Supporting young entrepreneurs
There’s a new market in town and its focus is on supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. Queenstown Youth Market runs around once a month and is organised by MyFundAction Youth Development Centre (MYDC). The next opportunity to support up-and-coming business owners is at the start of November.
The team at MYDC focus on three key areas; entrepreneurship, leadership and volunteerism. The first market was held in June and feedback has been good at each event. Organisers are continuing to encourage the community to come out and support young people in the region, and for young people to get involved if they’ve been thinking of selling some of their goods.
“We wanted to give young people a platform to experience a market day, to develop their skills, such as communication, working, sales, just building their confidence in that kind of face-to-face sales environment,” Catherine Doye, programme and events coordinator at MYDC, says. “One of our pillars is entrepreneurship, so we also run workshops that help them develop skills related to that.”
Their age bracket spans up to 35, which allows different perspectives to be shared across the age groups. The majority of the stalls sell arts and crafts created by the stallholders, but also include service offerings and second-hand goods. The response from parents of those involved so far has been positive – they’re happy to see the kids get out and do something on the weekends while learning and getting to mingle with the public.
“Most of the feedback that I’ve got is the confidence stallholders are gaining in themselves. That’s why we keep doing it. They’ll be so nervous when they first arrive, but by the end of it they feel really confident. I’ve had stallholders reach out to me to say that, which has been really lovely to hear.”
While the markets were previously held indoors, through the warmer months they’ll be outside. Doye encourages any youth in the area to get involved – there’s no sign up fee, but MYDC do request 15% of sales, which is all put back into the youth development initiatives. They’re also welcoming any musicians who may want to play at the markets, too.
The next market will be on 10 November from 11am at 1/13 Red Oaks Drive (near SITE Trampoline). You can follow them on Instagram @queenstownyouthmarket and for those wanting to get involved, you can fill out the vendor form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewvi3mfSulBePR4B-tv2snUnpLgNI0fBSfCMsXvKHaAc7p8g/viewform
