Young entrepreneurs use chery blossoms to draw a crowd.

Strolling under the cherry blossoms arching out over Kenwood neighborhood streets in Bethesda on Saturday afternoon, Nadia Green’s thoughts drifted to another kind of promenade.

“I’d like to have a wedding in them,” said Green, 11, an Arlington, Va. resident. Fortunately for her the happy day is far off, because her mother, Barbara Porter, and two other friends mistook “Kenwood” for “Kensington” and arrived a few hours later than they expected.

Thousands of visitors like Green will visit the blossoming cherry trees in the 240-home neighborhood, often to enjoy a different kind of cherry blossom experience from that on display at the Tidal Basin in downtown Washington, D.C., and to escape the throng of tourists there.

One tradition that has sprung up alongside the cherry trees is the spate of tables loaded with drinks and baked treats along the streets, with Kenwood’s younger residents pitching their goods.

Town of Somerset resident Jay Jadeja, 12, and three of his friends set up their lemonade stand at the intersection of Dorset Avenue and the Capital Crescent Trail, near a major ingress and egress of Kenwood at Little Falls Parkway. After about two hours, they had sold about $40 of lemonade, which they proclaimed a good haul.

Asked if they still liked to climb the cherry trees, however, which some residents have said should be prohibited, Jadeja and his friends answered only with bashful smiles.

Further west on Dorset Avenue, young Gwen Lefkowitz was perched alertly in her chair behind a table of $1 lemonade and two-for-a-dollar chocolate chip cookies. At about 11 a.m. she said sales had been brisk, and said she was focused on business and not on pleasure because she wasn’t a big cherry blossom fan.

“I’m not as much of a flower person,” she said. “I’m more of a skater girl.”

Read the full story in Gazette.net

Young entrepreneur, S Tarak al Zubair, with his solar-powered car.

It can carry six passengers at speeds of more than 40kph without ever having to fill up at a petrol station, or even plug into an electric socket.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about this solar-powered, fibreglass car, which went on display at Dubai Mall in April, is the age of the brains behind it: S Tarek al Zubair is just 16, while his cousin, Hamad bin Sulaiman, is two years younger.

The boys, both students at the International School of Arts and Sciences, built the futuristic vehicle for this year’s Young Entrepreneurs Competition.

They and 1,200 other high school and university pupils from across the country have put their business savvy and innovation on display for the past four days, selling everything from cars and custom-made handbags to Braille designs embroidered on coffee mugs and T-shirts.

“God has blessed our country with oil, but we also have sand, hot water, energy from the sun,” said Tarek, who won last year’s competition with a solar-powered mobile phone charger. “We as a country need to become sustainable.”

With his sun-powered car, made with solar panels shipped from Germany, Tarek said he wanted to serve as an example for the country’s leadership.

“Think what that means if two teenagers can make a car run on solar power,” he said.

He plans on giving the prototype vehicle as a gift to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Read the full story in The National.

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Young entrepreneur, Jonathan Fischer, demonstrates the Speed Demon.

Jonathan Fischer is just 20, but he’s been working on this gadget since he was 16. Inspired by the tragic death of a Lunenburg teenager in a high-speed auto wreck, he wanted to create a machine that would alert parents whenever a child became too careless behind the wheel.

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Young entrepreneur, Kunal Gupta, founded Impact in 2004

The Impact Entrepreneurship Group is flourishing since the economy soured. Its programs target university and high school students and include a national annual conference, an entrepreneurship week campaign, a leadership summit and a Microcredit Competition that gets underway later this month for which teams of students from 200 high schools receive $100 to launch a business idea and make as much money for charity as possible within a week.

“There’s been a significant increase in interest,” says Kunal Gupta, who founded Impact in 2004 while attending Ontario’s University of Waterloo. “There are opportunities in the market for young entrepreneurs that would not be seen in a good economy.”

Mr. Gupta, who launched Polar Mobile after he graduated, a company that develops a proprietary content and advertising platform for mobile devices, still serves as chairman of Impact’s board and says the breadth of students participating has grown to include those from arts and other studies outside business.

In the past year, Impact — which bills itself as Canada’s largest, non-profit student-run organization — opened offices in Calgary and Vancouver.

The organization has acquired the support and sponsorship of corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who pioneered successful businesses in Canada.

Alex Shipillo of Vancouver, heads Impact’s Microcredit Competition and co-founded Youth Canada to help high school students navigate university scholarship programs. The two groups amalgamated in 2006 to promote entrepreneurship to young Canadians.

“This is the first recession of my lifetime,” says Mr. Shipillo, who plans to start a business after graduating from university. “There’s no longer any guarantee we’ll get a good job after university.”

Ray Cao started EightyTwenty Group, a software company that is poised to double its staff in the coming months. He served a term as president of Impact while studying at University of Waterloo and remembers a survey of high school students Impact conducted to assess their perception of entrepreneurship; 70% responded it was a path of last resort for those who had dropped out of school or failed to find jobs.

“When you’re in high school, a small business does look like the last resort but one of the key reasons is because of the way it’s taught,” Mr. Cao says. “Most teachers have not been entrepreneurs.”

Impact has focused on how it communicates its message to enhance their interest in entrepreneurship and provide hands-on experience. “It’s really about making a paradigm shift,” he says.

Read the full story in The Vancouver Sun.

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Devon Zielinski was one of 60 high school seniors nationwide who received the McKelvey Foundation Entrepreneurial Scholarship last week. The scholars receive $10,000 a year over four years to attend a U.S. college or university.

The New York-based program offers financial aid to young entrepreneurs and first-generation college students.

Zielinski, who has owned Cutting Edge Opportunities Lawn Care for about two years, was one of five Texas seniors to receive the McKelvey award.

“I went numb. I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was in shock … and then I was super excited.”

The Argyle senior said he will graduate June 3 and will attend Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where another $40,000 scholarship is waiting for him. He plans to study business. Earlier this year, he was one of 21 state finalists for TCU’s Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

McKelvey scholarship interviewer Paul Camara called Zielinski “a business-savvy young man who has a very well-defined business plan for growth.”

“For an applicant to have a lawn care business, they must have extraordinary qualities as an entrepreneur and show us that they have taken their business to the next level from mowing lawns in the neighborhood,” Camara wrote in a prepared statement. “Devon was able to show us in the interview that he has very strong entrepreneurial qualities and shows great potential for future success as a business owner.”

Christine McKelvey, foundation president, said more than 1,200 students applied for the award. Of the four years the scholarship has been offered, this was the most competitive, she said, adding that the selected students proved to be lifelong entrepreneurs.

“We’re really looking for people that show that they have the drive and passion to be entrepreneurs,” McKelvey said. “It’s really the individual that we’re looking at.”

Read the full story in the Denton Record-Chronicle

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Young entrepreneurs from Altwood School with their prize-winning jewellery.

Young entrepreneurs from the Royal Borough showed the future is bright for business in the area at the town hall on Wednesday night.

Enterprising students from Altwood School, in Altwood Road, Maidenhead, walked off with the headline gong at the 2009 Young Enterprise North Berkshire Area Final.

They scooped the North Berkshire Award for Best Company, overcoming intense competition from four other schools in the area to win the accolade.

Their Like a Star jewellery business, was considered to be the best overall by three scrutinising judges, who ruled the roost over there business plans, products, trade stands and presentations.

Seven schools and 120 students in the Royal Borough had run 11 companies throughout the year, which was whittled down to five finalists.

Also making the final were Brigidine School, Windsor Boys School, Charters School and Eton College with the range of businesses including tailoring, film screenings, jewellery, accessories and books.

Eddie Pearce, president of Maidenhead District Chamber of Commerce, who was one of the three judges, said he was impressed by all five businesses.

“All the ideas and innovative ideas were fantastic. The standard was better than in previous years and really encouraging to see.”

Source: Maidenhead Advertiser

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Young entrepreneur, Cameron Collings

Cameron Collings is businessman and tech-geek in equal parts. He started his first entrepreneurial venture at 6, selling candy, and built his first computer at 10. Today at 20, he runs a successful web-hosting company.

Collings said he built his first computer at ten and started coding websites since he was 12.

Collings’ business sense must come from his genes; every one of his family members is an entrepreneur of some sort. His father builds hotels in Las Vegas, and is a source of inspiration and motivation for him.

In fact, Collings’s first foray into business was at age six, when he sold candy to people around him. He quickly moved onto bigger things; he raked in $7,000 in the first ten days of his electronics business at age 10.

A part of the growing trend of young entrepreneurs, Collings acquired Host Quack in May 2008 and it has been growing ever since.

The then 19-year-old had just shut down his electronics site and was on the lookout for his next business venture.

“My sister randomly suggested web hosting and told me a little about her provider. So I looked into it,” Collings said.

“I had already had years of experience in networking, system administration, website building, coding, etc… so it sounded great!”

He proceeded to draft a 45 page business plan and structured his business model.

Collings then married his computer skills to his keen business acumen when he purchased the company for $1,200.

He explained his strategy. “I saw HostQuack for sale online and it was a very small company that had everything configured so that would save me time of thinking of a name, building a site, integrating a billing system, etc.”

The young owner of the web-hosting and online company has lots to prove. He has more than a hundred clients from as far away as Saudi Arabia and India.

The company’s edge over its rivals is its commitment to round-the-clock, personalised servicing. Having a competitive price range (plans start from as low as a dollar a month) helps too.

In fact, Collings is proud of his record thus far. While he declines telling his total earnings, he reveals that Host Quack has grown over “14 times its original size” and he manages a staff of ten. All of them work remotely.

The company broke even by its first month, and Collings said: “Every month since I purchased the company  has been better than any previous month.”

Read the full story in The Digital Journal.

Young entrepreneur, Rahim Fazal, sold his first business for $1.5 million while still in high school.

The first keynote speaker at this year’s Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour was Rahim Fazal, a dot-com millionaire. Fazal’s journey from McDonald’s worker to a millionaire caught the attention of students.

“You’ve got to be a bit crazy to become successful,” he said.

That attitude drove him to sell his first business for $1.5 million, when he was still in high school. Fazal earned a Master of Business Arts degree just after completing high school.

Fazal’s business ambitions started early in his hometown of Vancouver and have always involved his best friend, Husein Kaba. The two started off with the smallest of jobs: selling hockey cards at flea markets, helping to set up computers and, one year, a topsoil delivery outfit.

“I’ve always been very entrepreneurial,” says Fazal.

These small projects piqued the two boys’ interest in business and would lay the foundation for much bolder plans in the future.

The first came in 1997 while the two were in high school. They worked at a company called Internet Direct, which provided web connection and hosting. While balancing the rigours of the International Baccalaureate program at school, Fazal worked nights and weekends on the business.

By 1998 their new site, MailBC.com, allowed small businesses to create basic websites and e-mail programs. Started with a $500 investment, within a year it had 25,000 customers. “Eventually it took on a life of its own,” Fazal says.

The demands of the growing business meant Fazal had to carry a cellphone and pager, and was constantly being called out of class to provide customer support. “My teacher actually thought I was a drug dealer,” he says.

Fazal had kept the business a secret from his parents, knowing they would force him to shut it down and concentrate solely on school. When a meeting was called with his parents and teachers to discuss his possible “drug dealing,” Fazal had to pick the lesser of two evils: he pretended he was dealing. The sacrifice meant the business could survive.

In 2000, while still in high school, Fazal and Kaba sold their business for $1.5 million. After losing a second business to the tech crash, the two went to college – and Fazal was granted entry into the MBA program at Ivey without having an undergraduate degree, a rare privilege susally only granted to much older people with many years of business experience.

After completing his MBA, Fazal is once more running a tech business, this time with Noah Horton.

Recognizing an opportunity to help companies improve their online marketing capabilities, Fazal and Horton developed a video technology platform that allows companies to build and easily distribute video campaigns to massive audiences on social networks and across the Web. Involver’s technology gives companies the tools to increase customer engagement by having them physically interact with the video campaign, rather than be passive viewers.

“Our goal was to try to create video that really encouraged participation, by building in a call to action,” says Fazal. Recent Involver clients include Puma, which launched a video campaign during the Olympics to support Jamaican sprinter and gold medalist Usain Bolt, as well as microlending site Kiva.org.

“The true entrepreneur is a doer not a dreamer,” Fazal said, concluding his Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour session.

Source: Inc.com, RahimFazal.com, The Online Reporter

Young entrepreneurs, Carley Polk and Brooke Walz

Governments looking at ways to stimulate the economy could do well by harnessing the business smarts, creativity and enthusiasm of middle school students.

Last week, Port Coquitlam’s Kwayhquitlum school did just that when it held an entrepreneur fair for Grade 6 and 7 students.

Teacher Sam Hauck said 120 students sold products they researched, designed and made during the Young Entrepreneur Show, a program created by PowerPlay Strategies Inc. and sponsored by Westminster Savings Credit Union.

“The big motivation is that the money goes in their pocket at the end of the day,” Hauck said.

But it wasn’t all gravy. Ten per cent of the profits had to be donated to either the SPCA or the Gaby Davis Foundation, charities the students chose as their way of giving back to the community.

The young entrepreneurs also faced some of the debt issues facing many larger corporations, such as the automotive and media industries. Any loans they incurred during manufacturing had to be paid back and students had to have a written agreement spelling out lending terms.

It was an eye-opening project for many students, Hauck said, as they came to grips with the realities of running a business. The students couldn’t just sell anything — they had to do market surveys to find out what products to make, do detailed cost analyses and write business plans.

Source: Tri-City News

Lemonade Day has gained considerable momentum, growing from 2,600 stands in 2007 to 11,200 in 2008 – an impressive 400 percent growth! With significant backing from Imperial Sugar and thousands of other supporters, Lemonade Day 2009 is destined to be even greater this year with an expected 25,000 lemonade stands staffed by as many as 75,000 eager young entrepreneurs.

“Lemonade Day is a recipe for helping kids become more successful in life,”  said Michael Holthouse, co-founder of Prepared 4 Life and the inventor of Lemonade Day. It’s about engaging our entire community to help teach our youth the business skills and character traits they will need to become successful leaders and entrepreneurs. As the old saying goes: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! We are teaching kids how to make lemonade in more ways than one.”

Holthouse reports that, last year, the combined youth of the Greater Houston community sold over one million cups of lemonade and, with their profits; they contributed more than $200,000 to local charities.

“This is an amazing example of how everyone can get involved – on Lemonade Day everyone has a job: it’s either buying or selling lemonade. With the simple act of purchasing a cup from one of our youth, we are demonstrating that we care about their future,” Holthouse added. “The success of Lemonade Day has caught the attention of many other cities around the nation, so this year we have added two additional cities and plan to add 10 more next year. Our goal is to reach 100 cities over the next five years and train over one million youth in the process.”

Once children are registered, Prepared 4 Life – along with its many partners – provides all young entrepreneurs with free yellow backpacks filled with the educational materials they need to start their own successful lemonade business. The educational process for youth centers on the pairing of the child with a caring adult who serves as a coach to help him or her get the most out of their experience. The backpacks include an Entrepreneur’s Workbook and a Caring Adult Guide with proven step-by-step strategies that make the experience fun and rewarding. Children learn many important life skills including: setting goals, business planning, finding an investor, selecting a site, advertising, purchasing supplies, developing and pricing their products, serving customers, making a profit, basic accounting, opening a bank account, and ultimately giving back to the community. All materials are available in English and Spanish at www.LemonadeDay.org.

Source: PR Newswire

But one eight-year-old from Asheville, N.C., found that there are limits to where you can sell the cookies. Her dream of selling 12,000 boxes of those cookies to send her entire troop to summer camp has been dashed by a technicality that’s left a lot of people scratching their heads.

Earlier this year, Wild Freeborn (yes, that’s her real name) posted a YouTube video, with the help of her dad, with an enthusiastic pitch: “Buy cookies! And they’re yummy!” They set up an online order system where customers in their area could purchase Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Samoas. Within two weeks, 700 orders came in.

But Wild Freeborn’s e-commerce plan hit a major snag. The Girl Scout Cookie Program, which according to Newsweek “bills itself as the largest program to teach entrepreneurship to young girls,” says it prohibits all online sales of its cookies — primarily because of safety reasons. Its guidelines state that Internet use should only be for advertising. “When we sell door to door we always have adults accompanying girls,” Denise Pesich, spokeswoman for Girl Scouts of the USA told the “Today Show.” “In this case, we have a very concerned father overseeing the process, and we know she’s relatively safe. But not in all cases is that true.”

As a result, the Freeborns had to take down their advance-order site and the YouTube video as ordered by the Girl Scouts’ national organization. Bryan Freeborn, chief operating officer of Web-design company Top Floor Studio, says that Girl Scout’s policy sends mixed signals and is confusing. He told Matt Lauer of the “Today Show” last week, “We knew there was a policy that it wasn’t OK, but we thought we were taking orders and promoting the cookies and we seemed to think that was within the spirit of the rules. The whole intent was to help my daughter meet her goals, utilizing up-to-date marketing principles.”

