Avi Dicarlo, a fourth grader at Stratford School’s Pomeroy campus, had his sales pitch down pat at the 8th Santa Clara Children’s Business Fair at Rivermark’s Live Oak Park on Oct. 17.
In fact, Dicarlo won the second-place award for his skill in pitching his product—handmade candles for Diwali (Nov. 8) and Christmas (Dec. 25), reflecting his Indian and Italian heritage.
“They are both holidays of light, and candles spread light,” said Dicarlo. “I want to spread love and spread light.”
Then he got another idea.
“Why don’t I make stuff that can light every day?” he thought.
Broadening market appeal, he added black Halloween ghost candles, orange pumpkins, purple elephants, and blue cats.
“When I grow up, I want to be an entrepreneur,” said Dicarlo. “This is practicing, and I’m happy doing it.”
Like Dicarlo, six-year-old Jiya Raswaron from Mountain View—with a hand from her parents— was a first-time entrepreneur. At her “Happy Dreamers Photo Club,” shoppers had a Polaroid photo taken on the spot and inserted into a handmade paper pumpkin frame.
Along another of the four rows of 60 canopied booths, Nora Liem, an 11th grader at Santa Clara High School, offered fabric totes and pouches. She has been sewing since she was five and keeps her prices low by sourcing fabrics at FabMo, a Sunnyvale nonprofit that rescues discarded fabrics.
“Sewing is an obsession for me. It’s relaxing and a creative outlet,” said Liem, a diamond-level competition gymnast interested in a science career, perhaps in forensics research. “Being in the fair helps build my communication skills and confidence. Plus, it’s cool to see what other kids make.”
“Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, we hear so many stories about successful founders,” said Santa Claran Vivaan Aggarwal. Backed by his parents, Aggarwal took the Children’s Business Fair reins from Mikhil Kiran, now attending the University of Texas in Austin.
“I’m really proud and excited to be leading the fair. I’ve enjoyed participating for the past few years, so when I found out it was going to end, I wanted to do something to keep it going,” said Aggarwal, an 8th grader at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Upper School, San Jose.
At the 2 p.m. awards ceremony, Aggarwal’s mom, Ashima Goel, noted that Nebraska’s billionaire investor Warren Buffett was once a six-year-old entrepreneur with a good sales pitch. He bought packs of Juicy Fruit gum at his grandfather’s grocery store. Then he sold them door-to-door to neighbors, making a two-cent profit per pack.
“The fair is important. It gives kids a chance to turn their ideas into real businesses. They learn how to sell their products, talk to customers, and experience what it’s like to run a business,” said Aggarwal, who runs a 3-D production business with his friend Advik Palki.
“It also shows kids that they don’t have to wait until they’re older to start something of their own,” Aggarwal continued.
SCHS 9th grader Aarna Agrawal has already written and illustrated three books.
“The love and support we get from participating families makes all the effort we put in worthwhile,” said Vivaan’s father, Anurag Aggarwal. “It takes a village to make this happen.”
Including a grant from the City of Santa Clara and know-how from Acton Children’s Business Fair.
