How middle school kids are getting their own businesses started through YEA
Could you spend a school year setting up a business with a complete business plan and then get on stage in front of friends and family to present your plan - when you were in middle school?
"Definitely a hardworking group, especially for students so young, 12-, 13-, 14-year-old kids who write a business plan and go through all the aspects of starting a business," said Steven Gaus, in his eighth year as the Young Entrepreneurs Academy program manager, after Wednesday's YEA investor panel event at Harper College in Palatine. "Remarkable. I wouldn't have had the wherewithal at that age."
The nine-month program is in its ninth year locally, thanks to the Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rolling Meadows Chamber of Commerce. It was launched by the University of Rochester in 2004, and the national finals will be hosted in Rochester, N.Y., albeit virtually.
The kids spent more than two hours a week in class, in addition to their regular schoolwork, Gaus said.
The "Shark Tank"-type contest splits $6,500 between the 15 contestants, but there's a catch. The kids have to follow through with their projects and request the funds as needed.
Arnav Gupta of Rolling Meadows won first place and $1,100 for his company Toolsology, which plans to produce a flexible tool tray using 3D printers.
"I feel really great, obviously," said Gupta, who requested $1,200 funding from the investor panel. "I really wanted to get a good position in this program because I really pursue business as my passion. I find this a very good opportunity for me."
"I thought it was a great idea, a usable DIY-type of tool kit or tool storage thing that's easy to use," Gaus said of Gupta's business. "It's compact. It makes sense. It's something that people are going to want to use."
Gaus saw Gupta work hard to figure out a way to make his business plan realistic.
"It was a matter of struggling with somebody who could make the product for him," Gaus said. "We worked with Harper Maker Space, also with the Palatine library with their Maker Space to get a prototype made for him. And also a local manufacturer so he could get his costs set so he knew how much it was going to cost him to make in quantity so he could set his pricing and so on."
Gupta said he got the idea from working with his father on household projects when they moved into a new home two years ago. They often wound up with a "bowl full of screws and those types of things," he said, and the result was a mess.
Still, developing the business plan and his prototype product weren't the hardest parts of the endeavor for Gupta.
"Presenting. This is like the first time I've done such a big presentation. So it was definitely the presenting was the hardest part for me," he said.
He'll have another chance to present his product at the national competition. And he has to follow through on his business.
Palatine's Daniel Romanov placed second and was awarded $950 for his business Hook It. Hook It buys biodegradable and recyclable components and reassembles them into fishing kits. Romanov said he has been fishing since age 4.
Sam Gonzalez, an eighth-grader from Palatine, placed third and was awarded $800 backing her business, Mandala Designs, a "collaborative custom clothing business. She wore her product to the event.
Serving on the investor panel were: Frank Cerrone of Pan American Bank & Trust; Meghan Hartnett of Lavelle Law Ltd.; and Daily Herald Suburban Business Editor Orrin Schwarz.