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Children and Entrepreneurship
Interview & Words Faith Wilcox
CEO, author, social work professional for over twenty years and mother of two gives an insight into her world where she encourages young children into thinking entrepreneurially.
Faith: I was extremely impressed by your CV; I was never taught to think entrepreneurially at school rather I was pushed into academia. It is quite refreshing to meet someone in the industry that has pursued business not just for profit but to ensure fulfilment and purpose. I do want to explore more about your upcoming children’s book which you said is for children up to the age of seven. What made you want to write a children’s book about entrepreneurship?
Bianca: My oldest is now a teenager and part of it was surrounded around the concept of children being pushed to conform into what we think they should be. We want them to conform into a profession, I remember my mum and uncle saying to me you are so clever, “why do you only want to become a hairdresser?” I was not that I did not know I was academically gifted, I just wanted that creative output as a fourteen-year-old doing braids I was getting £70 each time. So why was it almost diminished that it is not a good career? When I had my daughter and saw she was highly creative, [and] academically gifted I could not curb that. I never wanted her to place one above the other or choose between the two. In terms of social care, when I was studying child development 0-7 years old is where you start planting those seeds. So that is where the idea came from, it almost just came to me while on the go. It started in the notes section on my phone. I sat on it for a little while as I did not if anyone was interested in this topic. The book was written five years ago, I am not sure if anyone was interested back then. Currently, everyone wants to teach their children about business or finance. Being frontline for so many years in social care it is good being able to provide confidence to a child enabling them to see things in a different light. It is really now or never; it expands their minds to so much such as how do they save their money, how do you multiply your money or if you provide a service how to ensure it is the best. That is why I titled the book ‘Can I Be The Boss’ , of course you can, why would you not? The opportunity is there.
Parents have such a huge responsibility to shape and nurture the minds of children, especially at the key stages of early development where nothing seems impossible until we tell them certain key truths such as the tooth fairy. What is essential is the question of what next now I know this what do I do with this information? Hence, teaching finances, money management and basic life skills is important.
Faith: How have you implemented ‘Can I Be The Boss’ into your reality with your children?
Bianca: Well, we have a yearly plan, of what accomplishments they want to achieve. They ask questions about mortgages, credit cards. Well, it varies but my youngest is very logical about numbers ‘How much do you want to sell?’ It ties into social skills and they have seen me build my own website. I would say I am not afraid to talk about money with them, within parent children's boundaries. Also, both my children have businesses, so we have discussions about marketing and shipping. It is key not to apply pressure to the children let them grow, but ensure that they keep to deadlines whilst building life skills of organisation, resilience and planting seeds when they do not realise it. It is not just about the business but the skills that come with it.
As a parting gift Bianca left me with 5 top tips for encouraging children into entrepreneurship:
Observation – Be mindful of what your child likes or dislikes especially their gifts that come naturally.
Time management – Can your child maintain a business, school and extracurricular activities.
Example – Use examples around you to inspire your child[ren] if you do not have a network lead by example by supporting local businesses to encourage your child about theirs.
Link life skills – e.g applying what is learnt in the classroom to real life for example presentation skills with sales and marketing.
No pressure – Support without the pressure.