Those principles are something that the Girl Scouts have known and encouraged in recent years – but only to a point. A New York Times article two years ago told the trend of some Girl Scout troops all over the country setting up so-called cookie academies and cookie colleges to teach marketing, selling and business skills to girls 11 and over. One 14-year-old in Chicago used email messages to snag cookie orders, selling 1,510 in 2006.

Seems like Wild Freeborn’s just ahead of her time. She even has a Facebook group with 280 members: “Help one girl sell 12,000 Girl Scout cookies in Asheville!”

Does the current rule go against its mission to encourage Girl Scouts’ entrepreneurial spirit? Or do you think the safety concerns are legitimate and trump marketing online efforts?

Source: Wall St Journal

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.

Young entrepreneur Ben Behrouzi

The moment Behnam Behrouzi saw his first computer as a teenager, he was hooked.

Then he heard descriptions of the “Information Superhighway,” and he became a dreamer.

“The ideas just began to click the moment I was introduced to the Internet,” said Behrouzi, who lives in Danville. “I dug into all the possibilities that surrounded it right away, and I loved it.”

Now 28, Behrouzi has started over 20 businesses. His latest venture, Pleasanton-based DotNext, helps create Internet companies.

“There are still a tremendous number of ideas out there that need to be developed,” he said. “My job is to help turn the best ones into something people will use.”

The search engine LeapFish is a recent creation to come out of DotNext.

Some people think Leapfish is an attempt to sink Google, the leading search engine, but Behrouzi insists that’s not the case. The note, “It’s OK, you’re not cheating on Google,” tries to underline Behrouzi’s point.

“I’m not naive in that I think people are going to drop Google,” he said. “It’s just some people are going to like what LeapFish has to offer better.”

The purpose of LeapFish is to serve as a one-stop site where people can be exposed to not only the sites a Google, Yahoo or MSN might find, but also images, videos, news and blogs they might not know are out there.

“If a person searches for a celebrity on LeapFish, they might find a video on them that they normally wouldn’t have seen,” he said.Behrouzi has helped build more than 20 Internet companies. Besides LeapFish, others include Reply.com and iMotors.

For Behrouzi, being the head of a successful company in the Bay Area is a remarkable story. Especially when he considers the path taken to get there.

Born in Iran, Behrouzi and his family were forced out of the country because of “vicious” religious persecution when he was about 4.

“If I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have had much of an opportunity to get higher in my life,” he said. “Life would have been made very difficult for me.”

Smuggled at night, he traveled for several days through the desert to Pakistan.

“We could hear gunshots everywhere,” he said. “It was an ugly period in my life, but we got through it.”

After about a year in Pakistan, they found people they knew from Alaska, and when he was 6, the family came to the United States. Eventually, they came to California and settled in Modesto.

Then, his life changed at about 15, when he was exposed to the Internet.

Instead of paper routes or working for a small business, Behrouzi immediately looked for an opportunity to make money through the Web.

“I just knew that I wanted to start a business that people would want,” he said.

His first Web-based endeavor was an online coupon business he ran from a modem in his bedroom. It was a simple concept where businesses signed up and could put menus, graphics and coupons online.

Often Behrouzi would go to school in a coat and tie so he could set up meetings with businesses during lunch.

“I tried to look as spiffy as I could so I could pull off 17 or 18, even though I was 15 or 16,” he said.

Behrouzi moved to San Ramon his senior year in high school and went to UC Davis, where he started to create companies such as Reply.

“I would start up one company, and then another idea would come up, and I’d start another,” he said. “I enjoyed the sense that I was building things.”

Behrouzi won’t disclose his net worth, but he says he put $2 million of his own money into the launch of DotNext.

Behrouzi realizes his life’s path hasn’t been conventional. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve had my successes and I’ve had my failures, but you need both of those to keep your life in forward motion,” he said. “I guess that’s what makes me a serial entrepreneur.”

Read the full story in Inside Bay Area

Young entrepreneur Ryan Smith

An area artist is making a name for himself as he shares his craft with people around the community.

From an idea to a sketch on a piece of paper, his work has gone from coast to coast.  This young entrepreneur is working well beyond his years.

Ryan Smith is still in high school.  Despite the economy, more young artists are taking a chance with their work and finding success along the way.

Smith is making a living from right inside his own apartment.

“I kind of wanted to shake things up and break the mold,” he said.

Smith, 18, is a senior at Hillcrest and trying to finish high school — all while running a business he started two years ago.

“I didn’t want to be the average kid anymore.  Because, I really didn’t find anything impressive about being the average kid that does everything by the book,” said Smith.

Smith’s clothing line uses his own trade mark design and is now being sold in a handful of states.

“But I didn’t get into the clothing line for the money.  I’ve actually released a hat before, I actually didn’t really make money off of it, but when I get people saying ‘oh, I saw this kid wearing your trucker hat,’ it was, that was worth it,” he said.

Leaders with the Springfield Regional Arts Council says local artist, like Smith are getting younger and younger.

“Young people aren’t as inhibited, especially if they haven’t been at home.  They are more adventurous.  I would say, they’re more daring and they don’t have the inhibition an older person has, the fear of failure, and the fear of success.  They don’t have that yet so, they’re willing to just go out there and do it,” said Sandra CH Smith, executive director of the Springfield Regional Arts Council.

In recent years, the council has beefed up its programs just to help young artist express themselves while helping them with their studies.

“The arts help kids with Math, English, Science because it opens that side of the brain and so the kids do better on their math tests — if they have an art class of some sort,” he said.

Through his company’s website, Smith says he gets a lot of requests for not only his clothes, but his other work.

He draws, paints, shoots video and is a photographer.  So he stays pretty busy.  If you would like to check out his work just head over to www.rottix.com

When Smith graduates from high school, he eventually wants to move his business out of his apartment and into a real studio where he can have more space to create his clothes and other art work.

Source: Ozarks First

Young entrepreneurs Annaka Roscoe, Justin Lenehan, Maggie Abbott and Molly Bowes.

Annaka Roscoe stands with her homemade picture frames, Justin Lenehan poses with his treasure boxes, Maggie Abbott holds her creation of flip flop hooks and Molly Bowes presents her original idea of a Swail.

PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

Nine year-old Madie Parker shows off her dog treats that she made on her own.

PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

Lukas Calhoun flies his homemade wooden airplane

PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

He’s getting his money’s worth. David McLean supports young entrepreneurs and buys a dragster from Lukas Calhoun.

These are a few of the creative products that the youngsters in Grades 3 to 5 came up with during a March Break camp for young entrepreneurs run by Enterprise Carleton.

Molly Bowes was one of the many budding future business owners at the Woodstock Farm Market on Friday morning. She was attempting to sell her original idea, called a Swail to potential customers.

“A Swail is a stuffed animal that I made up. I just thought of the idea one day and thought it was a good one,” said Bowes.

From stuffed animals to dog treats that even humans can eat, these kids thought of it all.

Young entrepreneur Madie Parker

Nine-year-old Madie Parker came up with the idea of dog treats for dogs of all sizes, and if a customer wanted, they could take the hand-painted box the treats came in with them … for a price of course.

“I got a dog treat cookbook and thought that maybe not very many people would know how to make dog treats, so I decided to try it out, ” said Parker. “And even people can eat them because I made them with all natural ingredients.”

Katie Goodine is the youth officer for Enterprise Carleton and couldn’t help but have a smile on her face as she watched the youngsters sell their products to customers.

This is the second time that Goodine has been involved in this type of camp such as this and says she would love to continue with programs such as this.

“It’s been a great week with lots of hard work and fun and it makes it all worth while when the kids come here today and put what they learned into practice,” she said.

Goodine partnered with Joanne Boone, the community co-ordinator for Southern Carleton Elementary School and together they made the camp a great learning experience for the kids.

“The kids learn a lot about business skills like how to run their own business, know how to write a business plan. They met with a loan officer, and took out loans in order to start up their businesses and also learned about profit and loss and how to deal with customers,” said Boone. “Something like this gives them good people skills and gives them a spot to have a creativity outlet, which is huge.”

Young entrepreneur Lukas Calhoun

Lukas Calhoun is the proud creator of what he deems a “one of a kind dragster.”

“I got the model from a kit and the dragsters can even move on their own, it’s a special feature,” said Calhoun.

Not only did Calhoun says he was having fun he really enjoyed selling his product to customers.

“It’s a great time,” he said.

Goodine hopes that when the camp is all said and done, that the kids will be able to take some of the skills that they learned and hang onto them for life.

“I’m hoping that the entrepreneurial experience sticks with them and they can take that away with them,” she said.

She explained that a lot of the kids had the experience of making their own products before and gave the example of one girl who made jewelry before and decided to stick with that and sell her jewelry as a product.

“I hope that now that they realize how easy it is to make their own products, they’ll be able to take that away with them,” said Goodine.

Both Goodine and Boone agree that while the week with the kids has been exhausting, it was all worth it to see them come out on top of the business world and showcase their talents.

Source: Bugle Observer

Described as “totally unique”, the collection made between 1990 and 1999 included posters, Happy Meal boxes and toys, as well as limited edition cups and shop-front displays that were never available to the public.

Last night bidders from across the world battled for parts of the 5,000-piece coveted collection – believed to be the largest of its kind in the UK – in a sale at Unique Auctions in Lincoln.

The grand total raised by the auction came in at £8,130, with lots going to buyers from the UK, Germany, and America.

The cash has been pocketed by 11-year-old Luke Underwood, from South Clifton, on the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire border, who has been the proud owner of the collection for four years.

He said he was sad to let go of the hoard but was looking forward to his next big buy.

Luke said: “I didn’t really want to sell it but now I’m planning on saving the money so I can buy something else like this and make some money.

“I want to be a businessman when I’m older. I like going to car boot sales with my dad and buying things then selling them for more.”

Source: This Is Nottingham

The 16-year-old entrepreneur came up with the concept while waiting for 15 minutes in the icy cold, only to discover that he had missed the bus. “There has to be a better way to go about it,” he thought to himself.

On a recent evening in February, Forkosh presented the Bus Alert! working prototype that he built himself to a panel of judges at the first annual Gryfe-Levy Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The competition was held at Touro College’s Graduate School of Business in Lower Manhattan and sponsored by Touro’s Lander College for Men division.

The Bus Alert! business plan won Forkosh the grand prize of $1,500, beating out 14 other finalists from eight yeshiva high schools in the New York metropolitan area.

Forkosh, a full-time student who moonlights as a mechanics, robotics and electronics consultant and has won several robot design contest, “blew everybody away,” says Larry Bellman, director of Touro College’s Entrepreneurial Institute, and organizer of this event. “The market is potentially awesome. He had all kinds of statistics. He’s a future business person who is destined to be very successful.”

Second prize ($1,000) went to Joseph Benun, a junior at Yeshiva of Flatbush who wants to open a chain of vegetarian restaurants known as The VeggieBar. Yaacov Sclusselberg and Michael Saltzman, both seniors at Rambam, came in third with their idea for a medical alert watch called LifeBand that monitors a person’s pulse and blood pressure.

Source: Jewish Week

Successful young hotshots from all over the UK flew in to share their stories and offer tips on becoming a business success to the 15-26-year olds from local schools, colleges and universities.

Speakers included, Tre Azam, the controversial star of BBC’s The Apprentice, who was joined by top teenage author and blogger jellyellie, Dragon’s Den success story Imran Hakim whose iTeddy has made him a recognised face, and Scotland’s entrepreneur of the year Mick Jackson.

Antony Hutton, who went from winning reality TV show Big Brother to now working on the launch of his own chain of hairdressers in the North-east, and Ajaz Ahmed, founder of Freeserve, also spoke.

Tre told the summit: “I walked into the Job Centre and said I was a young entrepreneur who had once been a millionaire, and a job that would get me £40,000 or so would do. Once she’d stopped laughing, she said ‘you might have been a millionaire but you’ve barely passed your A levels – where are you going to find a job like that?’

“I’d never been interested in learning until that point, but on that day I enrolled on a training course. Now, I see the value of learning.”

Entrepreneurs’ Forum chief executive Carole Beverley said: “I was overwhelmed that we attracted over 1,300 young people. It just goes to show that the entrepreneurial spark is alive in this region.”

Headlined by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, Cloud 9 was supported by regional development agency One North East, The Prince’s Trust, Make Your Mark, Young Enterprise North East, RTC North, Big Ideas Youth Challenge and North East Enterprise Bond.

Source: Evening Gazette

Young entrepreneur Dana Laurie presents her business plan.

The nonprofit National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship hosted 23 aspiring entrepreneurs from around the country at its 6th Youth Entrepreneurship Expo in New York, in partnership with the Goldman Sachs Foundation. The high school students have crafted their business plans over months of business camps and competitions.

One of the winners, Dana Laurie, is launching an organic cosmetics line called Purus Cosmetics. She already has a product demo and plans to turn it into a real business. Laurie hails from Bayside, Queens, and won most innovative business idea, most promising concept, and best overall presentation and business plan.

This isn’t just feel-good stuff. One NFTE veteran, Jasmine Lawrence, has a thriving hair care line that’s sold in Wal-Mart. She started when she was 13; by last year, at age 17, Lawrence had sales over $1 million. She’s been a finalist for our Best Young Entrepreneurs two years running. So clearly, successful businesses can grow out of high school business plans.

More of NFTE’s winners:

Florian Koenigsberger, FloC: Urban graphic t-shirts
New York
Awards: Best Marketing Materials, Best Overall Communication, Best Sales Strategy, Best Elevator Pitch

Crystal Harper, Island Treats: Snacks with a Caribbean twist
Brooklyn, New York
Award: Best Competitive Advantage

Raquel Escobar and Irwin Tejeda, Realist Grocery Shopping: Grocery delivery Service
Brooklyn, New York and Bronx, New York
Award: Most Civic-Minded Business

Melanie Arroyo, Darius Grayer, Angel Howard, Daja Jones and Gloria Santos
Business: Tasty’s, Healthy sweet treats for diabetics
Monroe, NJ; Kansas City, MO; Newark, NJ; and Los Angeles
Award: Best Booth Display

Read the full story in Business Week.

Jacob Nyenhuis was 18 when he died in a Sept. 24, 2006, traffic accident while traveling from his St. Simons Island home to the University of Georgia during a heavy rainstorm.

The UGa freshman, who at age 15 already had turned successful real estate deals, dreamed of building a company focused on “compassionate service,” said his parents, Michael and Sandy Nyenhuis.

Although devastated, his parents and his sister, Raleigh, were determined that his spirit and dreams live on. Two months after he died, they established The J9 Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization that provides scholarships, training and opportunities to mentor.

The foundation’s mission is to inspire a global movement of “compassionate entrepreneurs, those who utilize their God-given gifts to improve their own lives and the lives of others,” Michael Nyenhuis said.

“This isn’t charity,” he said. “This is an investment in a successful business idea. It’s a partnership about the power of business to transform lives and communities.”

By investing in the future of people a half- world away, some Glynn Academy students are banking on the ideals of a young entrepreneur who believed business should be about making someone else’s life better.

Members of the high school’s Future Business Leaders of America, Phi Beta Lambda chapter, are investing $500 in a small shop that provides basic groceries and household items for residents of several rural villages in western Kenya.

In return, the 68-student club will own 15 percent of the business run by a 24-year-old woman working to help her community rise from poverty to become economically self-sufficient.

The business students are participating in the J9 program established to honor Jacob Nyenhuis.

Michael Nyenhuis is president of Brunswick-based MAP International, a nonprofit relief and development agency. The foundation isn’t affiliated with MAP, but its humanitarian work inspired Jacob Nyenhuis and helped shape his vision of what he wanted to do with his life.

He accompanied his father to Kenya and South America, where MAP provides medicines and other relief to people living in the world’s most impoverished communities. Kenya was his son’s favorite place, Nyenhuis said.

“Jacob was very deeply touched by the poverty he saw, but also the joy he saw in the people he met in Kenya,” Nyenhuis said. “Jacob once said there were not enough good people making a lot of money and sharing it. He wanted to have a big company and make a lot of money, but he wanted to share the money, not hoard it.”

Through the foundation and its partner, Nairobi-based Community Aid International, the FBLA chapter is investing in a shop run by Carolyne Kbaka in the Ajigo Marketplace in Kenya’s Bondo District on the shore of Lake Victoria. The district is one of the poorest areas in Kenya.

Equivalent to about 35,000 Kenyan shillings, the students’ investment will buy five bags of sugar, seven bags of wheat, six cartons of cooking fat and five bales of salt for Kbaka’s store.

The students chose the business after analyzing business plans including financial data submitted by Kbaka and two others seeking investment capital through the program. They also focused on details from the entrepreneurs about how their business will benefit their community.

FBLA chapter members discussed the applications for 90 minutes before unanimously deciding to invest in Kbaka’s shop.

“We looked at how she’s excelled in her business so far. We also looked at how, by helping her business, she will be able to help other businesses and the people who come to her shop,” said chapter reporter Whitney Baker, 18, a senior planning a career in corporate law.

They also considered Kbaka’s situation as a wife and mother of two young children working to succeed in a society where women traditionally have had few business opportunities, said chapter President Ashley Washington, also an 18-year-old senior.

