Youth

Business is Jammin...

What is Business is Jammin'

Business is Jammin' (BIJ) is a province-wide charitable initiative that focuses on motivating Black youth and stresses the importance of education and personal development in all of its programs. BIJ's goals are to deliver a comprehensive enterprise and entrepreneurship learning strategy and instill business skills that will offer long-term benefits to young people.

BIJ Objectives

• Encourage youth to stay in school
• Introduce youth to entrepreneurship as an alternate career choice
• Assist with innovative business and marketing ideas
• Build partnerships and links with the business community
• Provide business expertise and support

How BIJ works

We have developed Business is Jammin' activities geared to three age categories, 8-15, 16-20 and 21-30. This allows us to design programs that meet the specific needs and interest levels of each age group.

BIJ uses multiple approaches to build awareness including:

• Innovative marketing tools including t-shirts, posters, key chains, baseball caps, in-school teams
• Black to Business magazine with special youth-related features
• Interactive website businessisjammin.ca with games and links to educational, business and youth organizations
• School presentations, conferences and trade shows
• Introducing Black youths to specialized services
• Targeting five youth business start-ups per year

Eligibility Criteria

• Black youth under 30
• Demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship
• Self-motivated