USA TODAY International Edition
Cookie sales offer Girl Scouts job training
Can you guess the number one entrepreneurial training for girls in the United States? Surprise! It’s the Girl Scouts.
National Cookie Weekend is Feb. 22-24, and if you’d like to help empower the next generation of female entrepreneurs, go out and buy a box of cookies. (My favorite is Thin Mints, but you can find the whole line-up of cookies and locate a Girl Scout cookie seller near you at girlscoutcookies.org). Think of every girl selling a box of cookies as a budding small business owner.
Yes, the Girl Scouts, that 106-year old organization that most associate with keeping girls busy after school and selling cookies, is running one of the country’s most ambitious programs to empower girls to become leaders, instill confidence, and learn financial and business skills. Entrepreneurship is now one of the four core areas that make up the Girl Scout experience (along with “Outdoors,” “Life Skills,” and “STEM” – science, technology, engineering, and math).
“When people first walk out of the store, (your display) has to be eye catching so that’s why we did it in a certain color,” said Sofia Estrada, 12, of the Girl Scouts’ Heart of the Valley Troop 616 in Porter Ranch, California, who, along with Sarah Khaled, 11, (and their moms) had set up a sales table outside a busy restaurant – with a long waiting line—in Northridge, California.
“You have to learn the approach that you give when you’re selling cookies,” Khaled said. “Some people want people who are energetic and sometimes you don’t have to be as energetic to get the sale. You have to know about your product … you have to know exactly about it.”
Girl Scouts can earn a range of badges dealing with owning or starting a business. Brownies – Girl Scouts in second or third grade – can earn “Money Manager” or “Meet My Customer” badges. Older Girl Scouts can earn “Business Owner,” “Business Plan,” “Marketing” and “Think Big” badges.
“Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, cookie customers help fund lifechanging Girl Scout experiences while building the next generation of female entrepreneurs,” said Girl Scouts USA CEO Sylvia Acevedo.
“Selling Girl Scout Cookies changed my life forever, because it taught me that I could create my own opportunity,” she said.
“This is at the core of every entrepreneurship experience at Girl Scouts. Through the program, I learned the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, skills like making a business plan, how you handle money, how to treat customers, and how to break down goals into achievable steps. These are skills I’ve used throughout my professional life, so I know that more girls learning these skills early in life means more female business leaders and entrepreneurs.”
The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.