“I felt she needed a little more help than the two men who applied. I also think her willingness to give up 15 percent of her business was really nice, especially since the others were offering 8 percent and 10 percent,” said Washington, who is considering a career in fashion or public relations.

The students are getting real-world experience as venture capitalists to go along with their business studies in the classroom. The chapter will receive a portion of Kbaka’s profit, which it will re-invest in future businesses through the program, said Glenn Etheridge, business teacher and chapter adviser.

Etheridge said the students will get quarterly reports from Kbaka. He also hopes they can talk directly to her at some point, said Etheridge, who was one of Jacob Nyenhuis’ teachers.

A few weeks after his son’s death, Michael Nyenhuis stood by his grave, alone in his grief.

“I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do now? What would Jacob have done?’ Then it came to me, ‘Make Jacob’s dream a reality.’ I think God gave me the idea to start Jacob’s foundation,” he said.

Michael and Sandy Nyenhuis, a teacher and private tutor, have dedicated the foundation to their son’s business sense, his compassionate heart and his unwavering desire, as he once told a friend, “to do something every day to make someone else’s life a little better,” his father said.

Its name, “J9,” is shorthand for his name: the J from Jacob and 9 from Nyenhuis, which is pronounced “Nine-hice.” The teen had planned to use that name for his future real estate development company.

The business club students took up Jacob Nyenhuis’ mission this year as part of a pilot program that, if successful, could be expanded to Brunswick High School and other FBLA chapters nationwide.

Source: Jacksonville News

Young entrepreneur Raquel Fuentes, 16, fries up her specialty called "empanadillas", a Puerto Rican dish, in her aunt's kitchen in Cleveland.

As a student in the E-City entrepreneurial program last school year, Cleveland’s Raquel Fuentes had to open and run her own business. The 16-year-old SuccessTech Academy junior created Comida Sabrosa, which translates into “tasty food.” Having learned to cook from her grandmother, she brought in samples of her signature dish, empanadillas, for her classmates and teachers. They loved them, and began buying them — lots of them — for $2 each. Soon, she was spending hours in her kitchen, in addition to keeping up with the schoolwork needed to stay an honor student. A year later, she has saved a decent chunk of money for college, where she hopes to eventually study law. She recently answered a few questions from PDQ’s John Campanelli.
What exactly are empanadillas?

Empanadillas are beef turnovers. They’re usually made with ground beef cooked with sofrito, which is a mixture of different seasoning that a lot of Hispanics use in their cooking. Then the beef is put into a dough, which is fried.

How healthful are they?

If you’re on a diet, I’d stay away from them. (laughing) That’s what makes them so good. They are very, very, very fattening.
How many have you cooked up at one time?

About 120.
How long does it take?

It takes a long time. When I first started, I was in the kitchen all the time. It takes a good two to three to 3½ hours, depending on whether my mom and sister want to help.
Do you pay them?

They get empanadillas. As long as they get one, they’re happy. I tried to charge my mom, but she wasn’t having it. (laughing)
What’s the key to making a good empanadilla?

I think the meat you use, and how you cook them. I hate greasy empanadillas. I’ve been to other Hispanic restaurants and I’ve had the empanadillas they’ve made and I hate how they’re greasy and nobody took the time to cook them the right way. Mine are not greasy.
What has running your own business taught you about life?

It’s taught me a lot. It’s taught me that either you’re going to be your own boss and make your own money or you’re going to spend the rest of your life working for somebody else. And that education is the only way out.
What kind of law do you want to specialize in?

Either criminal justice or women’s rights.
Why those?

I just feel like women are looked at like they’re secondary, even though we’re in the 21st century. A woman police officer isn’t looked at the same as a man police officer. I don’t think that’s right. A woman running for president, not a lot of people agreed with that. Which I don’t think is fair. It should all be equal.
Have you ever thought about a career in politics?

I could see myself doing it one day, but I’m not 100 percent sure. … In April we have class elections and I plan on running for senior class president.
Have you started your campaign?

I put the word out there to my class. Everybody knows I’m going to run but I won’t start campaigning until April. I can’t officially put up posters or anything until April.
Are you going to exchange empanadillas for votes?

I actually didn’t think about that. (laughing) That’s a good idea.

Raquel Fuentes’ Beef and Cheese Empanadillas

Sofrito
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning
1 cup cilantro
1 clove chopped garlic
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Dough (see cook’s notes)

3 cups flour
10 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
½ cup milk
½ cup water

Cook’s note: To save time, you can also use a store-bought dough such as Goya Discos.

Filling

½ pound ground beef
2 cups sofrito
1 tablespoon shredded cheddar cheese per empanadilla

Grind sofrito ingredients in a food processor.

In a large skillet, brown and drain ground beef. Mix in sofrito.

Sift flour into a bowl, and add salt and sugar. With knife, cut shortening into mix. Add liquids and beat until a soft dough is formed. Sprinkle some flour on the working area. Roll the dough thinly and cut into circles 3 to 4 inches across.

In a deep frying pan, heat 2-inch-deep vegetable oil. Place 1½ tablespoons of beef filling and cheese in the center of each circle. Fold the circle in half and press edges with a fork.

Drop empanadillas into heated oil and fry on each side until brown.

Source: The Plain Dealer

Young Entrepreneur Blaine Mickens

Six Northeast Ohio teen entrepreneurs were profiled in “Who’s Your Boss?”, a new production developed by WEAO Channel 49.

It aired at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21.

Adult host Jeff Blanchard works for each young entrepreneur at jobs such as painting homes, sewing fur costumes and more.

The following teens were featured:

• Adrian Lindsey, 17, a senior at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in Stow and resident of Akron. Adrian created All-Net Sak, a nylon basketball carrier.

• Blaine Mickens, an 18-year-old Clevelander who is a recent graduate of Whitney Young High School in Cleveland. Mickens owns a landscaping and residential painting company.

• Jake Penwell, 19, of Shelby, is a freshman at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He runs disc jockey company.

• Naomi and Noemi Romero, 16-year-old twins and seniors at John Hay High School in Cleveland, own their own fur-suit business.

• Jaizhou Yang, 17, a senior at University School in Hunting Valley and resident of Beachwood, wants to capitalize on video game trends by holding and promoting video game tournaments.

Image: Peggy Turbutt/The Plain Dealer

Young entrepreneur, Tanner Strunz

Two Wisconsin high school seniors have been named “Young Entrepreneurs of the Year” by the Department of Commerce and the Department of Public Instruction. The pair, Caleb Taplin of Ellsworth High School and Tanner Strunz of Brodhead High School, were recognized during National Entrepreneurship Week USA, February 21 – 28, 2009.

“I am delighted to announce the winners of this honor,” said Commerce Secretary Richard J. Leinenkugel. “Caleb and Tanner are both great examples of Wisconsin’s best and brightest young entrepreneurial spirit. Wisconsin’s economic future depends on the discipline and desire that these young entrepreneurs possess.”

“As Caleb and Tanner know, successful entrepreneurs use 21st century skills like self-direction, financial literacy, communication, and creativity,” said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster. “Congratulations to our 2009 Young Entrepreneurs for developing abilities that will continue to contribute to their own well-being and that of our society, for years to come.”

Taplin, of Ellsworth, is involved in the design of a line of clothing in operating Clarity Clothing. Strunz, of Brodhead, is the owner of Strunz Lawn Care, which provides lawn care, snow plowing and tree removal. They will each receive a recognition plaque signed by Governor Jim Doyle, as well as a free business counseling session through a Wisconsin Small Business Development Center near them, and an opportunity to receive business mentorship.

Strunz, who is now a 17-year-old owner of his own business, was a bored kid in the summer of 2006. “My uncle asked me if I’d like to mow his lawn to make some money. I used a push mower and made a little cash and I liked it.”

By the next summer, he had six yards to mow and decided to add snow removal for all of those clients. Last year he took steps to grow his business. “I decided I needed to get my name out there. Dad said he sees other lawn care businesses with sweatshirts and T-shirts, so I had some of those made and got business cards and did some advertising,” he said.

His clientele more than doubled and he added some commercial clients, including a local bank and car dealership with 2 acres in need of snow clearing. He also added several clients over the state line into Illinois. One of those homes is in a gated community where he’s meeting with management and may add five to eight yards to his to-do list.

Tanner said he’s done most of the work himself to this point, just hiring a few friends to help out when he wanted a vacation. But with the work he’s lined up for next year, he plans on taking on an employee, one of his best friends who has done some work with him in the past.

When he started Strunz Lawn Care, he drove to his clients’ homes on the lawn tractor, towing his push mower on a small custom trailer, since he didn’t have his driver’s license. Now he can drive his pickup truck and tow the new lawn tractor he purchased.

Read the full story in Wisfarmer.

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy that this 17-year-old junior is participating in after school is giving her a taste of the business world.

Whether or not there’s the next Bill Gates among them doesn’t seem to matter.

“Be proud of what it is you are doing. Have that passion,” said art teacher Nancee Sanders, who is helping run the academy.

Plenty of enthusiasm was evident at the first of these weekly Tuesday sessions. The group also meets every other Thursday after school for field trips or to hear presentations from members of the local business community.

Sanders told how, when she was 8 growing up in Livingston County, she ventured into the business world, selling coffee and cake to ice fishermen on Conesus Lake.

Many of the students came to the class with ideas of what they wanted to accomplish.

“I want to make jewelry from recycled materials,” said Ricca Prasad, a 17-year-old junior from Victor.

Money made from the sale of this jewelry, Prasad went on to explain, could help survivors of the genocide in Darfur. She said she would work through an international group.

At least several of the students have already dabbled in the business world.

Ninth-grader Ford Filer fixes computers and, in case anyone wonders if he’s too young to do the job, he has his own business card: “Ford Filer, F2 Technical Solutions.”

The 14-year-old wants to form a “geek squad,” offering computer services cheaper than his grown-up competitors.

Meanwhile, Billy Boyce, a 17-year-old senior from Farmington, is eager to help his dad expand the family’s farm.

Source: Democrat and Chronicle

Young Australian entrepreneur, Jemma Nicoll.

“Money making doesn’t all come at once, you’ve got to love what you do – so a recession won’t stop me from working,” says 17-year-old Jemma Nicoll who started Inspire Dance Academy at the age of 16.

Alana Maybus started an online gift store when she was 10 “just for something to do”. She now has customers across Australia.

Growing up in rural Victoria, Alana Maybus, 12, started her business to squash boredom and in the process kick-started her career.

Her business Alana Designs sells handmade jewellery, T-shirts, and gift cards online – “products for girls made by girls”.

“I have orders from mums who don’t know what to buy for their daughters, and also from people my own age,” says Alana. “All my friends think it’s really cool.”

And 16-year-old Mathew Carpenter might be studying for the HSC, but that hasn’t stopped him from starting his own consumer electronics business.

They are among a driven group of young Australians setting up their own businesses before they hit the big 2-0.

And they have one response to those hit by the financial crisis: harden up.

“You have to be ruthless in business – but that would be the same even if we weren’t facing a recession,” says 19-year-old Nick Ferguson who started Sustain Fitness at the age of 17.

Their hot tip: start a business now.

Read more in Perth Now.

Lachy currently runs two businesses: book review web site, Uncoverr.com and blog XHTML/CSS service, PSDtoWordPress.com. Lachy calls himself a web developer who started off as an XHTML/CSS coder three or four years ago.

What is the startup story behind your business? When did it start?

I started when I was 10 or 11, I think. My granddad taught me HTML and I became quite good; I learned about CSS on W3Schools and then I wanted to find out how to make my site live. I found out about free hosts and learned from there.

I started off taking client work and converting PSDs to XHTML/CSS. I made quite a bit of money and so started other sites, sold them, and moved on. Now my two main projects are Uncoverr.com which SitePoint has been nice enough to sponsor, and PSDtoWordPress.com.

Your parents — how do they feel about having a 14-year-old entrepreneur in the house?

Heh, they’re fine about it. It was a bit of trouble convincing them to let me use their PayPal account at first, but then my mum registered one in her name that I can use myself. They leave me to it; I guess to them it’s just like me having a part-time job.

With school and social life, you must be busy. What does an average day (during school term) consist of?

I’ll wake up at 7.00 a.m. and leave for school by 8.00 a.m. After school I usually play sport for a couple of hours, and then relax until dinner time.

Then, once I’ve had dinner, I’ll usually do two hours of work, as well as chat to my friends over Instant Message and on Facebook.

Read the full interview from The Sitepoint Tribune.

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Young entrepreneurs from Kustomize sell their wares.

Young entrepreneurs from Chace Community School were using their best sales pitches on shoppers at Spitalfield Market on Friday as part of a national competition.

The group of pupils have set up a company, Kustomize, and were given the opportunity to trade for a day at the famous market.

Kustomize were up against nine other London schools taking part in the Young Enterprise London Inner City Young Entrepreneurs’ Competition. A total of 40 schools are competing.

With the support of their teachers and business volunteers from local communities, the pupils learn through hands on experience what it takes to be an entrepreneur and how to run their own company.

The students elect a board of directors, raise share capital, market, finance and then sell their product and services in their communities.

The sponsors, Deutsche Bank and the London Chamber of Commerce, sent representatives to judge the traders in three categories, along with the Spitalfields market manager.

Kustomize did not win any prizes but the team have the chance to try again at another competition next month.

Charity Young Enterprise London is the UK’s largest organisation promoting entrepreneurship to young people in schools throughout the capital.

Source: The Enfield Independent

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Young entrepreneurs learning business skills from Girls' Biz.

Girls’ Biz teaches girls what it takes to become an entrepreneur — an experience that provides a number of lessons along the way.

Seven girls are involved in the organization, which guides them through choosing a company name, selecting products, marketing them, handling the revenues and choosing a charity to receive some of the money. The girls also learn about various careers and at the end of the yearlong program, they will take a trip with the money they earned.

Michelle Morency, a sixth-grader at O’Keeffe Middle School, said she liked her networking experiences with the Madison chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, which is a sponsor of Girls’ Biz.

“They were surprised you know all this stuff about business,” she said. “I think running your own business would be fun.”

Alexis Johnson, a sixth-grader at Sennett Middle School, said this year the girls chose the name, YES, which stands for Young Entrepreneurs Succeed.

Girls’ Biz targets girls in grades six through eight, especially minority girls. It was started in 1996 by a committee of Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs, the predecessor of the Madison chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

The Girl Scouts of Black Hawk Council is a co-sponsor and the girls meet at the council office as Troop 1099, a special troop that revolves around the entrepreneurial activity.

While some of the girls already have an entrepreneurial streak, they start with basically no business knowledge, said director Sally Hestad.

“It is a pretty ambitious program,” she said. “They learn about planning and they learn about bringing an idea into reality.”

This year they are selling spice blends from White Jasmine of Madison, chocolate sauce from Gail Ambrosius Chocolatier of Madison and soap, lip balm and lotion from LuSa Organics of Viroqua. Recently, they also made special gift tags for Valentine’s Day. They feature a replica of an old key and messages like “key to my heart” and “key to joy, peace and happiness.”

The girls have sold their items in a variety of venues and learned tough lessons about sales as they watched people take their samples but not purchase. That was particularly difficult for the girls who felt they spent a lot of time on preparations and thought everyone should be buying.

They also learned how expenses reduce profits, said Bailey Bennett, a Sennett sixth-grader.

So far they have grossed about $3,900 while expenses, which include unsold items, total about $2,900.

Source: Wisconsin State Journal

The Young Enterprise trade fair, held in The Shires shopping centre in Trowbridge, was hailed a great success by organisers.

The teams of students from schools including St Augustine’s Catholic College in Trowbridge and George Ward School in Melksham have created their own companies with marketable products which they were able to sell to members of the public over the weekend.

The Young Enterprise initiative will see all the teams compete in an area final at Devizes Town Hall on May 5 and the winning team will go on to the county finals where they will compete against others in Wiltshire.

The winner of the county final will go on to the south west regional finals and the successful team will then compete nationally.

Ian Storey, a member of the Young Enterprise board for central Wiltshire, was at Saturday’s event.

He said: “It went down very well. One woman, who had been a pupil at George Ward School stopped to tell us she wished there had been something like this when she was a pupil.”

Although all the teams will compete in the areas finals, the overall winner of the trade fair was Entree from St Augustine’s, who make and sell shaped and engraved signs.

Mr Storey said one woman, who said she owned several guest houses, stopped and bought several signs on the day.

Entree also secured the under 16s title, while the over 16s winners were Thread Shed, from George Ward, who make personalised British made garments, while Clix, also from George Ward, won the Labyrinth Service Excellence Cup.

Mr Storey said: “The standard of the pupils’ presentations at Saturday’s fair was extremely high and the judges found it very difficult indeed to pick a winner, but the winners have to be chosen.

“Everyone enjoyed taking part and some of the teams managed to sell quite a considerable amounts of goods, which gives them a lot of satisfaction.”

Source: The Wiltshire Times

Young entrepreneurs making their mark with a tenner.

Entrepreneurial school students are getting a leg up with the relaunch of the Make Your Mark with a Tenner campaign.

