Western Standard - Calgary non-profit teaches kids business skills through hands-on entrepreneurship program

00:00:00.000 Hello, Western Standard viewers. Today we're taking a look at MiniTitans, a Calgary-based

00:00:13.720 nonprofit that aims to instill the values of hard work, discipline, and honesty into

00:00:17.360 the next generation. Founded on the belief that resilience and discipline are best learned

00:00:21.980 through experience, MiniTitans positions itself as an alternative to traditional classroom

00:00:25.980 learning with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and personal responsibility. Joining us today

00:00:30.360 is Mike Mammel, founder of MiniTitans, and Bodie Bragg, director of MiniTitans, to discuss

00:00:34.400 why he believed, why they believe entrepreneurial thinking is missing from education, how their

00:00:38.600 programs work in practice, and what both success and failure look like when kids learn the realities

00:00:43.340 of business. Thanks for joining me, gentlemen. Thank you very much. Thanks for having us. No

00:00:47.780 problem. Well, right off the bat, can you guys tell me a little bit of how your program works? I know

00:00:51.940 it started in 2022 with you guys doing sort of youth workshops, but now you guys have said that

00:00:55.800 you've expanded into schools. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, absolutely. We

00:00:59.860 started with our summer programs, and this was a five-day program where kids came in, learned

00:01:06.700 how to plan, learn how to build, produce, and then also the sales aspect of things and the

00:01:13.720 marketing aspect of things. And then we combined that, and then at the end, the kids got to sell

00:01:17.700 their inventions back to the community and keep the money that they earn, all while also supporting

00:01:22.160 a charity of their choice and donating as much money or as little money as they wanted. Okay.

00:01:26.460 And you said as well, like traditional schooling was designed, I saw on your website, to create

00:01:29.780 efficient employees rather than independent thinkers. So would you say that was kind of the main reason

00:01:34.520 behind sort of starting this? And what do you think, how do you think schools are maybe possibly

00:01:38.560 failing kids and what they had learned from your guys' program? It's more, they're required to

00:01:44.020 deliver a certain curriculum over a certain period of time. So they don't necessarily have the

00:01:50.220 flexibility to start getting into things like financial literacy and some of the core values

00:01:56.760 that we represent within the existing curriculum. So they're not really failing. They just have a

00:02:01.940 lot of ground to cover in a very limited period of time.

00:02:04.700 Okay. So how would you guys say that maybe your sort of model of learning would be

00:02:09.080 fundamentally different from a classroom model then per se? Because I mean, obviously you guys are

00:02:12.900 focusing more on like business and preparing them, I guess you could say maybe more for the real

00:02:16.880 world than maybe some classrooms might possibly, if I'm wording that correctly.

00:02:20.840 Yeah. So out of the camp program that Mike originally created came a highly participative environment.

00:02:30.400 So there's a lot of time spent in the program on conceptualizing a product, building the product,

00:02:42.800 learning how to market it, learning how to market it, all that stuff. So it's highly interactive and fast-paced as opposed to, we do have modules where we teach things like sales and marketing and operations and financial literacy, but most of the time the kids spent actually doing something.

00:03:01.140 Bus Mike's introduced a whole ton of exercise breaks into the, into the program and games that are physically active.

00:03:11.580 Okay. Interesting. And you said as well that the products that the kids were making, they were selling and they get to keep the profits from said products. Can you explain a little bit about how that works?

00:03:20.100 Yeah, absolutely. So with the products, they design them all themselves. They, we want them to have full ownership of the whole, the whole gamut. So the planning, the production, the sales and marketing aspect. So

00:03:31.100 So it's all of their own inventions that they get together in a group and decide what they're going to do. Um, and that comes from the planning phase.

00:03:38.100 And so they've created things like, um, mistletoes to like a full airport with, uh, paper airplanes. And even the little tug, uh, I don't know what it's called, but the, whatever that machine is that pulls the airplane away from the terminal.

00:03:51.100 Yeah. Um, it's called a tug and a credit tug. Yeah.

00:03:54.100 So even the tug was created out of, out of paper. And so he sold this full model and he made it all into camp. Um, and then we had, uh, the latest invention was sugar scrubs.

