A 9-year-old from Detroit has set up a stall selling lemonade, popcorn and more, in an attempt to curb the city’s economic drought.

Joshua Smith now faces the prospect of having a college scholarship, after selling what he can outside his Michigan home since last Monday.

Initially, Josua set a goal to earn $1,000 (£642) but he had to extend it when he surpassed that figure within three days. A new $2,000 goal was set, but he managed to reach $2,175.64 by that Thursday. As of last Friday, Joshua managed to sell a total of $3,392.77.

Joshua was recently given the news that the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation, who award 40 Michigan public high school final-year students $2,000 in college fundage. However, they made way for an exception in this case.

“Special consideration for a scholarship was given to Joshua because, at such a young age, he is an enterprising civic-minded young man who shares Mrs. Parks’ spirit of service and commitment to building a brighter future in his community,” Delora Hall Taylor, the foundation’s president said. “The philosophy behind the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation is to give young people every opportunity to be prepared for the future, to engage (youths) in their communities, and to demonstrate the importance of civic involvement and the value placed on civic involvement.”

Jordan Morgan, of the University of Michigan’s basketball team was among Joshua’s customers. He felt that the youngsters efforts deserved to be recognised. He said: “I was so impressed right after I read the story. I just felt like, if more people had a mind-set like Joshua, this world would be a better place. Seeing the city and the situation that we’re in, you hear a lot of people just complain about what’s going on there, but it takes a collective effort for everybody to want to change it.”