The national enterprise competition, which will loan 20,000 young people £10 each, was launched outside the Bank of England in blizzard-like conditions last week. Attendants included Michelle Dewberry, former winner of The Apprentice.

Oli Barrett, entrepreneur and founder of Make Your Mark with a Tenner, said: “As the snow falls over Britain, I’m expecting a flurry of activity from everyone taking part in Make Your Mark with a Tenner. If I was starting today, I’d be wondering how I could save time and energy by running errands through the snow.  On a lighter note, I might be tempted to set up a snowball equivalent of a coconut shy and charge players 50p a time to win something!”

The competition challenges participants to make as much profit and social impact as they can in just one month with their £10 loan. Once the students have repaid their loan, they can choose to re-invest any profits into their business idea, give them to a good cause, or just keep them for their own use.

The competition is supported by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and funded by entrepreneurs Peter Jones and Michael and Xochi Birch, the founders of social networking site Bebo.

Source: Startups.co.uk

Pupils at Lincoln Minster School have set up their own firm called Bubble.

Their product range includes scented soaps, stress balls, wheat and lavender infused neck warmers and relaxation CDs.

The company was one of seven which set out their wares in Lincoln’s Waterside Shopping Centre on Saturday during the Young Enterprise Trade Fair.

“We all sat down to decide what products we’d like to sell and as we had exams coming up we thought products to relieve stress would sell well,” said pupil Ben Matthews (17).

“There is stress in everyone’s lives whether you’re at school or at work.

“We were amazed when we sold out of neck warmers and stress balls at the Christmas Market.”

The fair offered the companies a real taste of the challenges of selling goods to the public.

“We’ve discovered that there is a fine line between badgering people and allowing them to browse,” Ben said.

Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Lincoln, David and Sandra Gratrick, officially opened the fair, which forms part of the Young Enterprise experience of year 11 and 12 pupils running real companies for the academic year.

During the year the businesses compete in area finals, with the aims of reaching the county, regional and ultimately the national finals.

Source: The Lincolnshire Echo

Avril Pevers, Orla Hurley, TV3 broadcaster Collette Fitzpatrick and Amy Culloty at the Young Entrepreneurs Programme Business Boot Camp.

Some 650 young people heard from leading Irish business figures at the second annual Young Entrepreneur Programme Business Boot Camp.

The boot camp is spearheaded by businessman Jerry Kennelly, the founder of Stockbyte, the Institute of Technology Tralee and Shannon Development.

The students from senior cycle secondary schools and the Institute of Technology will present their business ideas over the coming months, with help from local business people, to win a trip to San Francisco and Silicon Valley along with their teacher.

Cathal O’Connell, founder of Paddy Wagon tours and owner of Paddy’s Palace Hostels, said his business was thriving, up by 20 per cent in January alone.

“When you have a recession and no job, you may as well backpack around the world,” he said.

Hotels were cutting rates to lower than a hostel could afford but he was staying ahead by offering free bus rides from Dublin airport or a free extra night. “Do something different – that’s the main thing,” Mr O’Connell said.

When he started out he found his idea for bus tours was dismissed .“In the good times the investor should be cautious and go for it when people are scared,” he said.

In an interview on stage with TV3’s Collette Fitzpatrick, managing director of The Irish Times Ltd, Maeve Donovan, said the biggest transformation in the newspaper industry had been the internet. The Irish Times was one of the first newspapers in Europe to go online, she said. While there had been concern that online publication would kill circulation, it could actually drive circulation, because the paper reached a wider audience.

Essentially, The Irish Times was about being an honest, reliable and trusted news resource for its community in an age where news came from myriad resources.

One of the keys to success was not so much inspiration as hard work and application, Ms Donovan advised.

“The more doors you knock on, the more product you will sell,” she said.

“Time ends all recessions,” she reminded the young audience.

Read the full story in The Irish Times.

In the past seven years, the 20-year-old twin brothers – both juniors at the University of Illinois – have formed more than a dozen such ventures, with products ranging from online music to sports apparel to parking-place reservations.

“Since I was very young, I’ve been passionate about starting something from nothing,” said Ryan Clark, who’s enrolled in the UI’s Hoeft Technology & Management Program with his brother.

So far, the Clarks’ most successful enterprise has probably been 247mixtapes.com, a site that enables access to “mix tapes,” music compilations released to promote artists before their albums are in wide distribution. That site gets 55,000 to 60,000 unique users a month, Ryan Clark said.

Another popular business, started while the brothers were still in high school, is Ludakicks.com. Ryan Clark described it as a footwear and apparel “superstore” with 50,000 products available. It’s an “affiliate transfer” Web site for shoebuy.com, Ashton Clark said.

The brothers also launched AlphaPMS.com, which promotes the AlphaPMS project management system, and they have two other Web-based ventures in the pipeline.

Ryan Clark said he and Ashton started Ludakicks when they were about 16. It had an 800 phone number so customers could chat in real time with staff members, he said.

When the brothers decided to come to the UI from Flossmoor, they changed the structure of Ludakicks because it took 10 to 12 hours a day to run the Web site, he said.

“Coming in as freshmen, we decided we needed to focus on school,” he said.

Still, operating the businesses requires a juggling act.

“It takes a lot of time management skills,” Ryan Clark said.

“If one of the Web sites is down, we’re notified by text message or phone calls. We step out, fix the issue, then come back. We pretty much just do what needs to be done, no matter what it is.”

Today the business is just the two brothers, along with Web designers and programmers who do contract work for them.

Rhiannon Clifton, assistant director of the UI’s Technology Entrepreneur Center, said she’s seen several students with one or two Web-based businesses, but never as many ventures as the Clarks have.

“It seems they have a new idea they execute every few months,” she said. “The sites certainly keep them busy. One of these days they’ll have a major hit.”

Ashton Clark said both brothers come up with business ideas, with Ryan dreaming up AlphaPMS and Ashton originating the ticketing system idea.

Ryan tends to handle marketing, online collaborations and partnerships with other companies, Ashton Clark said. Meanwhile, he concentrates on adding new features to the Web sites, automating them and making them more user-friendly.

Read the full story in The Chigaco Tribune.

Image: Brennan Cauron, The Daily Illini

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Young entrepreneur, Gerald Roseman.

For most 12-year-old boys a bit of an adventure might involve staying at a friend’s home or a camping trip with the Scouts.

Not for Gerald Roseman. His idea of an adventure is to embark on a pre-secondary school gap year that has already involved bear-watching in Canada and trips to the great cultural capitals of Europe.

Gerald also intends to visit Russia, Germany, Italy, France, Nepal and Bhutan before starting senior school in September.

And, just in case he finds time weighing heavily on his hands, he can always put in a few extra hours crafting necklaces, brooches and cufflinks for his  jewellery business. Gerald has already repaid the 500 pounds of start-up capital he borrowed from his parents, and is happily pocketing his profits.

He said: ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a gap year so young. My favourite places so far have been Prague, because of all the history in the buildings, and Canada, with its wide open spaces.

‘It is such a modern country in comparison to ours. Over there, they think a building is old if it is more than 15 years old.’

Gerald’s gap year, accompanied by his parents Caroline and Joe, became possible after he was moved ahead a year in his prep school.

He then passed the entrance exam to £5,899-a-term Malvern College but because of his age was advised by the school to wait until September so he could start aged 13 like the rest of his peers.

Mrs Roseman, 42, of Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, said: ‘I wouldn’t have been comfortable with Gerald starting school early as going in at the same age as his peers is important.”

Read the full story in The Daily Mail.

Watch the BBC News story on video.

Happy travels, Gerald – and may your business ventures thrive and grow!

Six aspiring young entrepreneurs – all Grade 10 learners at Elkanah High School in Sunningdale – have successfully conquered the first of five figurative mountains on their way to self-sufficiency.

Tamara Delle Donne, Mikal van Dyk, Kieran Mulligan, Jarrod Eder, Megan Castle and Jason van Wyk recently received their Mountain One Award at a special BBN breakfast meeting.

The “Yes I Can” entrepreneur development system has been designed to make it fun and exciting for young people as they work towards becoming a business entrepreneur.

The goal is to mobilise the business community to give guidance and support to the learners from the day they start scaling the first mountain until they enter the world of business after completing their education.

“If we were to measure entrepreneur development as an indicator of our country’s ability to create jobs, South Africa would rank very low – in fact, near last – in the world,” says Joe Cook, the inspired leader of this project.

Ten years ago, while involved in a church outreach in Du Noon, he realised that they were raising expectations they could not meet.

“There were just pockets of success. We needed to mobilise the whole community.”

Joe started the Blaauwberg Business Network, but it was the youth and the fact that 80 per cent of young people between 15 and 35 years are unemployed in this country that kept him awake at night.

“They lack adult guidance and leadership. We are looking to build bridges of goodwill, understanding and support, but they will have to walk over it.”

Read the full story in The Tygerburger.

The six students were recognized for their keen financial know-how and entrepreneurial spirit in starting and operating their own businesses. The SC Council on Economic Education (SCCEE) and Merrill Lynch established the award in 2004. Each student was interviewed about their businesses on the ETV Stock Market Program, which is broadcast on closed circuit to schools statewide. In addition, the winners will be honored this May at SCCEE’s annual awards luncheon and receive a $200 cash prize.

“The Merrill Lynch Young Entrepreneurs are good role models who have figured out how to put honest money into their pockets” said SCCEE President Helen Meyers. “And through the ETV program, they share ideas with other students on how to start and run a business, how to keep track of inventory, and how to know if they are making a profit—skills they’ll need to become business owners, workers and investors.”

Corey Benson, D.W. Daniel High School (Pickens School District)
Corey takes aerial photographs of local construction projects and for individual homeowners. During a three-month period, he sold more than $900 in photos which allowed him to improve his company, “Out of the Blue Aerial Photography,” by upgrading equipment and going on more photo-taking flights. He uses his profits to pay for his weekly flying lessons, working toward his career goal of being a pilot.

Flint Holbrook, Clover High School (York School District 3)
Interested in the development of biodiesel fuel, Flint built the equipment required for its production then made his own fuel. He used his knowledge to produce a DVD on biodiesel fuel for a public relations company in Charlotte where he serves as a consultant discussing the production of biodiesel fuel with interested clients. Flint has been featured on the RFD TV Satellite Network and has talked on the topic of alternative fuel production at conferences in South Carolina and Georgia. He is currently president of the SC FFA Association.

Tevin Prescott, Hartsville High School (Darlington School District)
Tevin sells Otis Spunkmeyer cookies after school at his parents’ business in Hartsville and on weekends at the Florence flea market. He started his successful cookie business when he was only five years old. He is one of the Spunkmeyer company’s premier salesmen. Due to his success, the company covers the cost of the oven he leases and doesn’t charge him for the cookie dough he orders because he always requests the maximum quantity and never fails to sell out of his tasty product.

Elizabeth Thompson, Ballentine Elementary (Lexington School District 5)
This budding entrepreneur sells her handmade jewelry—bracelets, earrings and necklaces. Elizabeth calls her business “Glamorous Jewelry.”  Her sales are primarily through the Ballentine Elementary School store, “School Tools,” and she gives a percentage of her profits to the school. In an interview in “The State,” Elizabeth said, “I’m learning a lot about the economy and financial businesses.”

Shelby and Taylor Willoughby, Summerville High School (Dorchester School District 2)
Out of their backyard, the twin sisters buy and sell chicken, duck and quail eggs. The girls raise different breeds of chickens. Shelby told a newspaper reporter, “We have international chickens—Chinese, Dutch, Polish, English, Belgian.” In addition, the sisters raise bantam chickens to show at local competitions, and auction, sell or trade their fowl at local small animal auctions and shows.

Young Entrepreneurs Camp attendees.

The Upload young entrepreneurs camp held in the Glasshouse Mountains in January was the perfect kick up the rear Sarah Moran needed to get her business idea going.

She spent the week with 15 other participants aged between 16 and 25 out the back of Beerwah at the camp, run by education and training provider Edgeware.

The aim was to arm young entrepreneurs with hard business skills as well as softer creative skills to innovate, run an ethical business and build relationships.

“I know my business can work but I needed an ignition point, so I’ve made this experience that for me,” Sarah said.

“I’ve had my thoughts on paper, but now I’ve internalised it more and I can leave Upload knowing what I’m doing beyond having just a plan.

“My ultimate goal is to create TV that wouldn’t normally have a market, for niche markets around the world and tapping into the revenue potential of that.”

Some of the more unconventional items on the camp program involved daily yoga sessions and creating a 3-D business model out of factory offcuts.

“It’s a way of thinking about elements of business in a different way and engaging a different part of your brain,” Edgeware’s Michael Doneman said.

“You can see relationships between these elements that wouldn’t be visible in a two-dimensional business plan on the page. And it’s fun.”

Edgies, as the participants are known, then present their model to the group to hone their pitching and presentation skills.

“I have gone to conferences and written everything all down madly on paper and I have so many pieces of paper that don’t get actioned because I don’t feel it,” Sarah said.

“But to have to cut and stick a 3-D business plan and investing my thought process into it is a holistic experience.

“It’s also great to have this opportunity as a young person.

“We do face a lot of discrimination and there is such a high percentage of start-ups that fail, so it’s good to know that there are 15 other Edgies all starting out. It’s good to have a community of other people in the same boat and, with the internet, I won’t lose that support group.”

Mr Doneman said the group featured representation from Townsville, Rockhampton, the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane.

“The sort of person who becomes an entrepreneur is a bit weird and they aren’t satisfied to work for other people,” he said.

“They don’t fit into conventional paradigms…they are square pegs that don’t fit in round holes.”

Source: The Sunshine Coast Daily

Young Entrepreneur, Will Perkins.

While most teenagers are trying to stay out late or take the car out, 16-year-old Will Perkins is trying to incorporate his business.

“That would be something that we would have to do with him,” said Will’s mother Tammy Perkins. “At each step of the way, we have had to talk through the dangers involved and the risk.”

Perkins launched his web hosting site, host-monkey.com on the first of the year. Offering web hosting from as little as $2.95 per month, it looks set to take a bite out of the hosting market, especially for cash-strapped internet start-up entrepreneurs – people whose challenges Will can well understand.

This site  is just one of several the Brandon High School junior has started, including click2bepaid.com, which he sold close to a year ago.

Young entrepreneurs like Perkins may find some resistance because of their age, but that hard work could pay off.

“We don’t know how to scout for enterprising and successful business people the way we know how to scout for basketball players,” said lawyer Brent Britton, who specializes in business and technology. He says parents need to read documents, monitor communication and sign contracts for underage kids.

“Whether your child is a budding entrepreneur or not, you have to be careful,” he says. But encourages parents to nurture their child’s ideas.

Who knows, they may change the world.

Source: Tampa Bay S10

But now the 19-year-old entrepreneur — proud and motivated, with a couple of business awards under his belt — has more than 100 clients and is one of a local incubator’s first success stories.

Glasser began shooting senior pictures for individuals his junior year in high school and began growing a more diverse client base his senior year. Now, going into his fourth semester at the University of Mary, he contracts with a marketing firm for commercial work, has a strong client base and an eye on developing his business into an agency for photographers with the same values as his own: quality, creativity, personality. Those values just happen to be his business tagline, too.

Glasser is one of Bismarck’s IDEA Center’s first clients; he’s now benefitting from partnerships earned through the center’s networking opportunities and will soon benefit from having his own office space within the center’s new building.

The IDEA Center was born out of a business professor’s desire to expand opportunities for his students, as well as a local business owner’s drive for area economic development through fostering entreprenuership. The two — Karel Sovak with University of Mary and Dewey Tietz of Cross Country Courier — came together to create an environment for growth.

The center is meant as a place for a budding entrepreneur or even an established business owner to go to hash out plans, ideas, or to seek resources for help starting or growing. Students from the University of Mary — and potentially other institutions, said director Julie Kuennen — are the labor, getting hands-on experience executing business plans, creating marketing strategies, competitive analysis and other necessary action items presented and accepted to the board of directors.

Read the full story in The Bismarck Tribune.

Young Entrepreneur, Ben Gulak, with the Uno.

After a family holiday to China, where he saw first-hand the horrible pollution caused by traditional motorised transport, 17-year-old Ben Gulak decided that he could design something better.

Many students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology look forward to the day they’ll make headlines with an extraordinary invention. But Ben Gulak, now a 19-year-old freshman, looks back. He’s the inventor of the Uno, an electric motorcycle that has its two wheels side by side instead of fore and aft, balances using a computer and gyroscope, and maneuvers with a shift of the rider’s body forward, back or sideways.

Mr. Gulak, from a suburb of Toronto, began pursuing the concept two years ago after returning from a family trip to smog-choked China and seeing streets clogged with sputtering motorbikes. Battery power would avoid pollution, and the small size would allow the cycle to negotiate crowded streets — and even to be carted up to an apartment.

