed the week of November 5th-12th to be Lemonade Alley Week!
In addition to the competition, there is also an enormous Business Showcase and Craft Fair to highlight over 90 local entrepreneurs!
Rock Your Block couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get involved with Lemonade Alley! Stay tuned… we just might have to “squeeze” ourselves into the event…
