On Oct. 21, the fifth annual Santa Clara Children’s Business Fair took place at Santa Clara’s Live Oak Park. The event was organized by sophomore Mikhil Kiran, who started the event as a fifth grader. It included 70 booths run by young entrepreneurs, up from 60 last year. Kiran also runs a nonprofit called KidzRule, whose mission is to inspire youth entrepreneurship.

Aside from the increased number of booths, “The other new thing this year is the publication of an online scrapbook, ‘Where Dreams Take Flight,’ that celebrates the achievements of our young entrepreneurs. I made this to inspire other kids considering starting something on their own,” Kiran said.

The fair included appearances by Lisa Gillmor, Santa Clara mayor, and Kathy Watanabe, Santa Clara city councilmember, who encouraged the exhibitors in their business ventures and presented Kiran with a special mayoral recognition for benefiting the community of Santa Clara.

The event was covered by The Silicon Valley Voice.