FAYETTEVILLE -- An early start helps in the world of entrepreneurship.
More than a dozen area high school students participated in a Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp this week hosted by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, Startup Junkie Consulting and the Community Venture Foundation, an education-focused, nonprofit group.
Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp judges
• Jay Amargos, Startup Junkie Consulting executive consultant, head of minority small business inclusion.
• Tim Cornelius, Northwest Arkansas Community College’s vice president of career and workforce education.
• Chung Tan, Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce economic development director.
Source: Staff report
The five-day course in cultivating an idea into a business ended Friday with a pitch competition, which netted a five-member team $500 and other prizes.
"We're all here to help you. We want you to succeed, and we want you to stay here," said Tim Cornelius, Northwest Arkansas Community College's vice president of career and workforce education and one of three judges at Friday's event.
Three of the four teams built their pitches around convenience -- a combination sunscreen and mosquito repellent or a smartphone app to order restaurant meals ahead of time, and stickable GPS trackers for phones, wallets or anything else that's often misplaced. The fourth team went for the organic angle, pitching an all-natural set of lotions for everyday aches and ailments.
The judges chose the GPS stickers as the winner after peppering the group with detailed questions about costs and profit, competition and marketing.
"We all just came together as a team," said Kiya Livingston, a Fayetteville senior who was one of five members of the winning group.
She and the others weren't excited about the early mornings at first, she said, but coaching from the instructors on seeking out a problem and delivering a solution sparked an enthusiasm and an idea Livingston said she hopes to pursue. The prize comes with a year of free legal consulting and chamber membership to keep the ball rolling.
The chamber and other groups involved in the boot camp are part of a growing network of groups around the downtown square that aim to support entrepreneurship and help young businesses become successful. Chamber CEO Steve Clark has said getting schoolkids involved is a big part of his organization's effort to grow local companies and the area's workforce.
The year-old Community Venture Foundation is specifically aimed at youth, holding several camps, such as this week's and also running a program encouraging girls to go into coding.
"That's not something that I was ever exposed to, but I think I would have really loved," Jessica Boyd, the foundation's executive director, said Thursday. Skills such as budgeting, public speaking and teamwork can apply to virtually any career, she added.
"It's amazing to see where they start and where they end up," she said.
The boot camp was the fifth held by the chamber and the second involving the Venture Foundation. The 14 participants came from Fayetteville, Rogers, Farmington and other towns and were chosen from about 25 applicants, said Cameron Baker, the chamber's economic development specialist.
Cate Mertins, a sophomore at Haas Hall Academy who attended the boot camp for the second year in a row, said it helped her learn the basics of presenting an idea quickly and laying out a business plan, among other things.
Her team pitched the "Field Shield," the dual sunscreen-bug spray, and she's also working on a rotating tool organizer called a swivel caddy.
"It's fun to see what you can come up with," she said with a smile. "I plan on doing this for the rest of my life."
NW News on 07/02/2016