He retreated to the machine shop in his house assembled with gear he inherited from his grandfather and, initially for a science fair, began assembling a prototype from conventional motorcycle parts. The project, he says, allowed him to “mesh two passions” — engineering and motorcycles. As he describes it, the early effort — replete with burning motors — resembled the scenes in the movie “Iron Man” when a rocket-propelled suit goes out of control. Mr. Gulak got help from a robotics engineer, Trevor Blackwell, and added systems that stabilize the vehicle.

Since then, he has won a heap of accolades — Popular Science chose the bike as one of the top 10 inventions of the year and featured it on the cover; Mr. Gulak made an appearance on “The Tonight Show” — as well as the interest of investors.

But for now he’s seeking international patents, and dealing with exams.

Source: The New York Times

Young entrepreneur, fashion designer Kira Plastinina.

When Kira Plastinina was just fourteen years old, she launched her own fashion label.

While it helps to have a wealthy benefactor to finance the opening of retail stores, Kira’s business has to stand on its own two feet. While Kira’s 70 Russian outlets are going great guns, Daddy just pulled the plug on her US chain, because it wasn’t profitable.

KP Fashion Co., the company set up by the father of 16-year-old Russian fashion designer Kira Plastinina to sell her clothes in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy seven months after opening its first store.

Los Angeles-based KP Fashion sought protection from creditors while it liquidates. The company, which said last month it would close almost all of its 12 stores, listed $9.7 million in assets and $54.4 million in debt in papers filed Dec. 31 in U.S. Bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

Bloomberg

Plastinina, whose hot-pink signature logo features two hearts, has been photographed with the hotel heiress Paris Hilton. Her company offered jeans, t-shirts, dresses, pants, shoes and accessories.

The first U.S. Kira Plastinina outlet opened in Manhattan in May 2008 and the chain had 12 stores in the New York and Los Angeles areas, with another two ready to open.

Besides the stores in Russia, there are 10 outlets in Ukraine and five in Kazakhstan. Kira’s empire may not have established a strong foothold in the US market, but its future seems assured in Eastern Europe.

Young entrepreneur, Rob Denomme

Seasoned entrepreneurs who have weathered an economic downturn may be more apt to concern about the detrimental impact current market forces could have on business.

But many of their younger — and arguably more naive — counterparts seem imbued with a sense of invincibility that typifies their age demographic.

While sales may be slower, young entrepreneurs relatively new to running a business have no precedent to measure against economic forecasts of doom and gloom.

They might also be able to troubleshoot problems more creatively because of a general lack of inhibition.

Rob Denomme has been running a custom wine cellar business, Winnipeg-based Genuwine Cellars Inc., for 13 years and is undaunted by the prevailing prognosis that a recession is imminent.

At the age of 17, Mr. Denomme and a friend who has carpentry skills launched the company. It counts celebrities, sports personalities and leading corporate executives among a largely American clientele list.

“We have seen a little bit of a slowdown and it’s the first time in our history we’ve not seen our sales skyrocket,” the 2007 Business Development Bank of Canada’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Manitoba says, referring to business since global markets began to plunge earlier this year.

“Our sales this year will still be more than last year.”

Mr. Denomme has no formal business training and has expanded his company, particularly during its formative years, solely by word of mouth.

He says his most tumultuous experience as a proprietor came several years ago when he decided to lay off a half a dozen people from a staff of nearly 50, because they didn’t exemplify dedication to the company mission.

“We always felt we needed every warm body,” he says. “But after that, we were able to do more with less people. I was shocked to realize that.”

He says he tries to learn vicariously through the experience of others. “I’ve never seen bad times but from what I’ve seen, it’s taught me to plan for the future even though I haven’t had to learn the hard way,” he says.

“The thought of having to sell your home to make ends meet, that scares the heck out of me.”

Genuwine Cellars recently opened a manufacturing facility in Nicaragua, and Mr. Denomme has no doubt the current downturn is just a blip on the radar of an otherwise resilient market.

“I think it will be quiet holiday season but that things will jump back to where they were and grow even more so,” he says without hesitation.

“You’ve got to keep a positive attitude.”

Read the full story in The Financial Post.

Who are young entrepreneurs? They range from an elementary school student operating a successful lemonade stand on a hot summer afternoon, to a recent graduate who starts a new venture or begins to revitalize an existing business. Young entrepreneurs exhibit a passion to create. When channeled and combined with entrepreneurial education and real world experience, they can found businesses with significant wealth and job creation potential. Engaging, equipping and supporting young entrepreneurs are keys to long-term vitality and sustainability of rural communities.

Understanding characteristics of young entrepreneurs is important because entrepreneurial youth often do not come to mind when we think about young people in our community. Instead, we might name the student body president, the star football or volleyball player, or the honor roll student. While some of these young people may be entrepreneurial, there is another group of youth that is less visible so you need to seek them out.

Why don’t these young people come to mind? They may spend their free time in Dad’s shop inventing or in Mom’s craft room creating, so they are “invisible” to you. They may work in their parents’ business after school because they enjoy it, or they may be busy operating their lawn care or Web design business. Young entrepreneurs enjoy the creative process so much that, while others are focused on sports and extracurricular activities, young entrepreneurs are focused on their business dreams.

Entrepreneurial youth may appear introverted because they know they are wired differently than their peers and, at this age, fitting in is a big deal. Remember, in the adult population, only one in 10 Americans is an entrepreneur. The percentage may be higher among young people, but they are still a minority among their classmates.

This article is an excerpt from “Energizing Young Entrepreneurs in Rural Communities” written by Craig Schroeder, Lisa Heinert, Lisa Bauer, Deborah Markley and Karen Dabson.

Young Entrepreneurs - Wayne Ramwell, Kevin Yap, Muhammed Saleen, Kaif Hussain and Mohtasham Qureshi

A TEAM of budding entrepreneurs are aiming to take the bite out of the credit crunch for young people.

Former Manchester Academy pupils Wayne Ramwell, 16, Kaif Hussein, 17, Kevin Yap, 16 and Muhammed Saleem, 16, have just published a guide to managing money for teenagers.

Easy Money was written as part of a Young Enterprise scheme at their old school,.

And, in keeping with its message of spending and saving wisely, the finance-savvy foursome are investing the proceeds to fund their university careers.

Easy Money was inspired by a news article that claimed more than half of all teenagers have been in debt by the age of 18. The boys received help and funding from professional mentors, but researched the content and structure of the book themselves.

To date, 500 copies of the book, which is packed full of tips on everything from employment contracts, to mortgages and ISAs, have been sold.

Read the full story in The Manchester Evening News.

“The rest is history,” says Blaine, who’s now the owner of Estate Groomers, a landscaping business, and Young Picasso Painting, a residential painting company. He has five employees and plenty of big plans. Best of all, the 2008 grad of Whitney Young High School is only 18. He recently chatted with PDQ’s John Campanelli.

When did you realize that you were an entrepreneur?

It might have been second or third grade. My mother bought me a whole lot of pencils for school. I had an abundance of pencils. And I really didn’t use pencils. I was mainly a pen person. Everybody kept asking me. “Can I use a pencil?” “Can I use a pencil?” “Can I use a pencil?” When my friends asked me, I gave them to them. Then some other people asked, and I said, “Give me 10 cents.” I think that’s when it all started. I racked up a lot of money.

Is it a problem being younger than a lot of your employees; do they call you “sir”?

No, they call me Blaine. I try to keep it as informal as possible. I want everybody to be relaxed. My whole thing is, age should not be a factor as long as everybody is making money and getting the job done.

Has your age ever been a problem?

The only problem I really ran into was that I employed my brother. It was like double-edged sword. I was his younger brother and his boss. Sometimes we argue, because we’re only a year apart. It’s not acceptable on the job. At the house when we’re at home, it’s no problem. But on the job I told him we couldn’t go through that, so I actually had to fire him.

You fired your brother?

He told my mother and everything [laughing]. I eventually hired him back. I did it mainly for the theatrics of the whole situation.

Do you think he has more respect for you now?

No, not yet [laughing].

How has running businesses helped you in other parts of your life?

It gave me a lot of responsibility: Being responsible for cutting people checks and making sure the job is on schedule. It helped shape my leadership skills and helped give me a perception on life where I don’t think of everything as a consumer. I understand business.

Read the rest of the interview in the Cleveland Society News.

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman recognized the recipients and presented them with $1,000 cash awards to use as educational scholarships or donations to charities of their choice.

Among the recipients was a young entrepreneur with a social entrepreneurial bent.

A sophomore at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, 20-year-old Daniel Kent has been active in Student Council, and he co-founded the Rufus M. Jones Institute for Leadership. He has interned at the White House and Community Development Law Center.

When he was a 14-year-old middle schooler in Carmel, Kent founded Net Literacy, a nonprofit created to increase computer access to all. He funded the organization with $4,000 he had saved to buy a car. Five years later, Net Literacy had attracted more than $1 million in grants and in-kind donations, increased computer access to more than 90,000 individuals, refurbished thousands of computers, and engaged more than 1,000 student volunteers. It has expanded into dozens of Hoosier communities and helped 90,000 Hoosiers cross the digital divide. Kent recruited U.S. Senators Bayh and Lugar to serve as honorary co-chairs, and successfully lobbied to pass Indiana’s Net Literacy Resolution.

Kent has served on local and national youth boards, including the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, America’s Promise Alliance, the U.S. Public Service Academy and Do Something, Inc. He has received numerous awards, including being twice named a National Point of Light honoree. He is donating his $1,000 award to the Net Literacy Project.

Young Entrepreneur, Joseph Pascaretta

Lots of people start careers at a tender age, but few were as young as Joseph Pascaretta.

Pascaretta, a 20-year-old entrepreneur from Rochester Hills, started his first company when he was still in middle school, nearly 10 years ago.

“My business partner and I were 11. We both wanted to be pilots, and we used to take pictures of airplanes and post statistics on the Internet. We got a lot of responses,” says Pascaretta.

The next step came when he was at the house of a school friend, whose family happened to own a construction business, he says. “I told them I could build a Web site for the business. At first it was something of a joke because I was just a kid. But it turned out great,” he says.

So he and his partner, Aaron Dowen, also 20, of Shelby Township, launched a Web site design business, which became the foundation for the holding company that now includes three distinct businesses, including the original Web site design business, an architectural landscape business and a third business, which now handles IT services for a growing roster of clients.

The businesses are able to take care of both the inside and the outside of clients’ businesses, he says.

Alps Technology International has 107 employees, including seven in Europe and Australia, as well as sales of more than $5 million.

Read the full story in the Oakland Press.

The year 12 students from Katherine Lady Berkeley School, in Wotton-under-Edge, have taken part in a Young Enterprise scheme that encourages young people to set up and run their own business.

Friends Neil Pande, 16, Jack Allsopp, 16 and Nathan Giles, 17, got together to launch JNN Mobile Disco and they have already have some great success.

“We’re all really excited about running our own enterprise. I love music and have been the DJ at a number of friends’ parties in the past,” said Neil, from Wotton-under-Edge.

“But now we have invested in some serious sound and lighting equipment. The effect is awesome.”

The trio have bought all the latest DJ equipment including strobe lights, smoke machine and multi-coloured disco lights. They had a successful first event providing a children’s disco for birthday girl Jo Mackie, from Wickwar who said the disco was the best she had ever had.

Their next planned event is an adult disco and the company will then be organising Christmas parties for their fellow students at school.

The Young Enterprise scheme, which is the UK’s leading business and enterprise education charity, is a competition and the most successful businesses will get to compete in the national finals.

Nathan, from Berkeley, said “Our aim is to win the regional finals if possible and go on to the nationals. To do that we need loads of bookings for discos, birthday parties, Christmas and New Year parties.”

Source: The Gazette

These ambitious, 21-year-old twin sisters, Nicole and Ashley Russo, opened up their corporation – Sorelle Gamelle – meaning twin sisters in Italian, at the age of 16, and have now expanded to two locations – Houma and Baton Rouge.

“We were inspired to open the store when we were 16,” said Nicole Russo. “We used to have to go to New Orleans to shop for shoes, but we eventually got tired of there being no place in Houma to go shopping for reasonable shoes that young girls could afford.”

This propelled the two young ladies to fill this lacking niche. The determined Russo sisters created a business plan, which they then presented to their parents, who were so excited about the idea that they helped in funding the store.

“I’m not going to lie,” said Ashley Russo, who works daily while also going to college. “It’s tough running two stores.”

Nicole Russo, who also is a full-time student as well as a cheerleader, also stays very busy, but she “wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“If you have an idea, go for it,” Ashley Russo advises other young entrepreneurs. “Be positive and follow your heart. If you really want it bad enough, it will happen.”

These sorelle gamelles have a solid desire for running their business, and are assured that this is what they want to do long-term. Their strong, selling sense will propel them into the next phase of their production goals.

“We do have plans for expanding the business,” said Nicole Russo, “and hope to expand soon.”

Source: Tiger Weekly

Students from five elementary schools in Surrey (Simon Cunningham, Don Christian, Kirkbride, Green Timbers, Martha Jane Norris) have been having fun exploring the world of business by participating in PowerPlay Young Entrepreneurs. Using fun games and exciting real-life activities, this innovative six week program teaches youth in grades four through eight how to prepare business plans, develop and advertise their own products, and finally showcase their achievements and make sales at a dynamic event called the Young Entrepreneur Show. By donating a portion of their earnings to a worthy cause students also learn the importance of social responsibility.

“Westminster Savings is committed to helping youth prepare for the future,” says Nicole Eich, the credit union’s Community Relations/Foundation Officer. “We are proud to offer PowerPlay Young Entrepreneurs to local schools through our Youth in Action initiative.

It’s a program that shows young people how to set goals, seek imaginative solutions, and take ownership of their success. They learn to believe in themselves and develop practical skills that will support them throughout their lives.” Eich hopes that the experiences of these enterprising students will inspire other youth to take action. Success stories will be available at www.wscu.com starting in January 2009.

MJ Norris Elementary teacher Glenda Scott is impressed with her students’ motivation and ability to stay on task as they complete a variety of planning activities. They had fun conducting market research surveys and using the results to polish their product ideas.

Linda Phan of Kirkbride Elementary is also thrilled with the engagement level of her class. She says her students are very excited because they have the power to make decisions. In addition to designing their own products, the young entrepreneurs are responsible for developing their own marketing strategies. One of her students tapped into his creativity by making a runway on which to display his airplane product.

From handmade journals and picture frames to dreamcatchers, puppy pillows and seasonally themed cards and decorations, the upcoming Young Entrepreneur Shows will have something for everyone.

Source: The Surrey Leader

For the15 years that Rasaq has lived on earth, he has done so without using his legs. This disability denied him the opportunity of enjoying the benefits of life like his other siblings. He is the only child of his family who was denied formal education.

Rather than take to begging, he chose to develop himself in a vocation. As a young boy, he developed a flair for shoe making. He would mend shoes for neighbours and family. This flair was further enhanced and Rasaq began to fabricate shoes as well. He has no formal training in the art.

All the while, he worked from home. One of his neighbours, Mrs. Bukola Adebisi, who had always been impressed by Rasaq’s ingenuity, found him a place somewhere close to a market place. It was a small piece of land littered with refuse. Rasaq saw the place, cleared off the refuse and started his trade there. He saved enough money and erected a wooden structure, which now serves as his cobbling shop.

Eventually, the market fee collectors started demanding a fee of N10, 000 per year for using the shop. Having paid the first instalment with a loan he obtained from his father, Rasaq has borne subsequent charges ever since. Today, the young entrepreneur at 15 has four apprentices working under him. His is a story of a cripple that has refused to be disabled. Razaq made the best out of his disability.

This year, Razaq was awarded third place in the inaugural Indomie Heroes Awards.

He was flown to Abuja in a flight; he now has a wheel chair courtesy of Dufil Prima and he was lodged in a prestigious hotel alongside his father. And to cap it all, he was sitting on the same stage that Presidents, Ministers and other important dignitaries have stood. He got a cash prize of N500, 000, which he said he would use to expand his shoe making business.

Read the full story in the Lagos Daily Independent.

Carey, 17, of Bridgewater is the creator of http://stepoutofthesilence.org, a forum for teenagers with any kind of mental-heath issues. Her efforts are one reason why Caitlyn was honored on Dec. 8 as the Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Somerset County Business Partnership Awards ceremony.

Dianne Durland, who headed the Somerset County Business Partnership Selection Committee, said the Young Entrepreneur Award is modeled after the Rotary Club, since the recipient also wins a scholarship.

“The Rotary motto is “Service above self.’ (Carey) brought that out more than the other participants,” said Durland, a vice president at Community First Bank in Franklin (Somerset).

Durland said that while there were many motivated entrepreneur applicants – including landscapers, jewelry makers and chefs – Carey’s idea was unique and she is a one-woman operation.

Read the full story at MyCentralJersey.com.

These two student entrepreneurs, along with 22 others like them from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, showcased their companies and networked their businesses to the D.C. area business community during The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Youth Showcase, held at the National Building Museum on Tuesday, December 9th from 6:00 – 8:30 pm.

The event highlighted the achievement of these student entrepreneurs who have created businesses focusing on a wide range of products and services, from dog clothing items to local artists’ CDs, painting services, lunch boxes, and more. With the holiday season rapidly approaching, the event also provided a venue for these entrepreneurs to sell their wares in time for gift-giving.

