FAYETTEVILLE -- A dozen high school students from Northwest Arkansas pitched their business ideas to judges after a week of Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, with one team walking away with $500.
The free camp is run by Startup Junkie, a not-for-profit consulting agency, with the idea of helping young people foster innovative concepts and learn the tools to turn those concepts into reality, said Executive Director Hayley Allgood.
The Indescribable Cupcakes & More team won the prize after wowing the four judges with their concept and message.
Dalton Hopkins, a junior at Springdale High School, said he has been bullied in school for being a person with special needs. Baking with his father lifted his spirits, and he felt a calling to help others like him through this passion, he said.
Hopkins' business will provide homemade cupcakes with creative flavors, such as the "cherry bomb," with Pop Rocks candy in the center. He has a goal of hiring employees with special needs to fill 50 percent of the staff, Hopkins said.
Less than 18 percent of people with disabilities in the U.S. were employed in 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Just because you have a disability, that doesn't mean you can't achieve your goals," Hopkins said. "The biggest problem we are having in our community is finding businesses that hire teens and adults with special needs. We plan on solving that problem."
The business has a Facebook page and a website on the way, and Hopkins and his brother Malachi want to take the money from the competition to help buy commercial tools and equipment. The brothers plan to have a food truck up and running by mid-September, with an ultimate goal of opening a brick-and-mortar franchise, they said.
The other four groups at the camp presented business models for language learning and team sports apps, inclusive clothing design and an all-in-one dog care and adoption business.
All the students incorporated numerous concepts -- such as marketing strategies and budgeting -- learned at the camp from Startup Junkie staff members and local businesses.
"It's always a pleasure to see young people doing things they are passionate about," said judge Anna Morrison, chief executive officer of Campus Concierge, a tutoring business available to college students in Northwest Arkansas. "I think every single presentation had something impressive."
Metro on 06/30/2018