About

Lemonade Alley & Bizgenics
The MISSION

PROFIT TO SHARE!

Lemonade Alley is a social venture program for students. It teaches that one can make a good living, have fun and support worthy causes all at the same time. We know that the next generation is capable of great things, so we’re demanding entrepreneurial performances that Profit to Share!

Produced by Bizgenics, a Hawaii-based 501(C)(3) nonprofit, this program fulfills our mission of empowering all people to discover unique personal skills and learn positive social values to catalyze a bright future. 

Pictured: 2019 Lemon Crew, Bizgenics

The Concept

Lemonade with a Twist

At its core, Lemonade Alley is just a lemonade stand contest. Students, grades K-12, create unique recipes, build stands and sell to learn entrepreneurial skills.

THE “TWIST” is that they do it to support a charity of their choice. Lemonade Alley is thus an all-in-one innovation challenge, business contest & charitable giving program.

Pictured: 2011 Lemonade Lab ~ Max Schermer & Timmy Knight

 

EVENT RECIPE

Key Ingredients

The original Hawai’i-based Lemonade Alley is an annual contest that runs every 3rd week in April where student teams create a business for a day and are judged by experts from the community. Contest judging elements include:

  • Taste Test: Teams present their recipes on stage “Iron Chef” style to chef and mixologist judges.
  • Sales Pitch: Teams get 1 minute on the main stage to pitch public speaking experts like news journalists and politicians. Many teams do skits, musical theater, raps, dances, etc.
  • Lemonade Stand: Teams make lemonade stands from recycled materials and are judged by retail and ecology experts.
  • Business Plan: Teams make a 1-page visual “StoryTree” Business Plan and are judged by business experts.
  • Donation to Charity: Teams’ profits donated to charity are rated on a curve.

Pictured: 2014 Lemonade Alley Taste Test

FIRST BATCH

Starter Dough

Lemonade Alley began in Honolulu, Hawai’i, in 2011 when 21 world leaders, including U.S. President Barrack Obama, convened for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. At the time, the economy was in a deep recession and the demand for entrepreneurial programs in schools was trending. So we combined the themes into an event where students learned entrepreneurship while showing the world how to save the economy.

The inaugural event was held on ‘Iolani School’s baseball field where 32 finalist teams sold thousands of dollars of lemonade to support charities of their choice.

Following the event, Cleo Brown, a committee member and executive with ING Direct / Capital One Bank liked the program so much that she arranged for a grant to support the program for years to come. To receive grant proceeds, a 501(C)(3) nonprofit was formed birthing Bizgenics »

Pictured: 2011 Lemonade Lab ~ Max Schermer & Timmy Knight

RESULTS

Champions & Heroes

Lemonade Alley empowers students to create, collaborate with others, learn entrepreneurship and find their inner hero.

For parents, it’s a chance to support the family unit and play like a kid again. For educators, it’s innovation education that combines STEM with hands-on project-based learning. For sponsors, it’s a chance to connect with the community and tomorrow’s leaders.

Pictured: Genesis & Phoenix Tani crush the sales pitch in 2014

About

bizgenicS

Bizgenics is a Hawai’i-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers all people to discover unique personal skills and learn positive social values to catalyze a bright future. We specialize in creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship programs for students K-12. We’re unique as a nonprofit experienced in converging content topics including food service, ecology, agriculture, STEM and software development. We’re expert at hackathons, Project-Based Learning, Soft Skills Development. Learn more at Bizgenics.org »

Pictured: 2019 Bizgenics Advisory Board

The Chief Lemon HEad On

Empowering Youth

Lemonade Alley is a testament to the power of a good idea and a ton of elbow grease. From the very start, corporate sponsors, judges, mentors and volunteers showed up to make a truly unique and picturesque event.

In succeeding years, Lemonade Alley has been defined as an entrepreneurship-meets-philanthropic challenge. Our message is that the world is bountiful enough for innovators to support themselves while giving back to their communities. We’re grateful that each year our participants have found their inner hero and rose to this challenge with zest. We’re so proud of each and every one of them. For more, see our Approach to Education » 

On behalf of the Lemon Crew and Bizgenics Foundation, mahalo for empowering youth and the idea of Profit to Share!

Love, Lemons & Aloha,

Checkout our old skool

2015 Flashback!

Lemonade Alley has been in production since 2011. Hawai’i folks: see if you can find yourself, friends or family in this reel.