No kids' business

Children, and not just experts, can drive innovation, one revolutionary idea at a time

- SREYA DEB

YOUTH VOICES ARE growing louder by the day. Once ignored as inexperienced or irrational, it appears that a quintessential youth's rationale is becoming more and more important to the conversations around innovation, evolution, and growth. You know this is true when corporates, international rights organisations and more put children and youth at the centre of their innovation plans, or creating opportunities for youth solutions to take flight – not only because they make for a large part of the customer base, but also because they seem to have an unwitting yet undeniable business and social sense to boot.

Samsung India, for example, recently held a 'Kids' Day', where 50 children aged 4 to 12 got to step into the shoes of 'mini CEOs' where they got to pitch ideas for new products, Samsung shared in a press note. The children attending came up with ideas ranging from 3D laptops with tactile screens to rolling televisions, the most notable amongst them being smart glasses for the visually impaired, an idea that came from a 10-year-old child.

Samsung isn't the only company to be doing this. Nike has introduced a number of athletic wear and footwear lines with central focus being empowering children in sports. They have several initiatives currently running which encourage the inclusion of girl children in sports, creating sports communities for children in underprivileged areas and more to make sports more accessible to children across the world.

These developments go to show that while children may not be in decision-making roles or in boardrooms calling the shots, they certainly are driving a number of the business decisions made by big corporations and international organisations working on human rights.