00:04:04.100 Oh wow.

00:04:05.100 Yeah. And so all of it's all them derived and, um, they, we just enable them to think outside the box and whatever they want to create. And then how do we actually effectuate that?

00:04:16.100 So who comes up with, uh, creating those sort of products? Is it the kids or you guys have sort of like a set list of stuff they can choose from, or how does that work exactly?

00:04:23.100 So in our camps we have, um, it's all the kids. So whatever they can imagine, whatever they want to create is up to them. Um, in the school though, because we have our little tighter, um, timeframe, we do have a backup list that kids can actually buy.

00:04:39.100 So in our camp, nothing is free and we charge the kids, um, real camp dollars, which is a Canadian denomination. So they get used to handing cash back and forth.

00:04:48.100 Um, and we have a list for them if they get stuck anywhere.

00:04:52.100 Okay. So what's some, the sort of general age of these kids is it's like elementary school kids or what exactly?

00:04:57.100 Yeah. So we do kids from seven to 17.

00:04:59.100 Okay.

00:05:00.100 And what do the parents think about this program?

00:05:03.100 The, the parents actually love our programs. Most of the time, the parents are having to pull the kids away from our program, pull them away from school.

00:05:10.100 Um, and so they're really engaged all of the time and, uh, we even set goals for at home.

00:05:17.100 So we tell the parents, um, you know, or we tell the kids, sorry, that in the, in the camp, um, your parents work very hard for you.

00:05:24.100 They love you very much. And so what are you going to do? How are you going to help out at home?

00:05:28.100 What goals are you going to set? Are you going to maybe walk the dog without be asking, are you gonna clean your room?

00:05:32.100 Are you gonna, so then there's tangible stuff that we pay them for in the camp to help bolster their, their experience in the camp as well.

00:05:38.100 Okay. And I was looking on your website as well. You guys talked about, um, failure being sort of a central role in the philosophy.

00:05:45.100 Obviously like, you know, obviously we know like in business failure plays a big role.

00:05:49.100 Could you maybe talk about how you guys deal with that, especially when dealing with children?

00:05:52.100 Because as we all know, children don't really take failure the best way.

00:05:56.100 Well, if like anybody, if you're left failing with no recourse, no support, no recourse, um, it can be very daunting and very upsetting, but within the program, they have the support of their own group.

00:06:09.100 They have the support of the two instructors or one instructor, depending on the program, um, in order to work through it and failure becomes an essential part of not only being an adult, but very much part of being an entrepreneur.

00:06:22.100 If you can't overcome failure, you won't survive as an entrepreneur.

00:06:27.100 Oh, absolutely.

00:06:28.100 And I was wondering, do you guys have any specific examples you can maybe think of where that's happened in this camp per se?

00:06:34.100 We had one group spent an entire, the falling table group.

00:06:39.100 Okay.

00:06:40.100 Um, who's, who developed Play-Doh and slime's a big one.

00:06:45.100 Like kids like to make slime.

00:06:47.100 Oh, I mean, it's relatively easy to make, um, as they were carrying stuff.

00:06:51.100 So at the end of the program, we, we have a market where the kids actually sell the stuff.

00:06:56.100 So at some point they have to transport the goods out to the market.

00:07:00.100 They dropped everything on the ground and lost their entire, um, product group, right?

00:07:08.100 Yeah.

00:07:09.100 They lost all the slime because immediately all the containers flew open.

00:07:13.100 Oh yeah.

00:07:14.100 Um, so they had to pivot and pivoting is a very important part of, of business obviously.

00:07:18.100 And, um, we teach as part of the program so the kids can understand the importance of pivoting and how, um, a negative occurrence in business isn't, um, an opportunity just to give up.

00:07:32.100 Yeah.

00:07:33.100 Right.

00:07:34.100 They pivoted to other products.

00:07:35.100 They made deals with other teams to maybe sell some of their products.

00:07:38.100 They pivoted to different products.

00:07:40.100 Um, and they got through.

00:07:42.100 Okay.

00:07:43.100 And I was talking, I was reading as well.

