On Wednesday, March 27th at the Courtyard by Marriott from 6:00pm – 8:00pm, student entrepreneurs will take the stage to present their business plans before a panel of local leaders of industry and a public audience. The students are dressed as young professionals, and are ready to wow the crowd.
10 students in grades 6 through 12 representing 10 businesses from the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) will have five minutes to pitch their business plans to prominent local members of the business community, during the program’s annual YEA! Investor Panel Event “Shark Tank” style. Based on the appeal and merit of the students’ plans and presentations, a panel of 15 investors of will determine the amount of funds to allocate to each business.
In addition, one of the students will be selected as the Saunders Scholar and will compete regionally for up to $50,000 in college scholarships. This year that regional competition will take place in Rochester, New York in May.
There is no cost to attend this event and we urge the public to show their support for fostering free enterprise in today’s youth by attending the Investor Panel and cheering on the community’s youngest business owners. This is also an excellent opportunity for middle and high school students interested in applying for the program in the future to view what YEA! has provided the current class in terms of tools and skills.
Applications for the next Young Entrepreneurs Academy, slated to start in October, will be available at the event, but those wishing more information can also go to the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce’s website , www.gjchamber.org.
We want to especially thank our sponsors: City of Grand Junction, Home Loan Insurance, Mesa County Workforce Center, Mesa County Valley School District 51, US Bank, Chick-fil-A, JG Management Systems, Western Rockies Federal Credit Union, Alpine Bank, Bank of Colorado, Conquest Developments, Fisher’s Market, VanWinkle Enterprises, Mesa County Business Education Foundation, and OBJ Group.
Click here to download the full version of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce March 2019 Newsletter.