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SpringBoard Announces Youth Entrepreneurship Competition Tuesday, October 28, 2008
CreateHere’s innovative business development program, SpringBoard, has spent the last six months empowering a new wave of small business owners, current and aspiring. As of mid-November, 86 graduates of the business planning course will have entered Chattanooga’s creative business community, each specializing in a unique trade or services. SpringBoard now turns its attention to another group of promising entrepreneurs: high school students.
SpringBoard’s Youth Entrepreneurship Competition asks Chattanooga’s aspiring young business owners to organize and act. In completing an application, students draft a simple business plan. This business plan then becomes the grounds by which they are judged for a $500 grant, to be used for start-up costs, maintenance, marketing, even professional training.
SpringBoard began as an eight-week business planning course, teaching participants to build a comprehensive business plan while receiving constructive feedback and group support.
“SpringBoard was a great help in setting up a framework for my business,” said Casey Neal of Casey Neal Landscape Architecture, a SpringBoard graduate. “Working through the program helped me create a plan to take my business from a small startup to a professional operation.”
The Youth Entrepreneurship Competition works in much the same way, asking targeted questions to get students thinking about the creative economy in tangible ways. While high school students may not have had access to business planning courses in the past, the plans and resources provided by this competition will allow them to act on their ambitions in much the same way as their seasoned counterparts.
Through this program, as well as numerous other collective efforts, SpringBoard is defining a holistic approach to creative economic stimulation. This approach, known as Economic Gardening, promotes sustainable growth, micro-finance, and mentorship in business.
Applications for the Youth Entrepreneurship Competition are due on December 8, 2008, and are available by contacting Sheldon Grizzle at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or by calling 423.648.2195.
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