Halifax-based BuyMyLemonade.com, has unveiled a crowdfunding campaign with the aim of building sales for its product, which teaches young people entrepreneurship through online sales.

The company was founded by CEO Guy Shaham and chief IT Officer Isaak Moscovich to teach entrepreneurship through the same model as the neighbourhood lemonade stand. The idea is to give students with the target ages of nine to 18 the online tools they need to conduct fundraising drives for their schools or organizations. And while they’re raising money for a good cause, the website teaches them the principles of entrepreneurship.

The company hopes to raise US$50,000 through its campaign on Indiegogo, which will run for the next two months. That would complement previous funding it raised from private angel investors like Saint John investor Gerry Pond and a development contribution it received from online payment company PayPal.

“In less than five years, everyone, including K-to-12 students, will buy many of their consumer products and services online,” said Shaham. “The question we need to ask ourselves as educators and parents is, will our children just buy online like everyone else or will they be members of the elite team that will sell online?”

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Shaham and Moscovich started the company last year as a means to help youth-oriented charities and schools raise money and to teach children entrepreneurship. Shaham said in an interview over the weekend that the model has shifted slightly as BuyMyLemonade now has a model similar to eBay. It lets young people sell their “the stuff under their bed”, such as old toys and things they have outgrown, on the platform. “Call it eBay for kids,” he said.

EBay, the online auction site, prohibits children from using its site. BuyMyLemonade does allow people under the age of 18 to sell things, but the payments must go to a school or youth group. This means sports groups and other youth-oriented charities can raise money simply by teaching children online entrepreneurship. Shaham estimates this market would be worth about $50 billion in North America.

He has been promoting the site for more than a year, and frequently heard that groups liked the sound of it but wanted to see it. So now that it’s launched, he plans to re-connect with “dozens and dozens” of schools and youth groups across Canada and the U.S.

He added that he’s interested in drawing investment into the company, but investors in several countries have told him that the company has to gain sales before they invest in it. He’s hoping the crowdfunding campaign and sales push will help to persuade investors.

Shaham has been an entrepreneur for the past 23 years, and he specializes in sales, marketing and business development. In conversation, he speaks glowingly about the social benefits of entrepreneurship and believes his site can teach children entrepreneurship and improve their financial literacy.

“By allowing young kids to experience e-commerce and run their own online small stores we predict that when they finish their high school, self-employment, entrepreneurship and online sales won’t be strange activities for them,” said Shaham. “When push comes to shove, or as a choice, they will be able to generate themselves revenues and income and run a small successful businesses right from their laptops and mobile phones.”