“Most children start out selling something — lemonade, cookies or candy for themselves or for non-profit groups. These student entrepreneurs have taken their childhood fascination in business ownership miles further than that,” said Amy Rosen, President & CEO of NFTE. “They have shown determination as only an entrepreneur can by voluntarily completing the NFTE training program. Some have also completed our summer BizCamp program, which teaches them how to write and present a business plan,” Rosen added.

Read the full story in The Earth Times.

Raised in the impoverished South side of Chicago, Dr. Gray defied the odds and became a self-made millionaire by the age of 14. At the age of 21, he received an Honorary Doctorate degree of Humane Letters from Allen University.

In his rise from poverty to national and international prominence as an entrepreneurial icon and pre-eminent power speaker, Dr. Gray has inspired millions around the world. At the age of 24, he has achieved more than many achieve in a lifetime.

Since his first interview at 11 years old on KVBC Channel 3, Gray has become a celebrity, featured in thousands of print, magazine, radio and television media including The NBC reality show Starting Over, 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, The Montel Williams Show, Oprah & Friends, Tom Joyner Show, The Michael Baisden Show, The Tavis Smiley Show, CNBC, BET, NBC, FOX, CBS, NPR, Ebony, Jet, Essence, Upscale, Black MBA, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

He was also featured as one of the Dream Team Financial Experts for “O” The Oprah Magazine in March 2008 issue. He is also a syndicated columnist with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) federation of 200 weekly newspapers reaching more than 15 million readers.

Gray began his entrepreneurial, personal and civic development at six years old selling home-made body lotion and his own hand-painted rocks as book-ends door-to-door. At age seven, he was carrying business cards reading “21st Century CEO.”

At eight, Gray became co-founder of Urban Neighborhood Enterprise Economic Club (U.N.E.E.C.) on Chicago’s South side. U.N.E.E.C. was the forerunner of New Early Entrepreneur Wonders (NE2W), the flagship organization he opened on Wall Street. NE2W enlisted, educated and engaged “at-risk” youth by creating and developing legal ways for them to acquire additional income. Gray is the youngest person to have an office on Wall Street.

Between the ages of 12 and 16 years old, Gray founded and operated business ventures that included KIDZTEL pre-paid phone cards, the One Stop Mail Boxes & More franchise and The Teenscope “Youth AM/FM” interactive teen talk show, Gray was also Executive Producer of a comedy show on the Las Vegas Strip and owner of Farr-Out Foods, “Way-Out Food with a Twist,” aimed at young people with the company’s first Strawberry-Vanilla syrup product. Farr-Out Foods generated orders exceeding $1.5 million.

As a pre-teen, Gray reached 12 million listeners and viewers every Saturday night as co-host of “Backstage Live,” a syndicated television and radio simulcast in Las Vegas. Gray’s inspirational spirit and grounded personality sparked speaking requests from organizations around the country.

Gray’s sense of social responsibility motivated him to create the non-profit organization, The Farrah Gray Foundation. Among other programs and initiatives, his foundation provides scholarship & grant assistance for students from at-risk backgrounds to attend HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). The Farrah Gray Foundation is also in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, launching entrepreneurship programs in inner-city schools across the country.

Gray’s work did not remain under the radar-screen for long. He soon then became the youngest member of the Board of Advisors for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. He was also given a three-year term on the Board of Directors of United Way of Southern Nevada at the age of 15.

From writing her first product reviews as a teen, Tina Wells progressed almost immediately to running a marketing agency, which specializes in reaching the notoriously difficult-to-pin-down teen girl market.

Tina, a Lancaster native, began writing product reviews at age 16 and formed Buzz Marketing Group in 1996. Her company has received recognition throughout the region, and she was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Now 28, Tina is interviewed as an expert by publications around the world.

What was the first step in forming your company?

For me, it was sitting down and thinking about what services I wanted to offer. I knew I wanted to be a liaison between young people and companies that target them.

How is the economic slowdown affecting business?

We haven’t seen it yet, and I think it’s because we’re more of an alternative marketing solution. Viral marketing and grassroots marketing are cheaper alternatives to traditional marketing, and I definitely feel like that part of our business is strong.

Read the full story in the Philadelphia Metro.

The project is a partnership between Community Futures, Career Transition for Youth, the Northern Alberta Development Council and the school.

“We’re moving forward with it,” said principal Wanda Gerard, adding the program began as a pilot project last year, but she hopes it will become permanent.

“This program here really fits in nicely with the apprenticeship program and gives the students an opportunity to explore some business ideas which would be directly related to their apprenticeship program.”

Under the program, students learn the basics of business by researching and pitching business ideas. After pitching their ideas, students begin course work which involves support from mentors and local businesses. Students receive one-on-one assistance and guidance with business advice, business and financial plan development and marketing plan development. When students are finished the module requirements, they can apply to Community Futures for the start-up loan.

“We had an incredible interest in it last year,” said Gerard, noting 40 students participated in the program last year. “I would definitely say we have been able to maintain the interest here.”

Read the full story in the Grande Prairie Daily Heral Tribune.

Sentiv was founded by Marius Juhl Klausen, Roy Lambrecht Lemminger, and Søren Aamand of Egtved, Denmark.

Designed by Sentiv’s founders when they were still in school, the company’s first product, a patch that allows people with skin allergies to wear perfume, secured Klausen, Lemminger, and Aamand $300,000 in financing from Nordic venture capitalist firm Østjysk Innovation.

The premise is simple: Users dab their favorite perfume on the patch, remove the protective cover from the adhesive side (similar to a Band-Aid) and apply the patch. Scent is exuded without touching sensitive skin.

Sentiv says there’s a large potential market: Lemminger figures about 4% of the Danish population now suffers from perfume allergy, a number that has doubled in the past 10 years and that bodes well for international distribution, too. Sentiv is currently in clinical trials, with an estimated 2,000 prototypes expected to be ready in the near future.

Camilla Ljunggren

Although Camilla Ljunggren from Stockholm is only 25 years old, she’s been in business for almost ten years. The Swedish entrepreneur got her start in 1999 when she created her first product, a plastic hanger that attaches to surfaces and can hold anything from dish towels to kitchen knives.

The success of the “Pluring”—it now comes in four models—led Ljunggren to open her own manufacturing plant, which now helps design and create prototypes for other small companies looking to launch their own products.

About 18 months ago, Ljunggren sold the fast-growing business to an outsider investor, although she still holds a seat on the board and is involved in day-to-day operations. Now, along with Pluring, she also runs Bumblebee, a business consultancy, and is chief executive of a recruitment-focused Swedish non-profit.

David Garbera, Michael Jones, and Benn Jessney

To succeed in business, you don’t have to invent a flashy new product or design the latest hot gadget. For the founders of KH Smilers, a business selling plants and hanging baskets in Hull, in northern Britain, the simple proposition is focusing on top-quality horticultural products that its clients want to buy.

Started in October 2004, when Garbera, Jones, and Jessney were still in school, KH Smilers has grown exponentially in a short time and now provides table decorations for corporate events all over the country. This year, the company expects to grow 50,000 bedding plants, compared to just 3,000 in 2004. The founders also are planning to buy another greenhouse that could allow them to grown tens of thousands of extra plants—proving that sometimes the best business plans are the simplest.

John Dorst

Like many successful entrepreneurs, Dorst started early. At the age of 13, he was already creating e-commerce sites for friends of the family, and by the time he was 18, he had nine employees.

Living in Kapelle, Netherlands, Dorst runs Dorst Communications. In his latest business endeavor, Dorst provides marketing and printing services for predominantly small and midsize businesses in the Netherlands. Half of his revenues come from creating Web sites and intranets for companies that can’t afford to do it themselves, while the other 50% originates from the production of corporate magazines, business cards, and other printed material.

Erik Fjellborg

Erik Fjellborg from Stockholm, Sweden, started his business, Calnet, at age 17.

The best business ideas are born of necessity. For Erik Fjellborg, inspiration came when he was 17 years old, flipping burgers at a McDonald’s in Sweden. Fjellborg realized there wasn’t a good system in place to find employees when the fast-food joint was short-staffed. So to fix the problem, he created a Web-based application that lets employees interact with each other to fill gaps in the rotation, even before managers know there’s a problem. The program caught on, and 83,000 McDonald’s employees in four European countries were soon using Fjellborg’s Quinyx FlexForce. To expand the business, Fjellborg recently sold a stake in his business to Swedish software and consulting firm UCMS Group, which hopes to introduce the application to a global audience.

Alexander Niles and his guitar.

Alexander Niles, 14, a high school freshman in Miami with dreams of making it big as a musician, is young to be focused on making a living. But he has already become an entrepreneur.

It all began by accident, he said. He was late in handing in his choices for elective classes and landed in a course on business. For an assignment to write a business plan, he turned to his passion, guitars, and decided to create a business building custom guitars for other people, something he had already done for himself.

After refining his idea in class, Mr. Niles entered his business plan into a local competition sponsored by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and captured the grand prize for South Florida, which allowed him to compete in a national competition in New York this fall.

The price for his guitars starts at about $2,000, and he expects to make a profit of around $700 a guitar. So far, he has made four, including one for a former instructor, Alex Fox, a flamenco guitarist who has endorsed Mr. Niles’s company. Mr. Niles has set up a Web site, but he does not plan to start filling orders until he has lined up other endorsements, finished his YouTube video and started establishing his brand through an advertising campaign.

Though Mr. Niles has years of school ahead of him, he said he planned to tend to both his music and his business along the way.

Read the full story in The New York Times.

Natalie, after all, was the target market for Jessica’s frosted cupcakes on an edible cookie stick — and she was cute to boot.

Jessica turned the camera on her cousin and told Natalie to take just one bite of a Popsy Cake, then smile and look at the camera. It didn’t work. Natalie wouldn’t stop eating the Popsy Cakes, and it took a baker’s dozen takes to get it shot right.

EATING THE PROFITS

When it was over, Natalie had consumed 10 Popsy Cakes, which sell for $3 each. ‘I told her, `Stop. You’re making me lose profit,’ ” Jessica recalls.

But that was hardly a major setback for the budding Popsy Cake enterprise. In October Jessica won first place at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York City. Now, with $10,000 in prize money to help expand her business, she hopes there is a country with kids who are as hungry for Popsy Cakes as Natalie was.

Jessica invented Popsy Cakes while taking an NFTE class at John A. Ferguson High School, where she is a senior enrolled in the school’s business academy curriculum. In 11th grade, she took ”Introduction to Entrepreneurship,” one of several courses NFTE sponsors in high schools around the country.

When asked to come up with a product as homework, Jessica came up with Popsy Cakes. ”I’ve always liked to do baking, and I’ve always wanted to own my own business,” she says.

After doing some research about kids’ snacks online, she learned that the most common complaints were that they were sticky and messy. That was her inspiration for her cupcakes on a stick.

Over the past year and a half she’s refined the idea. “One of the biggest obstacles I faced was making the product. It sounded easy, but at first the cake tasted horrible. Then the cookie sticks would break.”

Today Jessica makes an assortment of themed Popsy Cakes, including versions for Halloween and birthdays, and sells them for $30 a dozen.

Read the full story in the Miami Herald.

Katie Simon works on a Minga banner

The very rich and the very famous capture the headlines for their charitable giving. But another group of avid philanthropists is also leaving its mark. Young people from grade school on are engaged as never before in making a direct difference in the world. They are donating via the Internet to favorite projects overseas, creating their own nonprofits to pursue social causes, and becoming grantmakers on foundation boards to foster change in their home communities.

“It has become a value for young people to be personally involved,” says Claire Gaudiani of the Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University. “Many have seen first-hand where the needs are and what a difference individual citizens can make.”

Some youths have gained that awareness from volunteer activities. Many have seen celebrities take up worthy causes. Others have traveled with their families and encountered the challenges many children face in other countries.

Katie Simon, a teenager from Newton, Mass., says a lengthy family trip in the developing world when she was in second grade first opened her eyes. Then, when she heard two years ago about the child sex trade in some of those places, she knew she needed to do something.

“I learned about a rehabilitation center for children in the Philippines and talked with friends about raising $5,000 in a yard sale,” says the 16-year-old. “People thought that was impossible, but we raised $6,500!”

Thrilled with their success, Katie founded an organization, Minga (mingagroup.org), to educate others about the scourge of child sex trafficking and to raise funds to fight it. (Minga is a word in Quechua, a native language of South America, which means “the coming together of a community to work for a common good.”)

So far, Minga has raised $40,000, the rehab center has been completed, and the group is working with other partners in Guatemala, Thailand, and Boston.

Katie spends between 20 and 30 hours a week in the work, and says it’s well worth it: “I’ve discovered my own power to change the world, and have connected to some awesome people. I’ve seen the good side of everybody – it’s amazing.”

Last month, Katie won a Global Action Award given to young leaders by the international relief group Mercy Corps.

Young entrepreneurs selling T-shirts

Eighth-graders at Adm. Richard E. Byrd Middle School in Winchester, Virginia have created a T-shirt business for their Future Business Leaders of America club.

“We worked as a class to design the shirt,” said student Damian Berdecia. “It was fun.”

The middle school students received some guidance from three Sherando High School students who have been visiting Byrd once a week recently.

Their visits were assignments for the high school’s Distributive Education Clubs of America.

On Wednesday, the middle and high school students worked together to distribute the nearly 20 T-shirts that had been ordered by Byrd students.

“I didn’t expect them to sell that many,” said Sherando junior Maegan Songer, 16, who helped to collect money and hand out shirts during the middle school’s lunch periods.

The T-shirts, which sold for $12 each, proved popular with outgoing eighth-graders who will leave Byrd in the spring and prepare to attend high school.

Read the full story in the Winchester Star.

When Juliun Kinsey was nearing the end of his freshman year at Santa Fe High School, he realized he did not apply himself like he should have to get the most out of his potential.

“I recognized that on my own, and I knew I needed to do something about it,” said Juliun, 17, and a senior at what is now the Professional Academies Magnet at Loften High School.

“My mother (Janet Kinsey) and I decided it would be best for me to switch schools, and I began my 10th grade year at Loften High School.” Juliun’s father is Jim Kinsey and he has four siblings.

Since that time, Juliun has distinguished himself not only as a first-rate student, but also as a strong leader. His legacy as a young entrepreneur will soon be on display when the school opens its school store in early October.

“The store will look like a college coffee shop,” said the school’s principal, Dr. Chet Sanders, adding that students will help name the store. “We will sell books, music, school supplies and clothes. We will be definitely selling academy shirts because all students must wear academy shirts.”

Juliun developed the business plan for the store, and he has received global, state and local recognition for his efforts. As a 15-year-old sophomore in Loften’s marketing education program, Juliun was one of only 30 students worldwide to be named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship for developing the plan.

Read the full story in the Gainesville Guardian.

Children will have an opportunity to get a loan, create a product, do market research and sell their goods for a profit.

Enterprise Charlotte is holding the camp for youngsters aged nine to 12 at the Community Building Development Corporation.

Stacey MacLean, youth economic development officer with Enterprise Charlotte, said because the children are not old enough to work it is the perfect age to get them interested in creating a business and making their own money.

“In this county there are a lot of aging entrepreneurs, so there is a great opportunity coming up for them in the next 10 years,” said MacLean.

“The point is to teach the youth of Charlotte County about entrepreneurship to introduce them to the possibility of owning their own business as an alternative to working for other people. “¦ Some kids don’t even know what entrepreneurship is.”

MacLean said 10 of the 15 spots have already been filled. She said many of the children are returnees while others are the children of teachers and entrepreneurs, and the friends of youngsters that attended last year.

“They are thinking, ‘Wow, I can make money on my own,’ ” said MacLean. “Their money comes from their folks, so to learn how to make their own money is an interesting topic for them.”

During the first day of the camp, the young entrepreneurs will get a tour of a local radio station and record a commercial. On the second day, they will look through books with potential products and try their hand at making products such as stress balls and candles.

On the third day of the camp, the youth will finalize their product plans and hit the streets to do market research by asking people questions such as how much they would pay for the product and what colour they would want it in. At the end of the day, the children will visit the Community Building Development Corporation to get a $20 loan. On the fourth day, they will have their materials and will make their products.

The products at last year’s camp included purses out of sheets of foam and pipe cleaners.

On Friday, Aug. 15, the children will be at the St. Stephen Market from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. selling their items – and hoping to pay back their loan and turn a profit.

Source: Telegraph-Journal

At our August Capital event last week, I met 15 year old Daniel Brusilovsky for the first time. While I had come across a few videos on the web detailing this young man’s enthusiasm and eagerness to succeed in the tech space, I was still taken aback by just how bright the kid is. He seems to know everyone, and a quick glance at his Twitter account shows he gets around too, with recent visits to Twitter, Apple, and the TechCrunch ranch – all without a drivers’ license.

Today Daniel is launching his first startup. The site is Teens In Tech, a community for teenagers interested in producing and sharing new media content in a safe environment. The site launches today in a very limited private alpha, with plans to expand to a public beta by the end of the year.

