More than 100 young entrepreneurs get a taste for business at Victoria mall

Isabella Tascon at home in Saanich.

Grade seven student Isabella Tascon is preparing to make a small batch of natural bathing salts.

“I really like making the products,” said Tascon in the dining room of her Saanich home.

It’s just one offering from her Candle and Co natural beauty products business she started last year.

“I want to be an entrepreneur and hopefully have, like, a shop that sells natural products,” said Tascon.

The idea came after the young go-getter took a class in making beauty products.

She then created a line of products to sell at last year’s Kidovate.

Kidovate is a UVIC program where teens create a business and take over the Bays Centre in Downtown Victoria – to sell their goods.

“Small business is the heart of the economy,” said Dr. Brock Smith, Kidovate Founder and UVic’s Gustavson School of Business Entrepreneurship Professor.

“We need as a society to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs and give them opportunities to get interested in entrepreneurship.”

For Isabella – the idea of running her own business has really taken off.

She spent the last year researching products and envisioning her venture - while selling goods to family and friends.

“It’s great to see how she really has a vision about the business she wants,” said Adriana Albear, Isabella’s mother and best customer. 

Also part of the program is to instill a sense of corporate social responsibility at an early age, which has not been lost on Isabella.

“You like to know what you’re eating, so you should also know, like, everything you’re putting on your skin is good for you.”

Kidovate will take place in the Bay Centre in Downtown Victoria Saturday April 15 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.