A summer camp with a difference!

Children displaying products they crafted at a fair, organised as part of a summer camp in Mandya.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Mandya witnessed an inspiring event as young entrepreneurs, aged 9 to 16, took center-stage during the Kids’ Business Fair — the finale of Polygnan’s week-long Business and Entrepreneurship Summer Camp, which was offered free.

Over the past week, 34 children from diverse backgrounds came together to explore subjects rarely covered in traditional classrooms but essential for life, from understanding how businesses are built, how banks work, creating, marketing, and selling their products.

The Kids Business Fair, held on the Bal Bhavan premises, was the highlight of the camp. The enthusiastic children set up stalls, displayed products they had crafted — handmade candles, hair clips, greeting cards, bookmarks, tissue art, clay diyas, coasters, décor items, and much more.

Every child experienced the full journey of running a business — from registering their company, receiving an incorporation certificate, pitching their ideas to a bank and budgeting for raw materials, carefully crafting a wide range of handicrafts, marketing their creations to friends and family, and finally interacting with real customers to sell their products during the fair, noted a press release.

The profits made through this initiative will be donated to the Seva Kirana Charitable Trust, which runs a free old-age home, the release added.

Polygnan is an initiative of the U.S.-returned techies Chandana Shivanand and Prajwal Rajendra Prasad, who worked at tech giants like Meta and Oracle for close to a decade. They wish to provide holistic education beyond schools and academics, making it accessible to children from all backgrounds, the release stated.