Brusilovsky says that while there are a number of sites that allow teens to post their content, they don’t make it easy for users to get started. To try to remedy this, Teens In Tech has a simple 3-step signup process, after which users will be given their own subdomain, WordPress blog, and 100MB of storage (the last figure can be easily changed depending on user needs). Users are also given access to a Teens in Tech forum, where they can go to ask questions about new media, or anything else they may have on their mind.

From a technical standpoint Teens In Tech will be fighting an uphill battle. The site is using Dreamhost, a cheap service that most companies wouldn’t go near with a ten foot stick, as its storage provider. And to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t seem like there’s much new code behind Teens in Tech – the backend is a mostly standard Wordpress multi-user install, similar to what runs on the commercial Wordpress.com site. Brusilovsky says that his team has made some adjustments and that the front page will display dynamic member updates, but for the most part, it seems like a few experienced developers could replicate the site in a week or less.

That said, Teens In Tech may appeal to a niche community of tweens and teens who aren’t satisfied by the plethora of other blogging services already available. Brusilovsky has amassed an impressive list of supporters, with a board of advisers that includes Robert Scoble and Loic Le Meur. And the site is still relatively early in development – given enough resources, I wouldn’t be surprised if Daniel manages to pull this thing off.

Source: Washington Post

Blue Sipral Ear Rings by Erin, Young Enrepreneur

An enterprising high school junior has launched her own line of handcrafted jewelry, using recently-acquired web design skills and a totally-online marketing plan.

An enterprising high school junior has launched her own line of  handcrafted jewelry, using recently-acquired web design skills and a totally-online marketing plan.   The young entrepreneur is hoping to use the proceeds of her micro-enterprise to beef up her college fund.

Jewelry Designs by Erin is the work of 16-year-old Erin of Massachusetts.

After a basic high school course in HTML programming, Erin launched her website, http://www.jewelrydesignsbyerin.com,  on August 1, 2008.  The site features her handmade pierced and clip earrings in many colors and styles, and is geared toward the tastes of women of all ages.

Erin hopes to expand the site to include her beautiful handpainted gift boxes, as well as special lines of earrings and other accessories for each season of the year, particularly the Christmas holidays.

Source: PRWeb

In true democratic style, we have one girl and one boy, one video and one HubPages entry, one online and one offline business, and lots of praise for the quality of all the entrants.

So, without further ado, please step forward and take a bow – Rhiannon Leetham and Jason O’Neill!

Here is Rhiannon’s winning entry:

Rhiannon Leetham is a Cash-Smart Kid!

And here is Jason’s winning entry:

Young Entrepreneur – Jason O’Neill. Click here to read the full entry.

And here’s what judge, Peter Economy had to say (after complaining that he was only allowed to pick TWO winners).

If I am to select only two of the entrants, my choices are Rhiannon
(LOVE her video and idea) and Jason (he’s doing GREAT, is getting good
visibility, and likely has some excellent insights for our readers).

Congratulations to both winners, and to all the entrants – well done!

In contemporary technology culture, those once thought of as geeks have become the people who pull the strings of the economy and of society. After computer wizards such as Bill Gates, Sergey Brin and Steve Jobs became millionaires who are even stars on the entertainment channels, more and more children are preferring them to pop and TV icons. Although having a good body is still far from being an obstacle, geekiness has taken shape as a real cultural alternative.

The nerdy children who until not long ago made do with high grades and late-night discussions of “Star Trek,” are being rebranded and finding themselves deep in the heart of prime time. If until recently the combination of mathematical formulas and thick glasses scared the franchisees and the advertisers, now reality shows are full of nerdy children. From “Revenge of the Nerds” to “Beauty and the Geek,” the image of the brilliant child is an obsession of the media, even if one of the shows still ridicules them.

However, along with public opinion, the geeks themselves have changed. Today’s gifted children are no longer only busy with solving logic puzzles and memorizing Latin verbs. They are thinking about business.

“The gifted children growing up in contemporary society are more tempted by successful professions from the economic point of view,” says Avinoam Ben Zev, the head of the program for teaching gifted students at Oranim College.

“They know that is where the big money is, and there they can get rich quicker. At the same time, the state also treats gifted children as a national resource. In the high-tech industry, for example, there is a limited number of very talented people, and they provide a very large contribution to the economy. The question is whether it is good that these kids are treated as a resource.”

Read the full story in Haaretz.

You can never be too young to start learning the principles of entrepreneurship. That’s certainly what parent Cameron Reilly thinks. When one of his twin boys, Taylor, fell in love with an iMac computer he also realised how long it would take to save up his $7-a-week pocket money to buy one. To accelerate the process, Taylor thought he would be able to raise more money starting a business. His brother, Hunter, was also excited about the prospect.

That was about a month ago. Since then, Kids Candle Company – a business making and selling beeswax candles – has taken shape. Their Dad has helped them create a business plan. “I just outlined the structure and left all the bits blank for them to research themselves,” says Reilly. “They had to do market research on the price of candles and where they can sell them.”

Plans for growth

Currently, the boys sell online but plan to also sell at their local markets. They also made the decision to give 25 per cent of profit to charity, 25 per cent back into the business and they will split the other 50 per cent among themselves.

Like many other start-ups, they have a blog, where they have written simple posts like “What I have learnt about business”, “Making our first batch of candles”, and “How to be doing well”.

And the young entrepreneurs are already in demand. Their school teacher has already asked them to talk to their class about their business. What a great marketing opportunity.

The boys have already worked out that if the business does well, there are only so many hours in a day that one can make candles. So maybe they’ll rope in some friends – or there are rumblings that a franchising model may roll out.

I think it’s fantastic the spirit of entrepreneurship can be fostered in young kids. While they may not become mini-moguls overnight, it teaches them about taking calculated risks. I’m always amazed by number of intelligent, talented adults I meet who love the idea of being an entrepreneur. but are just too scared to take the leap. This is never going to be a problem for Hunter or Taylor.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Imagine being 6½ years old and asking your parents if you could raise money to help abused children.

That’s exactly what Madison McShanag did for an organization that was close to her heart, West Valley Child Crisis Center.

Madison was one of 1,000 young entrepreneurs around the nation who was selected by Crayons Inc. to have a lemonade stand and product for a day. Crayons supplied the children with 120 free cans of its new lemonade product and all the materials to customize the stands to reflect the charities they chose.

On a hot summer day, Madison and the rest of her family stood outside the Albertson’s store on 59^th Avenue and Beardsley Road, selling lemonade and cookies to incoming and outgoing customers. She raised $330 for West Valley Child Crisis Center.

“This has been a wonderful experience and has taught our daughter and her brothers about having a giving heart,” said Misty McShanag, Madison’s mother.

Madison will have another fund-raising activity for West Valley Child Crisis Center in the near future.

WVCCC provides a safe haven for children who have been victims of or at risk of abuse and neglect. At WVCCC’s Kid’s Campus, children receive care in a loving, family-style environment that fosters a sense of self-worth and respect for self and others.

WVCCC is active within the community to increase awareness of its mission to serve children in need and to prevent the cycle of child abuse.

Source: YourWestValley.com

Fed up with the financial woes that he got mired into because of his unchecked credit-card expenditure, Mr Ryan Soh decided to get rid of his six credit cards. Now, he uses only debit cards.

‘That was about four years ago. I incurred a credit-card debt of $40,000 over a four-year period. I was careless with my expenditure and did not really look into the credit-card charges,’ he said.

‘So I have decided I do not need credit cards. Now, I have two debit cards. It is better to have money debited straight from my bank account. I now spend what I can afford.’

Having learnt how to manage his finances the hard way, Mr Soh, 30, now wants to help others. Last year, he set up a financial firm, Young Entrepreneurs’ Secrets, with two friends. His personal investment in the firm was $150,000. They launched a MoneyTree programme which promises to inculcate money management skills in children and young adults, aged nine to 22.

So far, the MoneyTree programme has trained more than 2,000 youth via face-to-face coaching sessions, boot camps, workbooks and an e-learning portal.

Besides Singapore, the programme has been conducted in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Being an entrepreneur is not something alien to Mr Soh. His father owns a construction firm and his mother ran her own optical shop for 23 years before becoming a housewife. He recalled helping out at her shop when he was just six. When he graduated from the Singapore Polytechnic with a diploma in mechanical engineering in 1998, he joined his father’s firm as a project coordinator for a year before striking out on his own.

Read an interview with Ryan Soh in The Straits Times.

As many of you know, I carry the label of being an entrepreneur having started up several businesses over the years.

I also taught various entrepreneur courses at Sheridan College for more than 25 years and so I was indeed delighted to be invited recently by our daughter, Laurel, to speak to her class of aspiring young entrepreneurs. These people are at school full time, after deciding to enroll in Laurel’s two week class which she refers to as summer camp and where having fun is part and parcel of each day’s activity.

When I hear the word “young”, I am thinking they are probably late 20s or early 30s. What a wonderful surprise to be able to speak to a group of young women in their early teens who are seriously thinking of heading in the direction of becoming an entrepreneur when they complete their schooling. They wanted to know more about the things they may run into and how to deal with them.

Their business ideas varied. One I think will probably come to fruition is a “girls only” magazine covering topics of interest to this age group, including tips on how to successfully handle the situation when your parents decide to divorce. Unfortunately, a lot of kids these days need this sort of help.

I was amazed at the enthusiasm of the group, and, based on the questions they were asking, they are very serious about becoming business people. We wish them the best of luck with their various endeavours.

Thanks to Laurel for coming up with this excellent idea. It would be my pleasure to speak to your next group when they meet with you in August.

Kate Duffy’s students are bright, driven and ready to start their own Donald Trump stories. Of course, they still have to go to high school.

Duffy led a first-time camp for young entrepreneurs from July 14 to 18 at Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods.

Seven participants in sixth through eighth grades got hands-on experience with every facet of a successful business, including finance, marketing and management, Duffy said.

The goal of the camp, Duffy said, is to get kids interested in running their own ventures and plant the skills they’ll need to succeed. The younger the better, when it comes to business education, she claimed.

“Actually, I wish we could start teaching these kids when they are six,” Duffy said. “Entrepreneurship is such a good way to teach important life skills to kids, like how to think clearly, stay organized and look for opportunities.”

The camp’s genesis goes back to the First Step Fund, a nonprofit agency that’s helped thousands of people in the Kansas City area learn entrepreneurship skills, according to the group’s Web site.

Duffy and First Step Fund graduate Pat Ross decided to convert the group’s curriculum for elementary and middle school students.

Duffy and Ross put together a proposal that was approved for funding by an internal grant program at MCC. Five-day camps were held throughout July at MCC’s Penn Valley, Maple Woods, Blue River and Longview campuses.

Entrepreneurship is “being able to see opportunities in the world and take calculated risks,” Duffy said.

David Andrews is 13 years old, a home-schooled Liberty resident and willing to take a calculated risk. After his parents returned from a trip to Hawaii with tales of tasty Hawaiian ice, Andrews decided to open his own stand. The camp was a chance to refine the business plan, he said.

“I think the most difficult thing is going to be all the travelling around, to soccer games and stuff,” he said.

Kansas City North resident Elyse Hines, 12, will attend New Mark Middle School this fall. She was starting a tutoring business.

“I’ve done it before. I tutor kids in elementary school, help them become better at their school work,” Hines explained, making her pitch. “It’s affordable, it’s convenient.”

Freedom of choice is the best thing about being an entrepreneur, Hines added.

Read the full story in the KC Community News.

Photo: Sun Tribune

Dimension, a company set up by a group of A-level students, is proof that Britain’s youth, despite its poor image, has entrepreneurial drive in spades.

Students at the Fortrose Academy were given an opportunity, through Young Enterprise UK’s company programme, to set up and run a small business for eight months and they jumped at the chance. Little did they know that the decision would eventually lead them to London and Stockholm.

“We focused on the sort of issues that we found important – environment, health and education – and then looked for a suitable business opportunity,” says Patrick Boyer, the managing director.

Having decided that their business would promote healthy eating to young children, the team came up with the idea of using recipes, a magnetic rewards chart and a storybook about a cartoon character, Harry, to encourage primary school children to eat their five-a-day.

“Scotland’s poor record in fighting obesity is one of the reasons we opted for this project,” says Alana MacPherson, the creative director.

With the obvious interest in their product and a decent balance sheet, Dimension decided to enter the local Young Enterprise Innovation Awards competition – and won. They then won county and regional competitions to earn the right to represent Scotland in the national finals at the Park Lane Hotel in London.

Last week Dimension was named as the HSBC Young Enterprise Innovation Award winner for 2008, having seen off stiff competition from 11 other regional finalists and 3,000 teams of other young people who had also particpated. Their prize is a trophy, £1,000 and the chance to represent Britain in the European Junior Achievement Awards final in the Swedish capital this weekend, where the company’s financial results, teamwork, marketing strategy, communications, product development and administration policies will be under scrutiny.

Read the full story in The Times online.

Five dollars a week just wasn’t enough allowance for 12-year-old Eduardo Lopez, so he started his own business.

Eddie’s OH’ Fudge, named after Ralphie Parker’s famous “Oh, fudge” line in A Christmas Story, was created in early January to supplement Lopez’s meager allowance.

But, there was a bigger purpose behind the business.

Lopez hopes to attend culinary arts school to realize his ultimate goal of opening a New York City restaurant and puts back a large portion of his profits into a bank account dedicated to his tuition.

Using a family recipe handed down from his grandmother, Lopez quickly gained a client base at Premier High School, where he attends seventh grade.

“My teachers are some of my biggest sales,” says Lopez.

Read the full story in the Del Rio News-Herald.

This one particularly appeals to me, because I went through a phase of searching for exactly the right fudge recipe, experimenting, and developing a range for fudges which get rave reviews – and can all be made in one bowl in the microwave!

I, too had problems with the vanilla fudge (Eddie talks about this later in the story) – maybe I should send young Eddie my recipe!

Eddie recently turned 12, and he’s well on the way to success in business!

He’s only 7 years old, but Miles Louison speaks like a seasoned business man.

Miles started his candy sushi business, called “The Dessert Company” in March. Since then, he has made and sold more than 100 orders of candy sushi, more than his mom said she would have ever expected.

The sushi are a combination of rice crispies, marshmallows and gummy candies wrapped up to look like the traditional Japanese delicacy.
Ask him what he wants to do with the profits from his candy sushi business, and he answers like he’s been crunching numbers and meeting a budget for years.
Read the full story in the Aurora Sentinel.

This kid is amazing – you really need to read the full story to get a sense of him, but he’s obviously got business in his blood. His parents are very sensible and supportive, and I predict Miles will have great success. He chose his business name because it would allow him to brach out into other product lines – take about thinking ahead! And he’s only seven …

“I use it to buy more supplies,” he said last week as he melted marshmallows in the microwave of his family’s home in south Aurora, Colorado.

The children, aged from seven to 11 years, attend 19 primary schools throughout the borough. Each school has been given £500 (through extended schools funding) to set up and run a small business, and for market research, designing, producing, advertising and selling a product. Each child has a specific role within the ‘company’ such as finance director or marketing manager.

The schools are linked to local businesses who provide business planning and marketing support, and supported by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council which makes the initial links with businesses, and arranges extra training in, for example, food hygiene and ideas for the schools.

Read the full story at Crains Manchester Business.

Charlotte, Carolina:  Black Enterprise Magazine held its Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference and Expo in uptown Charlotte. While the event drew a number of adults in to learn and network, it also provided a venue for future business owners to grow.

“My business is called Buttons by Jordan,” said 12-year-old entrepreneur Jordan Culpepper, who says he has already saved $4,000 for college.

“My business produces healthy bars,” countered 9-year-old entrepreneur Joshua House.

The two, along with a number of others will gain vital knowledge in making their businesses grow thanks to the Expo, which targets adults, teens and children from all over the country.

Young Entrepreneurs

While the event drew a number of adults in to learn and network, it also provided a venue for future business owners to grow.

“I’ve learned so much that being able to have the opportunity to work with so many people, they game me insight on how businesses run,” said teen Dezmin Alhambra.

The Expo offered advice from adults, and allowed the children to build their own businesses by making commercials, business plans and turning those plans into potential dollars.

“These are huge life lessons that they can take with them and use in school to adulthood,” said business owner Malla Haridat.

Most of the children who are already business owners say they will save the money they make from their businesses to use for college. Others say they will put it back into their businesses to help it grow.

Source: Time Cable

The buzz on the expo floor was about Silicon Valley gaming startup Elementeo and its precocious 13-year old founder and chief executive, Anshul Samar. “We inject fun into education,” the fast talking entrepreneur confidently proclaimed, touting his new fantasy role playing board game which he believes will change the way kids learn chemistry.

The conference featured keynote presentations from the likes of Marc Benioff (Salesforce.com), Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures) and Tim O’Reilly (Web 2.0 thinker), but the young Samar better represented the theme of this year’s conference: “The New Face of Entrepreneurship.”

