Held May 17, this year’s fair featured approximately 70 kid-run businesses at the Young Entrepreneur Fair hosted by Green Orthodontics, offering everything from toys and baked goods to custom accessories and service-based ideas. Behind each table, participants gained experience speaking with customers and making sales while building confidence as they saw their creativity taken seriously by the community.
For Dr. Noam Green, the event is a unique way to give back to Decatur while also giving young entrepreneurs practical experience beyond their homes and classrooms.
This year’s was the sixth annual Young Entrepreneur Fair. What originally inspired you to create the event?
I was inspired by the support I’ve seen from the community. When I moved to Atlanta, I was taken aback by how welcoming it was, by how quickly people supported me in the earliest stages of opening Green Orthodontics. As time went on, I started thinking creatively about how to give back. We’re always happy to sponsor the schools and the community, but I wanted to give back to Decatur in our own unique way. As a business owner and someone who values creativity, the idea of this fair seemed like a perfect fit.
Why did you decide to focus on entrepreneurship?
These kids are in school, in extracurricular activities, or studying. Everything they do is part of a class or a program. This is an opportunity to branch out on their own, outside the structure of a classroom, and express what comes naturally to them. There’s no guidance here. It’s not for school, not for anyone else. It’s purely for them. We want them to feel supported, do what they want, be creative, and experiment in whatever way they choose.
What kinds of businesses, products, or ideas did young entrepreneurs bring to this year’s fair?
The range is incredible every year, and it keeps getting wider. We had kids selling toys, handmade skincare, custom accessories, slime, and baked goods. The 3-D printing, in particular, is getting more and more sophisticated. You can see these kids learning the technology between each year’s event and coming back with a better product. What I love is that no one tells them what to make. Whatever they show up with, that’s what they’re passionate about, and you can tell.
What does the community’s response to the fair tell you about how local families and businesses support young people?
The fact that people show up every year, in larger and larger groups, shows there’s a real appreciation and interest. We’ve had businesses ask to sponsor, and this was the first year we actually had sponsors participating — Decatur Booster Bulldogs, Attuned Psychiatry, Decatur Family & Cosmetic Dentistry, Denali Counseling, and the Daniel Belay Agency. It tells me business owners see their businesses as more than just businesses, not in isolation, but as members of the community.
What do you hope participants take away from the experience?
I want them to recognize there’s so much opportunity out there — to be creative, to be productive, to contribute. I hope that whatever they work on and feel proud of starts a chain reaction of ideas and a willingness to put themselves out there, to think about how to make something better and make the world a better place. I want to show them they can do that on their own. You don’t need other people to create opportunities for you. You can create opportunities for yourself.
Beyond the Young Entrepreneur Fair, Green Orthodontics also hosts annual patient appreciation events and supports local schools and organizations.
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