00:07:45.100 Um, the, uh, program also emphasizes things like honesty and discipline, but how exactly do you teach that sort of in practice to kids instead of just in theory?

00:07:53.100 So our, our camp philosophy obviously is built on the soft skills that go into building a good entrepreneur.

00:07:58.100 So how we reward it is day one, we tell the kids, these are all of the things that we pay you for.

00:08:03.100 We pay you for honesty, discipline, resilience, focus, work ethic.

00:08:05.100 And so anytime that these soft skills come up in general interaction, we give them TASH, um, camp cash, which then they can use to enhance their experience.

00:08:15.100 So for instance, on day one, the kids will electively put themselves into debt through bidding on toys.

00:08:20.100 And then we teach them about bad consumer debt.

00:08:22.100 So every day they don't pay off their debt.

00:08:23.100 We charge them 20% interest and, uh, that's very realistic.

00:08:28.100 And, and, and we increase the money that we give them.

00:08:32.100 Um, well we, so we have a store where they can buy extra stuff to work on their products.

00:08:40.100 So at the end of day one and the end of day two, they can give us a list of items that they need to build what they want to build.

00:08:48.100 Okay.

00:08:49.100 Um, they don't pay for that with camp money.

00:08:52.100 The camp provides it.

00:08:53.100 If they need stuff beyond that, after that point, they have to buy it with camp money.

00:08:58.100 Okay.

00:08:59.100 The price of the stuff in the store goes up every day.

00:09:01.100 Inflation.

00:09:02.100 Okay.

00:09:03.100 But so does the amount of money we pay them for behaviors related to our core values.

00:09:09.100 So we're teaching them debt and we're teaching them inflation all at the same time.

00:09:16.100 Oh, no, definitely.

00:09:17.100 And speaking of that, I was going to say that maybe some people might argue that a entrepreneurial program like this might put too much pressure on kids.

00:09:25.100 Maybe would you guys think that would be like just a fair criticism or no?

00:09:28.100 I don't think that they're at the, like we, we admit kids from seven to 17, but generally the sweet spot is about grade six to grade nine.

00:09:40.100 Okay.

00:09:41.100 So that'd be 10, 11 to 14.

00:09:45.100 So at that age, they're not re they don't really feel pressure the same way.

00:09:50.100 Okay.

00:09:51.100 Like for them, it's just fun.

00:09:52.100 Yeah.

00:09:53.100 Right.

00:09:54.100 There's no, they don't perceive a consequence.

00:09:56.100 The odd one gets is competitive.

00:09:59.100 Um, and we have to kind of rein in the competitiveness cause we don't want disappointment at the end, but generally they see it's arranged.

00:10:05.100 So they have success at the end.

00:10:08.100 Um, so yeah, there's some challenges in the middle, but they always seem to come out ahead at the end.

00:10:14.100 Right.

00:10:15.100 They do.

00:10:16.100 Yeah.

00:10:17.100 And I mean, kids are known for the resiliency.

00:10:18.100 Um, and it's how do you, the most important thing we teach is that how do you pivot from those, those failures and those, those aspects, which is a skill that kids normally have.

00:10:27.100 I mean, how many times did you fall over when you were learning how to walk?

00:10:30.100 Quite a bit.

00:10:31.100 I assume.

00:10:32.100 Did you give up?

00:10:33.100 No, of course.

00:10:34.100 We don't know that quit in that, that early age.

00:10:36.100 So it's both.

00:10:37.100 Okay.

00:10:38.100 Now what do you do and keep a sound mind about you?

00:10:41.100 Okay.

00:10:42.100 And I was going to say going forward, you guys have said that you've expanded the program now into schools.

00:10:45.100 Uh, what schools would that be?

00:10:46.100 And talk a bit about that.

00:10:47.100 Yeah.

00:10:48.100 So we are expanding into the Catholic school board at the moment.

00:10:51.100 So we were in St. Benedict, um, last week and with great success, the kids actually, um, earned just under a thousand dollars for 28 kids and then donated about $335 back to.

00:11:03.100 Um, the special needs program in their school.

00:11:06.100 Okay.