VentureBeat interviewed the diminutive executive at Elementeo’s TiECON booth. Like other charismatic Silicon Valley CEOs – think Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison or Marc Benioff – Mr. Samar exudes confidence, vision and a passion to change the world. He’s more articulate than many CEOs four times his age.

Click here to see VentureBeat’s video of Mr. Samar delivering his elevator pitch.

Source: Venture Beat

Recently, Anshul was interviewed by Tynan On Technology:

TOT: What inspired you to start Elementeo?

Living in Silicon Valley, I have sees all of these people starting their own businesses, showing the world their product, and being entrepreneurs. I didn’t want to wait another 10 years to start my own business — I wanted to do it now.

TOT: Are you doing what you saw yourself doing as a small child? Are you living your dream? Or has your career path been more serendipitous?

As a small child, the only thing I wanted to do was to have fun by creating something new and unique. From writing poems since 2nd grade, stories on how to beat Microsoft in 3rd grade, creating 4 page newspapers in 4th grade, creating a printing press from colonial times in 5th grade, etc. And yes, I have had fun and am having fun.

My dream was to turn my idea into a real business — since fourth grade I’ve dreamed of being the CEO of my own business. And now in eighth grade I am finally one.

I haven’t thought anything about having business as a career, or anything else. I just do whatever seems fun to me.

If this business fails, I can still come home and have a nice dinner I will still have my basketball hoop in my backyard and my skateboard in the garage.

Read the rest of the interview on the Tynan Blog.

For one of his first assignments, he was asked to create the firm’s Web site. “They assumed all young high school guys knew about this, and I didn’t,” he said. “But I had a friend that did. So I paid him less than what I was being paid and enjoyed a leisurely summer in California.”

With that entrepreneurial mindset, Mr. Livney created Livney+Partners, a full-service boutique marketing firm in the four years since that internship. In addition to creating Web sites, Mr. Livney and his five contractors do consulting in brand development and create interactive media presentations and shopping cart Web sites.

Revenue at his firm reached $64,000 last year. Clients include J.P. Morgan Chase and the Houston World Affairs Council.

“I like the sense that I’m creating my own wealth and wealth for other people,” said the Texas Christian University sophomore, who takes classes full time as an entrepreneurial management and marketing major. Mr. Livney has also invested in other companies.

“I’m young enough to where I can take those kinds of risks,” he said.

Neither of his parents is an entrepreneur. But they provided key help when he started, including setting him up with accounting and legal contacts. And they continue to play a role, he says. “They’re my biggest cheerleaders now, always handing out my business card.”

Source: Dallas Morning News

A 17-YEAR-old Dublin man who makes wooden lamps was recently in New York representing Ireland at a National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) competition, an organization which prevents at risk young people from disadvantaged communities from quitting and teaches entrepreneurship to them both in and out of school.

Glen Doyle, who lives in Harold’s Cross in Dublin, proudly traveled to New York earlier this month to attend the annual international competition, which was held at the New York Marriott Marquis on Broadway.

Doyle, who was accompanied by his mother Janet, told the Irish Voice he “couldn’t believe it” but “he was over the moon” when he was chosen to represent his country in such a prestigious competition.

“NFTE really gives us a chance to see that we can do it ourselves, that we can become something if we want to and I’m so grateful that I have had this brilliant opportunity,” said Doyle, who will continue with the Youthreach program for another year and a half.

Doyle said that there is nothing better than the feeling he gets when someone orders or buys one of his lamps. “I just hope it continues and my business will grow into a big one,” he says.

Read more at Irish Abroad.

It seems that the trend away from full-time employment and toward starting businesses is accelerating. Thirty years ago, most high school students were aspiring to finding a good job (or marrying one!). These days, 80% of high school students say they want to start their own business – and they aren’t waiting until they graduate before they do it.

This excerpt from the Daily Sundial at CSUN shown the impact this new mindset is having on college campuses:

The invention of the Internet combined with the need to be successful and wealthy as quickly as possible has led to the development of the young entrepreneur.

The young entrepreneur is a direct product of their environment, born into the excess of the 1980s, cultivated by children programming that promoted high self-esteem and equipped with the latest technology. Young entrepreneurs are not waiting for anyone’s help in fulfilling the American dream.

Instead, these individuals, who have been cultivated by the stories of success that the media has provided for them, are now taking the reins and writing their own stories.

Throughout CSUN’s campus, you can hear the young Donald Trumps, Oprah Winfreys and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs scheming and brainstorming their ideas with their peers in the various hallways and food courts.

It can only be a good thing that the hallowed halls and ivory towers of academia get a solid dose of smart kids with real world business experience – perhaps it will drag academic curriculums out of the Dark Ages! Today’s young people have no patience for irrelevant course material – they want the information they need to move ahead with their business projects, and they want it now!

A revolutionary change is starting, and if your kids miss the wave, they will be second-class citizens in the workforce of the future.

Like most college freshmen, Art Forst enjoys sleeping in, but he usually cannot spare the time. He is a football player at Rutgers, and the alarm clock in his dorm room rudely reminds him that he needs to work out year-round.

“Sometimes, when I wake up at 4:20 in the morning, I say to myself, ‘I could be in high school right now,’ “ Forst, 18, said recently with a smile.

Instead, at the advice of coaches and others, he decided to get a leg up on his college education and his college career.

Forst is determined to become good enough at Rutgers to parlay his success into a career in the National Football League, but if that does not work, his father said he would not be surprised to see Art become an entrepreneur.

When he was a boy, his father, who is in the construction business, used to invite him to work — and Art would insist on working. When it snowed at Rutgers, Forst went to the maintenance shed and asked to borrow a shovel. He knocked on doors and made $105 shoveling driveways.

Lois Cook set up her website Angels’ Den in order to match angel investors with people with a worthy business idea. In her experience, early-stage businesses should seek ways to avoid external funding.

Cook’s solution: don’t go running straight to external investors; be ingenious and find ways to generate cash from the business’ inception.

“If you look at the young entrepreneur groups at schools today, they teach you that if you want to run a business, then you’re going to need to run a pre-business to raise the capital to start the main business.

My son recently had to sell bottles of water so that he could pay the deposit to partake in an entrepreneurial event at school. And I think that’s a really good lesson,” says Cook.

“But most entrepreneurs don’t think like that – they’ll just say ‘I need £50,000 to get my business up and running’. But then of course to procure an investment of £50,000, you’re going to need a shareholder agreement which means you’re going to have to employ a lawyer which is going to cost you thousands of pounds, and then you’ll probably need to hire an accountant. But they’ll just say ‘I don’t have that money’. They haven’t really grasped that maybe you need to do something else first to earn that money.”

Early business experience during school years teaches the practical skills and thought processes required to bootstrap a business, rather than going cap in hand to investors – today’s schoolgirl entrepreneur is tomorrow’s Richard Branson in the making.

Source: Real Business UK

I always like to find new programs which teach kids about money and business.

Imagine 13-year-olds talking about the effects of inflation and how the misuse of credit cards can result in serious debts. Most kids at that age would rather talk about Playstations or the latest video games but not the participants of the Money Tree programme.

Over the past year, My Money Tree Sdn Bhd has educated hundreds of schoolchildren and exposed them to financial issues such as the impact of inflation and more complex issues, for instance, futures and commodities.

According to My Money Tree Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Gerard Lim, the programme is created for children to learn in a practical way about money principals, how to become a better investor and most importantly to learn how money relates to their life and people around them.

“Along the way, the kids will also learn about positive values of networking, co-operation, being self-confident, competitiveness, value of reading and following current affairs and many others.”

I have heard that some Money tree graduates are preparing entries for the Cash-Smart Kids Youtube Video Competition – I look forward to seeing the results!

Young people who aspire to one day start their own business, or see an existing enterprise grow, are being encouraged to take part in the Young Entrepreneurs Program being offered this summer at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) hosted by College of the Canyons.

The Young Entrepreneur Program (YEP) is a free, four-week-long course designed for young people from age 14 to 27.

“There are many young people in our community with dreams of pursuing their passions through business endeavors,” said Paul De La Cerda, Director of the COC Small Business Development Center. “But all too often these budding entrepreneurs have no guidance or knowledge about how to get started. So we launched a special program specifically for them.”

Through a variety of creative partnerships with local business owners the YEP will offer students free business counseling, while implementing business training programs in the areas of management, finance, marketing, sales and eCommerce by using a variety of outreach and delivery methods — including websites, blogs, social networking sites, virtual reality games, youth-oriented trainers and business simulation products.

In addition YEP participants will be partnered with a local business to brainstorm and create a new commercial product and accompanying business model — which will then be entered into a region wide business plan competition.

“This new program will aid participants in the development and operation of part time businesses – which could eventually lead to full time operational status – all while they complete their junior high, high school or college education,” said Bruce Getzan, COC Dean of Economic Development.

Source: KHTS Radio News

“I discovered my passion for making jewelry during my jewelry-making class in school,” she told the Daily News in Memphis, referring to a cultural arts curriculum course she took last year. “I enjoyed making jewelry so much that I asked my parents to buy beads for me so I could make more jewelry. Also, I made a necklace, bracelet and ponytail holder to wear to school. … When I would go places people would compliment me on my jewelry and they would say, ‘Where’d you get that jewelry?’ and I’d say, ‘I made it,’ and they could not believe that I made it.”

Nzinga’s creations were so attractive that people asked her to make jewellery for them as well, and before long she has a thriving business.

Nzinga comes up with the designs for the jewelry – sometimes, she said, the ideas come at night while she sleeps. She also sets her own prices and keeps up with all the orders.

“It’s her company and she handles everything herself,” Veda said. “And we do everything we can to keep it that way.”

But school always comes first, Nzinga’s mother, Veda, told the Daily News.

Education, Nzinga’s parents are teaching her, is the foundation to achieving the high goals the girl has set for herself. Nzinga doesn’t see Queen Nzinga’s Creations as just a fly-by-night business. This is just the beginning for what she hopes to achieve as a “grown-up.”

Already, Nzinga is envisioning having her own retail space to run her business, and developing a broader market and a larger production capability.

Meanwhile, she markets her creations through her website, www.nzingascreations.com.

Shonika Proctor, teen business coach, shares her knowledge of ways for kids to make money, even when they are under 16.

Po’ No Mo’

5 Tips on How Youth Under Age 16 Can Make Money

In his internationally best-selling book Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out, Dr. Farrah Gray, a self-made millionaire by age 14, discusses how, in one of the first of his many business ventures, he painted rocks and sold them as door stops door-to-door for $1.50 each when he was only 9 years old.

Despite common misconception, you do not have to have money to make money. All you need is a great idea and a persistent willingness to put that great idea into action. Here are 5 ways you can make money in the 21^st century, even if you’re not yet 16 (or 14, for that matter), and even if you don’t have a dime to your name.

1. Competitions: Enter business plan competitions such as the ones offered by NFTE.com and BlackEnterprise.com. All sorts of contests and competitions exist for young budding entrepreneurs, and the cash or scholarship prizes you may receive are only half the benefit. The other half is the name recognition you can carry with you into your burgeoning business life as being the chosen winner amongst all the many entrants in such illustrious, business-related competitions.
2. Advertising: Seek sponsors and advertisers for your product or service. For example, sell advertising space on the flyers, postcards, and – yes – websites you put out there to promote your own business. The advertising funds you generate will pay for the production, printing, distribution, etc. of your own promotions, essentially making it free advertising for you!
3. Sharing Your Experience: It doesn’t matter how young you are. We all have expertise in something, even if that something is simply being ourselves. We’ve all lived unique lives and we all have an important story to tell. Get the word out about your endeavors by writing articles on the subject for your local newspapers. Write about the subject of your business. Write about your own experiences starting a business. Usually small local newspapers are looking for filler content. With just a single publication credit, you will instantly start to become known as an expert at whatever you do. You may even get paid a few dollars or more for your efforts, though that isn’t the point. The point is to get more free advertising for your business by writing about what you know best – you and all that you are up to.
4. Technology Training and Consulting: Put that way it sounds so lofty and complex, but it isn’t. As a member of the younger generation, you have natural abilities to work with computers that may seem like nothing but second nature to you but are a hot and valuable commodity to people of older generations who didn’t grow up with all this newfangled technology in their homes. You’d be surprised how many people older than you don’t know how to make a web page (or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised). The point is, even if you can do it in your sleep, there are people who will pay you big bucks to teach them how to do it, or more – do it for them. YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and all the other social networking and bookmarking sites as well as blogs, newsletters, and ezines are the new media. And guess who the experts are in this new media? That’s right – you are! And as a related bonus tip, you can even offer a free course for small business-people at your local library on the importance of having online presence, and then at the end of the class offer to sell your expertise to build their pages. Give them a discount if they order your services on that day.
5. Odd Jobs: This is one suggestion that never goes out of style. Random odd jobs like cutting grass, raking leaves, dog walking, shoveling show etc. may not be the most exotic, novel, or interesting forms of making money. But they’ve been around forever for a very good reason – because they work. This type of work may not be directly related to your business or business idea, but you can take heart that the entire time you’re toiling away at some seemingly boring task for some extra ducats, what you’re really doing is serving a much higher purpose – raising valuable funds for your business’s success.

Tired of being po’? Of course you are! Well, get over it – literally! Because you can easily be po’ no mo’. All it takes is a little innovation and a willingness to make it work. Problems equal opportunities. Be resourceful and creative. Make money by solving problems that exist around you, and before you know it you’ll have solved the problem of being poor and well on the way to your well-deserved riches.

Shonika Proctor, aka the Nika’Nator, is a youth and teen entrepreneur coach. She helps aspiring and emerging young entrepreneurs to demolish drama and build dreams. www.renegadeceos.com.

Get a Teen Life Coach or Just Get a Life?

There they go again – your parents, hounding you to go see a teen life coach.

Maybe a teen life coach can help you find happiness, they say.

Maybe a teen life coach can help you find direction.

Help you get out of this rut, this funk you seem to be wasting your whole life away in these days.

Don’t They Get It?

When your parents were your age, they were being primed to go out and get a job when they graduated. But you don’t live in your parents’ generation – and you know it.

You’re not blind. You watch television. You hear the stories:

• Skyrocketing Unemployment!
• Economy Takes a Nosedive!
• Layoffs Layoffs Layoffs!
• Worst Job Market Ever!
• Job Turnovers Faster

There is no such thing as job security anymore, and you’ve already given up hope that there will be any social security money left for you when you retire. If you retire.

Screw that!

No wonder you’ve gotten so apathetic about your future. Don’t they see it? What the heck do you have to look forward to? And how is a teen life coach supposed to help?

Well I’ll tell you:

Doing Your Own Thing

You’re no dummy. You know the only real way to make it in your generation, in this world, not the world of 50 years ago (or even 15!) is to work for yourself. Numero uno.

Like you keep saying – you’re the only one you know you can count on 100% of the time. So, for a life that’s more than scrimping and saving and breaking your back to make ends meet and still not getting by, you need to forge your own way. Blaze your own trail. Not live out the fantasy of a life laid out for you by parents, teachers, counselors, civic and religious leaders, people who may or may not love you, may or may not have your best interests at heart, who may or may not realize the life they’re talking about is a fantasy!

It used to exist. But it doesn’t anymore.

The old way is dead. The new way is you. Or, put another way, whatever you want enough to make it be.

Now a teen life coach might possibly be able to help. But there’s someone else who is likely to be able to help you even more than a teen life coach – and that’s:

A Teen Business Coach

Plainly put: self-employment, freelancing, going into business for yourself is your best shot of living the kind of life you want to live. The kind you may or may not have already given up on.

There is a future for you. And a business coach can help you find it.

If visions like these fill you with dread

• a long daily commute stuck in traffic with thousands of other poor slobs like you, on your way to or from a job you hate working for someone you despise for a pittance of a paycheck that (for an extra kick in the face) the government takes half of anyway -

then it’s no wonder your parents want you to seek help. You’re probably already miserable about it all, and it hasn’t even started yet. And you’re certainly not trying to hide it. What would be the point?

But a therapist or a shrink isn’t what you need. You’re not crazy. And you’re not sick. You’re just disturbed – and as well you should be.

To whom much is given, much is expected. That hasn’t changed. But what are you supposed to do about it?

A teen business coach can help you take that festering knotted mass of frustration and confusion, and turn it into something that could give you a life that you deem is worth living. A life lived on your own terms. In charge of your own destiny.

The Clear-Cut Difference

There’s no shame in seeking help, guidance, and support. There’s only shame in letting your vast potential go to waste.

School can be a fantastic resource if learning is happening there. But sometimes the learning you need simply isn’t being offered there. And that’s when you need to look elsewhere to get your needs met.

One way to look at it is like the difference between the two types of coaches being described in this article is like this:

A Life Coach helps you get

your you-know-what together.

A Business Coach helps you figure

out what your you-know-what is!

Whether you opt for a teen life coach or a teen business coach, the mere fact that you’ve decided to seek help and support in taking charge of your life is an enormous step in making that change happen.

Shonika Proctor, aka the Nika’Nator, is a youth and teen entrepreneur coach. She helps aspiring and emerging young entrepreneurs to demolish drama and build dreams. www.renegadeceos.com.