Special Events

Entrepreneurship Fair

Young entrepreneurs from Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin gather at the Southridge Mall to present and promote their innovative businesses as part of the Annual Northern Ontario Visions Project Tradeshow.

The Northern Ontario Visions Project Tradeshow gives students an opportunity to experience what it’s like to run a business. Students develop and implement business plans. In the process, they learn all about marketing, including products, pricing, placement and promotion. The result is a spectacular showcase of creativity and innovation.

Typically 55 businesses are featured at the annual tradeshow, a culminating event for Grades 6, 7 and 8 students in Rainbow Schools who have completed entrepreneurship units or participated in school fairs. 

A panel of judges from the business community will evaluate the displays. As part of the evaluation, judges will look at how effectively students present their products and/or services.

Tradeshow participants will vie for a number of awards – Best Presentation, Best Business Plan, Best Product and Best Service. 

The young entrepreneurs will also vote amongst themselves for who should receive the coveted “Young Entrepreneur Award”.

The tradeshow provides an authentic learning experience for students, bringing the classroom curriculum to life in a dynamic way. Students learn about math through sales taxes, discounts and financial statements. They also create graphs as part of their market research. From a language perspective, students gain oral and written communications skills by speaking with the public, selling their products and services, creating professional business plans, and developing business cards, websites, brochures and other promotional material. Students also get to hone their artistic skills by creating visually pleasing displays that will attract customers.