News

By: Casey Spears

Saturday’s weather may have been dreary outside, but that didn’t stop the fun inside Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market. Smiles were big and lots of fun was had among the youth of Hope Blooms and Cultiv8 and launchbox during their friendly, sell-off event.

Hope Blooms graciously hosted Dalhousie University, Faculty of Agriculture and Acadia University students for a day of learning about social entrepreneurship. They began the day at the farmers’ market at 7:30 a.m. by getting a brief lesson in sales from the talented youth of Hope Blooms. They were then sent off to put their skills to the test by selling Hope Blooms’ famous salad dressing for the entire morning.

Hope Blooms youth had plenty of practice selling and used their customer relationships to their advantage to sell the most product – winning by a landslide.

From the market, Hope Blooms gave the sandboxes a tour of their centre in the North End of Halifax and then to their brand new, state of the art greenhouse facilities. Once there, students were able to see the unique methods Hope Blooms uses to grow their produce and students sampled chocolate mint leaves straight out of the greenhouse soil.

The sandbox students learned that entrepreneurship isn’t simply coming up with an idea for a company, it involves social skills and building a relationship with the customer. They saw firsthand the greatness a social enterprise can do for a community and its youth.