Chamber members and members of the public are invited to attend the Investor Panel Presentations of this year’s budding CEOs on Wednesday, March 11th, 6:00 PM at Allen Unique Autos. For the first time these middle and high school students will be publicly pitching their companies to a panel of investors composed of this year’s program sponsors. Up to $7,000 will be available to provide seed funding for the startup companies. In addition, one of the students will be selected as the Saunders Scholar and will compete regionally for up to $50,000 in scholarship funding. This year that regional competition will take place in Phoenix in April.
There is no cost to attend this event and last year close to 100 people showed 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 Entrepreneur Academy, slated to start in the fall will be available soon but those wishing more information can visit https://gjchamber.org/young-entrepreneurs-academy-yea.
We want to especially thank our sponsors: City of Grand Junction, CAPCO, Home Loan, Mesa County Workforce Center, Western Colorado Community College, WPX, School District 51, Alpine Bank, Bank of Colorado, Community Banks of Colorado, The Redstone Group, StarTek, US Bank and Cranium 360.