00:11:07.100 And I was going to say, did the Catholic school board approach you guys or you approach them?

00:11:10.100 Or how did that work out of that partnership?

00:11:12.100 Just get started.

00:11:13.100 Yeah.

00:11:14.100 So actually we run markets as well.

00:11:15.100 So because obviously the camps have a finite amount of time, we run these markets, um, anytime we get a chance.

00:11:21.100 So it's a pop-up market and it happened to be that this school was hosting a market as a fundraiser.

00:11:26.100 So we participated and the principal loved what we were doing so much that she actually, uh, advocated for us.

00:11:32.100 And then we got our program into the school that way.

00:11:35.100 So for clarity, we run markets at the end of the camp program.

00:11:39.100 We run markets in the school at the end of that program, but we also run unaffiliated markets throughout the year.

00:11:46.100 So that the kids who want to continue to develop these skills, have an outlet for it.

00:11:51.100 So they can say a kid graduates from the program and then wants to make lemonade.

00:11:58.100 They can come at no cost to them and sell lemonade at one of our other markets.

00:12:05.100 Oh, okay.

00:12:06.100 Have you had a lot of sort of, I guess, would it be like, I guess, repeats sort of almost customers coming to these or?

00:12:11.100 Customers or kids?

00:12:13.100 A little bit of both, I guess you could assume.

00:12:15.100 So customers, hard to tell because there's a lot at markets, but, uh, kids.

00:12:20.100 Yeah.

00:12:21.100 We had a lot of repeat kids, especially from the camps.

00:12:24.100 Okay.

00:12:25.100 Do you have any sort of like specific numbers or do you guys keep track of that or?

00:12:29.100 Well, 33% return rate.

00:12:30.100 Okay.

00:12:31.100 Yeah.

00:12:32.100 Okay.

00:12:33.100 That's not, that's pretty good.

00:12:34.100 I was just curious if you guys had a general number or whatnot.

00:12:35.100 I'm just impressed.

00:12:36.100 He keeps track of it.

00:12:40.100 Well, I guess looking ahead, what would you guys say success looks like for this program for, I don't know, five, 10 years from now, if you guys plan on doing it that long or what's the plan going forward?

00:12:49.100 Yeah.

00:12:50.100 Do you want to talk about this?

00:12:52.100 Yeah, let me do.

00:12:53.100 Sure.

00:12:54.100 So the key challenge we have right now, there's kind of two of them.

00:12:57.100 Uh, one is, so we're not for profit.

00:13:00.100 Uh, one is sponsors.

00:13:04.100 So we always need sponsors.

00:13:05.100 We have camp sponsors like the entire camp.

00:13:07.100 We have individual team sponsors and sponsorships.

00:13:11.100 Um, the cost varies by the type of sponsorship.

00:13:16.100 The other issue that we're going to run into as we try to scale is instructors.

00:13:20.100 Okay.

00:13:21.100 Uh, because, because of the nature of the program, the instructors that we want have some training background, ideally, but more, most importantly have an entrepreneurial background.

00:13:32.100 Okay.

00:13:33.100 Because when you're teaching or training, the stories you tell have as much impact as the curriculum that you're delivering.

00:13:41.100 Um, so if you're actually an entrepreneur, it's easier to, to have stories about where you failed or where you had success or what challenges you faced.

00:13:51.100 Um, if you've actually been an entrepreneur.

00:13:53.100 Well, I was going to ask you, like, do you approach people to do this or do they come to you?

00:13:57.100 Because I mean, obviously being an entrepreneur is one thing, but being an entrepreneur and trying to teach that to kids is another thing.

00:14:02.100 So how would, what would, how would you say you go about that?

00:14:05.100 I, it's been what?

00:14:06.100 50, 50, uh, approaching people as opposed to being approached.

00:14:11.100 Yes.

00:14:12.100 Yeah.

00:14:13.100 Yeah.

00:14:14.100 We're certainly getting lots of people who are interested in the program and want to participate.

00:14:16.100 And then, um, there's a variety of ways that people can either volunteer with us and get involved in the program.

00:14:22.100 Um, we network a lot, both of us, um, because this isn't our only, uh, occupation.

