Young Entrepreneur – Robert Moon
Welcome back!
12-YEAR-OLD Robert Moon was chosen on Thursday night to receive the biggest award of cash and services at the Young Entrepreneurs Academy’s annual investors event at the University of Rochester. He asked for $1,280 to give his company, The Alert Mind, a boost, and the judges awarded him cash and in-kind services valued at $3,800.
Robert is in seventh grade at Calkins Road Middle School. When he was a sixth-grader and Ann Shelp was his math teacher, he created a project for her class, a board game designed to teach and reinforce basic math skills. Grid Greed — “an exciting game to sharpen your mathematical skills” — was born.
The teacher was impressed and encouraged Robert to think about marketing the game. Thanks to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, the young man is on his way to doing precisely that.
One of the neat things about Grid Greed is that it’s more than a teaching tool for children. It could prove useful for geezers (the term will suit me sooner than I’d like) who need mental exercises to retain an alert mind. In fact, Robert has tried it on a much older friend, a retired business executive with whom he regularly plays chess.
Next up, Robert will use the money he won at UR to have 100 copies of the board game produced, and then he’ll begin marketing it to schools and retirement communities in the Rochester area.
Young Mr. Moon wasn’t the only winner at Thursday’s program. Eighteen other presenters — some individuals, some teams — received at least $500 each in cash and services.
The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is a nine-month program at UR (there also are Rochester-area YEA programs at SUNY Geneseo and in the Greece and Victor school districts) that helps students in grades 6 through 12 create their own business. At the weekly three-hour sessions, students learn from guest speakers and business mentors and visit local workplaces. Participants in this year’s class at UR come from both city and suburban schools.
It’s impressive how many businesses, government agencies and nonprofits recognize that nurturing a future generation of business leaders is a smart thing to do.
