WHY IS YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP IMPORTANT?

Mark Pomerantz

What is it?
Youth entrepreneurship involves acquainting young people and students with the realities and
opportunities of small-business employment and ownership. Other goals are helping kids feel
good about themselves, and feeling they can manage their own lives.

Entrepreneurship education can have a positive impact on other aspects of students’ lives too.
The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship trains teachers to teach
entrepreneurship and publishes manuals and study guides. They have a program in Florida,
which brings students from all over the state together for workshops and a state business plan
competition. The students who participated in the program had greater interest in attending
college, job aspirations that required great education, had improved scores in independent
reading, and improvements in grades and tardiness

A youth entrepreneurship program, if one was developed, would focus on introducing

students to business fundamentals and becoming entrepreneurial thinkers. Some may go on to
college, some may start their own businesses, and some will decide they want to work for
others, but they will all learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship which means being alert
to opportunities, being able to adapt to change, and being able to deliver on a promise or
contract.
What’s Going on in Cincinnati?
I spoke with John Morris, Principal of the Entrepreneurship High School in Cincinnati, Ohio,
(http://www.cpsboe.k12.oh.us/programs/schchoice/SchFlyers/EntreFlyer.pdf) about how his
school program works.

John was hired by the Cincinnati School District to run one of their most troubled schools.
His background is in business not education. His school starts with a strong standard based
educational program and adds an entrepreneurial factor into each class. So the kids are
exposed to an entrepreneurial approach all day long.

John is sympathetic to the Gates Foundation approach of small focused schools or academies.
But he thinks it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not enough nowadays to train kids to be
proficient in a field or particular job because they’ll be competing for those jobs against other
workers worldwide. His school is receiving support for computers and professional
development from the Gates Foundation under their Model Secondary Schools Project. His
school is the entrepreneurship-focused school; others are art or technology focused.

He feels that it’s important to give kids choices and teach them how to recognize and
implement good ideas, how to generate and make use of opportunities, and how to make
money from doing this. He feels that giving kids skills in a world marketplace will not
guarantee them jobs when someone in the Third World will do the same job for a fraction of
US wages. Kids need to be taught how to respond to challenges, crises, and adversity in a
flexible and opportunistic manner.

He also feels that some kids may be misplaced in academies. They may be there for
geographic reasons and then find that they aren’t that interested in the subject focus. (Kids
may like playing with computer games but then find that they don’t like programming
computers) He feels that entrepreneurial focus helps kids stay in school and stay with the
program. His school’s results seem to substantiate that with kids staying in school and
passing their classes.

John mentioned that one of the Gates focuses was on the advisory character of the school.
They have “advisory classes” in the schools where an entrepreneurship curriculum could be
developed and kids can be advised how they can make money from the fields they are
studying.

Could PCC be a Partner?

I’ve also spoken with Diana Crane, the Community Relations Director for PCC Natural
Foods. PCC has started a program called Kids Clubs and one of their Board Members is very
interested in Youth Entrepreneurship. They would also like to work closer with school-based
programs.

Next Steps?
Today I hope that we have a discussion that yields some ideas for next steps like a
partnership or a network. One idea for a program would utilize a curriculum to be "shared"
among the organizations, and the services of a teacher certified to teach youth
entrepreneurship. Other ideas might include field trips to businesses, outreach to business
organizations, workshops with business people and MBA students’ et al. Perhaps someone
has an idea for a youth enterprise that they might want to partner with others in developing.
While this project is designed to have a primary impact on the lives of students it will have a
secondary impact on the local economy. Entrepreneurship has been the driving force in
economic growth and getting an early start in training youth to be small business
entrepreneurs will have a positive impact on Seattle’s local economy.

Some of the Challenges to Developing a Youth Entrepreneurship Program in Seattle:

Schools are not focusing on “life skills”

Connection has not been made here that entrepreneurship focus helps academic
performance
“Vocational” programs are not popular
School focus is on achievement tests and college prep
There are “competing” after school programs
Gates Foundation promotes “small academy” concept, which are topically focused
(arts, technology etc.) smaller schools.

Youth Entrepreneurship seemingly has more support outside of Seattle:

2500 students attended WA DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) Career

Development Conference last year
0 students attended from Seattle Schools!
Parents and schools in Eastside of County are more supportive of entrepreneurship
foci?

Some Examples of Youth Entrepreneurship in Canada

A recent study showed that acceptance of social entrepreneurship, i.e., using business
principles to further a community or social mission breaks down on generational lines in the
business world. Those business leaders under 35 were open to the notion that business has to
be more socially responsive. Those over 35 tended not to be responsive to the idea.

The businesses listed here were all started by young people in their 20’s who not only are
entrepreneurs but social entrepreneurs. Their businesses all have an element of mobilizing
other young people.

Youth One, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Leo Wong, Founder (PhD Candidate in Marketing, U. of Alberta)
A not-for-profit company founded in 2000 that runs www.youthone.com, aWeb site for
youth, offering counseling and discussion forums
One employee and volunteers

Meal Exchange, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Rahul Raj, Founder (Degrees in business and philosophy)
A not-for-profit company founded in 1993 that allows college students living on campuses to
transform unused meal plan points into groceries which get delivered to food banks and other
community organizations. The program operates at 45 colleges and universities across
Canada and has donated more than $260,000 worth of food to community organizations.
Three employees

Santropol Roulant, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Chris Goodsall, Founder (BA English/Political Science, MBA)
A not-for-profit company founded in 1995 to get youth to serve meals-on-wheels to senior
citizens. It has delivered more than 200,000 meals to 1,100 seniors, involving 1,200
volunteers and creating more than 200 temporary and training jobs for youth.
Six employees.

HumanLink International, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Natalie Chinsam, Founder (Business degree)
A not-for-profit company founded in 2002 creating links between Toronto and Guyana; also
develops and implements “Yes Youth Can” entrepreneurial forums in Toronto and
Newfoundland; nominated for Peter F. Drucker award for non-profit innovation.
Three part-time employees.