00:14:29.100 So for my companies, I, I spend a lot of time networking.

00:14:33.100 So I'm in front of entrepreneurs alone.

00:14:35.100 So I try to bring it up every possible chance I get.

00:14:38.100 And so does Mike.

00:14:39.100 Okay.

00:14:40.100 I was going to say as well, do you guys maybe have any plans of expanding to other school boards apart from just the Catholic one, or like maybe just not even just Calgary, like maybe surrounding areas like Airdrie, Cochran, et cetera, depending on how this goes.

00:14:51.100 We do.

00:14:52.100 Yeah.

00:14:53.100 So we were, we're going to expand the, the camp program.

00:14:54.100 Um, all first we had to saturate Calgary and then we'll expand to Alberta.

00:14:59.100 Um, but we're also going to have a evening and weekend program that we can roll out.

00:15:04.100 And, uh, it's really about getting these skills and that ownership mentality in the hands of kids.

00:15:09.100 So we will, um, tour across the country.

00:15:11.100 We're not quitting.

00:15:12.100 Yeah.

00:15:13.100 So that brings up the other challenge that I forgot was we have to physical facility to do the, deliver the program.

00:15:19.100 So when we do schools, obviously we have to school, uh, when we do camps, then we're, um, community centers, um, unoccupied school buildings in the summer, things like that.

00:15:32.100 Um, but that's always a challenge as the program grows, we need more and more space to deliver it in.

00:15:38.100 Okay.

00:15:39.100 Now that makes sense.

00:15:40.100 And, um, well, basically that was kind of what I had for you guys.

00:15:43.100 Do you guys want to add anything else or talk into anything else that we can cut in or, um, the big goal, I guess we're done with the big goal.

00:15:50.100 So is that we have both evening and weekend programs or day camps running, and then also a school providing this regular education.

00:15:58.100 Uh, we believe in it so much that, um, I think regular, um, cause entrepreneurship is just about building good habits.

00:16:06.100 And so that happens not in five days.

00:16:09.100 That happens is the regular constant outlook.

00:16:11.100 So we're looking at getting this regular touch points as we can with, with kids and families.

00:16:18.100 Yeah.

00:16:19.100 One other thing you might want to add in, if you feel it has merit is, um, when you ask you, when you ask a child, what do they want to grow up to be?

00:16:29.100 What do they tell you?

00:16:30.100 Astronaut, cowboy, pirate.

00:16:34.100 Yeah.

00:16:35.100 No one ever says entrepreneur.

00:16:37.100 Um, and in my professional life, I train adult entrepreneurs.

00:16:42.100 Um, there really isn't a whole lot of education available besides trial and error for most entrepreneurs.

00:16:50.100 So we're giving kids a head start, uh, both on the, the required values to be successful, but also the skills.

00:16:59.100 Perfect.

00:17:00.100 Well, I think that's a good way to end it then, gentlemen.

00:17:02.100 Thank you for your time.

00:17:03.100 Appreciate it.

00:17:04.100 Yeah.

00:17:05.100 Thank you.

00:17:06.100 Thanks much for the Western standard.

00:17:07.100 I'm David Winnick.

00:17:08.100 Thank you.

00:17:09.100 老ывайтесь show in Colorado.

00:17:13.100 All right.

00:17:14.100 Thank you for all of your time.

00:17:15.200 And bye-bye.

00:17:16.100 Thanks for watching.

00:17:17.100 Fearne.

00:17:18.100 Thank you.

00:17:19.100 Thank you.

00:17:20.100 Thank you.

00:17:21.100 Because you don'tadomoish again, though. 0.82

00:17:22.100 Земale is coming around, you know, far as you, and if you don't even know your home with goodwill Although the family,

00:17:24.100 that was a lot of underwater.

00:17:25.100 We're already seeing this thing.

00:17:26.100 Thank you.

00:17:27.100 There's my retirement.

00:17:28.100 And, Be a baby.

00:17:29.100 Yeah.

00:17:31.100 This is whatPOerc uhh us is.

Western Standard - February 10, 2026

Calgary non-profit teaches kids business skills through hands-on entrepreneurship program

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