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EngenuitySC and YEScarolina Sponsor Youth Entrepreneurship Camps and Award Top Business Proposals

EngenuitySC and YEScarolina Sponsor Youth Entrepreneurship Camps and Award Top Business Proposals

Columbia, S.C. – (June 28, 2010) – Last week local entrepreneurs and representatives from Richland County gathered at the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and Alcorn Middle School to judge and award the top three business proposals of those developed by rising 7th and 8th grade students from Richland School District One middle schools. The competitions were part of a three-week entrepreneurship camp sponsored by EngenuitySC, an active public/private partnership that is extremely passionate about developing and growing the Columbia region’s knowledge economy , and YEScarolina (Youth Entrepreneurship South Carolina), a program partner of the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) that trains South Carolina educators to teach the certified entrepreneurship curriculum.

“Entrepreneurship and innovation are key factors for our region in sustaining economic growth and creating jobs in the Columbia region,” said Neil McLean, Executive Director of EngenuitySC. “To build a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem, entrepreneurship education needs to be part of the lifelong learning process, and that is why programs like the YEScarolina BIZCamps are vital to instilling the entrepreneurial spirit in Midlands students,” he added.

“Our goal is to introduce students to the concept of entrepreneurship at an early age and connect students with local mentors to foster their dreams of developing a business,” said YEScarolina founder and director Jimmy Bailey. “We hope to establish a Midlands chapter of YEScarolina working with dedicated partners like EngenuitySC,” he added.

In addition to the business proposal competitions, campers participated in team projects, class exercises, and sessions with guest speakers. The camps were taught by distinguished teachers such as Paul Smith, who won the 2009 Entrepreneur Teacher of the Year Award from YEScarolina, and Norma Brown, who was just named the Dean of Business at Dutch Fork High School.

“I am very impressed with the kids and their creativity coupled with an intense passion to succeed,” said Smith. “We instilled in these kids the entrepreneurial spirit that enables them to think outside of the box to develop ideas which translate into marketable opportunities,” he added.

“I was so pleased to see how the students’ self esteem seemed to be boosted during the three-week program,” said Brown. “They’re realizing that they can do things they already enjoy and those skills as a real career goal,” she added.

Top business proposals were judged based on comprehensive criteria such as feasibility, creativity, philanthropy and presentation. Judges included: Dean Kress, Associate Director of the Faber Entrepreneurship Center at the Moore School of Business; Kaye Shaw, Executive Director of the Midlands Education & Business Alliance; Kelvin Washington, Richland County Council member representing District 10; Alex Abrashkin, Chief Executive Officer of iTekka Inc.; Barbara Blau, President of DP Professionals, Inc.; Jennifer Dowden, Senior Public Information Officer for Richland County Government; Barbara Iaquinto, President of QuinteSocial; Tao Gao, Managing Partner of Live2Create Interactive, Inc.; and local consultant, Nathalie Gregg.

Ahraya Jacobs, a student at Alcorn Middle School, and Victoria Bailey, a student at Hand Middle School, were awarded the top prizes of $250 seed money to start their businesses. Jacobs’ Goodie Basket business will produce and offer all occasion gift baskets. Bailey will use her award toward her Memory Lane mobile photography business. Destiny Odom, a student at Alcorn Middle School, and Daja Reynolds, a student at Hand Middle School, both received second place recognition and an award of $125 to start their businesses. Odom will sell baked goods with her business, Taste the Sweetness, and Reynolds’ Uniquely Styled business will offer hair braiding services. Taylor Thomas, an Alcorn Middle School student, was recognized with a third place award of $75 to start her mobile hair styling business, Taylor Rhea, as was Xeivier Williams, a Hand Middle School student, for his custom skateboard design business, L’s Magical Skate Shop. All of the winning students were very excited to put their plans into action.

“Our goal is to introduce students to the concept of entrepreneurship at an early age and connect students with local mentors to foster their dreams of developing a business,” said YEScarolina founder and director Jimmy Bailey. “We hope to establish a Midlands chapter of YEScarolina working with dedicated partners like EngenuitySC,” he added.

About EngenuitySC
EngenuitySC is an active public/private partnership that is extremely passionate about developing and growing the Columbia region’s knowledge economy. Comprised of business and industry leaders, along with representatives from local government and academia, EngenuitySC strives to create a fertile business climate. EngenuitySC encourages entrepreneurship and facilitates the commercialization of ideas and technology. Further information is available online at www.Engenuitysc.com.

About YEScarolina
YEScarolina (Youth Entrepreneurship South Carolina) is a Program Partner of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). This is a nonprofit organization created to offer South Carolina educators the opportunity to utilize curriculum written by acclaimed business teacher Steve Meriotti, founder of NFTE. Through entrepreneurship education, YEScarolina helps young people from communities statewide build skills and unlock their entrepreneurial creativity. From 2003 to 2010, YEScarolina has trained more than 500 NFTE Certified Entrepreneurship Teachers that have in turn touched thousands of young South Carolinians resulting in more than 12,000 business proposal written by South Carolina students. For more information about YEScarolina visit www.yescarolina.com.