Why DICE Kids?
Australia faces an uncertain future: the baby boom generation are retiring, and will will require support as they move into old age; the mining / commodity boom’s investment and production phases are in decline, the manufacturing sector continues to stagnate; and lastly, for those digitally skilled and talented workers, we see a constant brain drain to other parts of the world.
Where is Australia’s future prosperity, new industry and associated job opportunities going to come from?
The world is going digital. Fast. Pick any industry sector, and you will quickly see it is being disrupted by a new generation of digitally aware and educated people.
Australia has a great challenge and opportunity to participate and lead in this new world order.
DICE Kids is a response to this exigency: to help find, develop and prepare children for a life of creating, building and sustaining businesses in their adult lives.
What do we do?
The central goal of DICE Kids is to create and coordinate programs for children to learn lifelong skills from an early age.
The first initiative is 'Lemonade Day' - an opportunity for children to own and operate their own venture. Children will develop their strategy and execute their business model. It is such a simple concept but so powerful.
At a business level it teaches kids how to:
- Make a great product – a tasty glass of lemonade that you or I would want to buy,
- Set up a shop: a lemonade stand in a (nearby) street location that will attract the most potential buyers,
- Charge a price that passersby would be willing to pay (covering costs and making some money), and
- Pitch the product to passersby: convincing them they have something great on offer.
At a behavioral level it teaches and amplifies to kids, among other things:
- Self confidence,
- Organisation of self and others,
- A willingness to have a go, and possibly fail, and that’s ok!