Budding entrepreneurs

Year 8 student Eva Tsiros is paving the way for young people wanting to turn their creative pursuits into a profitable business.

The 14-year-old is the newest - and one of the youngest - stallholders at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra after completing an entrepreneurial program for teenagers, Maker2Market.

The course helps 10-17-year-olds turn their creativity into a business by providing them with the necessary skills, including identifying market needs and product testing.

The next step is to apply those skills to a real-life scenario by selling the service or product developed through the course – enter the Old Bus Depot Markets.

Eva started the course aged 12 and now sells her handmade crocheted animals under the name ‘Eva’s Collections’ at the Old Bus Depot.

Speaking to ABC Canberra recently, Eva said: “One of my friends was doing [the course], and she was telling me all about how it was so fun to make your own products and sell them… So I told my mum about it and did it with one of my cousins. We sold jewellery [as our first product].”

Eva developed the crocheted animals by identifying a market need and combining that need with what she enjoys making.

Eva said there are some challenges to being a young market-stall holder, such as gaining the trust of customers, but that she wouldn’t change the age she began.

“The fact you practise from such a young age helps you develop a really good idea,” Eva told ABC Canberra.

“I always thought…even from a young age, that I would want to sell something. But until I did this program, I never saw a full career out of it. Now, I have a lot of hope in what I’m doing.”

Eva sold out on her first day at the markets and has since secured a permanent position at the Old Bus Depot.

The budding creative is following in the footsteps of two generations of business owners (her grandmother is a dressmaker, and her parents are restaurant owners) and had these words for others considering following in hers:

“Even if you don’t think it can take you anywhere, you just have to believe in yourself, your product and what you love to create. Persevere and keep going.”