Why We Created This Online Store

The Young Entrepreneurs Program at Helping Hands

Real kids. Real products. Real futures.

Every product in this store was created by a young entrepreneur at Helping Hands Orphanage in the Dominican Republic. These aren’t just unique pieces of art, they’re the first business ventures of kids learning skills that will change the course of their lives.

How It Started

Helping Hands is home to 30–40 children in the Dominican Republic. In 2026 we launched a hands-on entrepreneurship bootcamp teaching a small group of students how real online businesses work, from product design and Shopify to marketing and managing money.

Eleven students are in the first class of the program. The products you see here are theirs: their ideas, their designs, their work.

How the Products Are Made

Our young entrepreneurs create their products the way modern makers do. Some items are made entirely by hand. Others are designed by the kids using tools like Canva and AI-assisted design software, the same tools professional designers use every day. Children are learning skills that they can use in life.

Every product page tells you a little about the kids who made it.

Where Your Money Goes

When you buy a product, the proceeds are split three ways:

• 10% goes directly to the young entrepreneur — money they earned, that they decide how to use. For many, it’s the first money they’ve ever made.
• 40% goes into a savings account in their name — building toward their education and their future after they leave Helping Hands.
• 50% funds the orphanage — food, education, and care for all 30–40 children who call Helping Hands home.

So every purchase does double duty: it rewards one child’s hard work, and it supports every child at Helping Hands.

Why Entrepreneurship?

Kids who age out of Helping Hands Orphanage face steep odds. Job skills, financial literacy, and discrimination.  The confidence that comes from building something of your own are some of the strongest tools we can give them. This program teaches all three by doing the real thing, with real customers. That’s you.

Meet the Makers

Each product page features the young entrepreneur who created it, a short bio and a quick video where they introduce themselves, talk about what they made, and share their dreams. We think you’ll fall in love with these kids the way we have.

Want to Do More?

• Share this store with friends and family — every new customer is a real-world lesson in marketing for our students.
• Leave a review after your purchase — the kids read every one.

The Young Entrepreneurs Program is run in partnership with Helping Hands Orphanage. Photos and videos of students are shared with the permission of the orphanage’s directors, and we share only what the kids are proud to show you.