INCubatoredu to host national entrepreneurship summit

Barrington-based high school entrepreneurship program INCubatoredu will host a national summit of educators from its 60 member schools across eight states.

The summit, a two-and-a-half-day event on July 19-21 at Loyola University in Chicago, will feature entrepreneurs and experts addressing the challenges of creating a new business - from initial ideation, to customer segment research, successful funding, and launch.

The event will also include a national Shark Tank-like competition between student teams pitching to win funding for the launch of a new business.

"We've designed the summit to give teachers a full grounding in what it takes to launch a new business," said Margarita Geleske, co-executive director at INCubatoredu. "

The summit will also feature entrepreneur Joe Abraham, author of The BOSI Entrepreneurial DNA, who will focus on helping educators work with students' natural entrepreneurial DNA. The event will be keynoted by Grammy award nominee singer/songwriter, Peter Himmelman, creator of the renowned Big Muse workshop.

INCubatoredu is a program that provides students with an authentic entrepreneurship experience aimed at developing new product and service innovations. Student teams compete to take a business idea from concept to successful funding in a learning-incubator environment designed to replicate real entrepreneurship challenges.

The INCubatoredu curriculum is taught by a team of teachers, real-business mentors, and outside coaches drawn from local communities who help students learn the ins/outs of launching and managing a start up business.