By Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President

“The U.S. now ranks not first, not second, not third, but 12th among developed nations in terms of business startup activity. Countries such as Hungary, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Israel and Italy all have higher startup rates than America does. We are behind in starting new firms per capita, and this is our single most serious economic problem. Yet it seems like a secret. You never see it mentioned in the media, nor hear from a politician that, for the first time in 35 years, American business deaths now outnumber business births.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the total number of new business startups and business closures per year -- the birth and death rates of American companies -- have crossed for the first time since the measurement began. I am referring to employer businesses, those with one or more employees, the real engines of economic growth. Four hundred thousand new businesses are being born annually nationwide, while 470,000 per year are dying.”

Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup, Gallup News, January 13, 2015

Most of us have heard that small business drives the economy, with 80 percent of all jobs in the United States generated by small businesses; however, the survival rate of small businesses is alarmingly low: half of all U.S. small businesses will survive only five years – if they are fortunate. 

Lemonade Day is a youth entrepreneurship program focused on addressing the need for teaching business and entrepreneurship literacy for kids of Kindergarten through Fifth Grade age.  Using the iconic lemonade stand as a platform for launching a micro business, kids learn fundamental business and character-development skills that will serve them for a lifetime.

Many youths lack the basic leadership and interpersonal attributes that are needed to secure good jobs and even more young people lack the skills to start and sustain their own businesses. Our education system is lacking when it comes to teaching business education and inspiring entrepreneurial activity. Only 43% of students in grades K-12 are taught business literacy.

How do we address this problem?

We must be champions of entrepreneurship. We need to “walk the talk.” Entrepreneurs build companies and create jobs. Exposing kids to entrepreneurship at a young age makes them more likely to embrace entrepreneurship as adults. That’s the power of Lemonade Day.

Lemonade Day national staff, City Directors, board members, corporate sponsors, community partners, adult mentors and volunteers are teaming up to ignite the sparks of entrepreneurship in thousands of young people throughout North America through the real-world experience of running a lemonade stand. We know that positive youth development coupled with entrepreneurship education serve as catalysts for creating new companies and better jobs.

Through the experience of owning and running a lemonade stand, Lemonade Day participants learn about planning, product development, pricing, marketing and promotion, and sales.   Lemonade Day mentors guide lemonade business owners through the entire process so that they can reap the benefits of “saving some, spending some and sharing some.”

Lemonade Day youth participants from 2014 through 2016 ran their own businesses at a level that is 8 times that of other students in grades 5 through 12 (Source: Gallup-Hope Index). Eighty percent of Lemonade Day participants surveyed said they strongly agreed or agreed that they could find many ways around a problem, compared with 69 percent in the Gallup student poll. Also, 72 percent of Lemonade Day students polled plan to start their own business in the future, as compared with only 40% of the Gallup Student Poll (GSP).

To read the full Impact Summary, use this link:

https://lemonadeday.box.com/s/y91m8xd6zelwzgwxp7a3pxy9wr4umor3

Lemonade Day kids will become the business executives, social advocates, community volunteers and forward-thinking citizens of tomorrow. Lemonade Day visionaries have a huge goal: at some point in the future, sooner than later, we want to break a record of engaging 1 million or more kids in the Lemonade Day program in each year. You can play a significant role in this process. You can be a game changer for kids and for our economy.  Thank you for your support now and always.

About Lemonade Day

Founded in Houston in 2007 by Michael and Lisa Holthouse, Lemonade Day is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching every child across North America the business and financial skills that are the key ingredients of entrepreneurship. By learning these skills early in life, children will be better prepared to be successful, financially healthy adults. Through our fun, hands-on program Kids K-5 are empowered to start their very own business—a lemonade stand—and experience the feeling of earning real money, using 100% of their profit to spend, save and share based on their own goals.

Lemonade Day is in 62 cities throughout the United States. Over the past 10 years, we have served more than 1 million kids in our kid entrepreneur programs.

Visit LemonadeDay.org to learn how to participate in Lemonade Day in your city.