NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- A select group of talented students from around the country who have excelled in entrepreneurship education programs offered by some of the nation's top non-profit organizations will participate in the annual Goldman Sachs Foundation Youth Entrepreneurship Expo, to be held on November 10, 2004, at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York City.
The 23 participating students represent the "best of the best" from organizations serving high potential as well as low income and underrepresented youth, including the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, the Center for Talented Youth at The Johns Hopkins University, Prep for Prep, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, and A Better Chance.
Students will showcase their business ventures and will deliver brief presentations to an audience of business professionals, teachers, parents and judges. Students will be evaluated on different competition criteria including best marketing and best communication skills. Top competitors will be awarded cash prizes ranging from $250 to $1,000.
Among the participants is 15-year-old Kris-Ann Blagrove, a student at Phillips Academy who has dreams of launching non-profit learning centers in countries around the world to improve educational opportunities for students; 16-year-old Najee McGreen, who is working toward developing a computer repair business; and Michael Lopez and Danielle Volman, who plan on launching a website that helps New York City-area teenagers find job and volunteer opportunities. All of these students are academic high achievers who are poised for personal and professional success, but their participation in entrepreneurship programs has changed their perceptions about who they might choose to become in the future.
As McGreen, a student at Benjamin Banneker Academy, explained, "Entrepreneurship has provided me with self-confidence and to depend more on myself rather than hoping someone else will pick up the burden for taking care of me. Running my own business had definitely made my life more interesting."
The Expo concludes months of diligent and creative work by hundreds of students in entrepreneurship competitions. It will feature a highly selective group of talented youth who have excelled in Goldman Sachs Foundation-sponsored entrepreneurship education programs implemented in 2004, and who have been nominated to compete in the Expo competition.
The Expo comes at a time when interest among young people in owning and operating a small business is growing. A series of Gallup Polls found that nearly seven out of 10 youth (aged 14-19) were interested in becoming entrepreneurs. Additionally, research conducted by the Kauffman Foundation shows that more than four out of ten kids ages 9-12 say they would like to start their own business. Among the most commonly cited reasons for starting a business in this age group were to "follow a dream" and "help other people."
Furthermore, compelling evidence from researchers at Harvard University indicates that youth who are taught about entrepreneurship show a positive change in attitude and strong success orientation, and are more likely to be focused on academic and professional achievements and aspirations and leadership.
The study, conducted on behalf of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) by Dr. Michael Nakkula, Director of Project IF (Inventing the Future) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, provides compelling evidence of the positive benefits youth entrepreneurship programs can have on school engagement and future orientation.
The findings reveal that compared to a group of their peers, students enrolled in entrepreneurship education programs:
-- Demonstrated a 32 percent increase in interest in attending
college
-- Showed a 44 percent increase in occupational aspiration
-- Increased independent reading by four percent; and
-- Increased leadership behaviors as measured by the likelihood of
students taking initiative and leading in business, arts, and
sports activities outside of the class by 13 percent
"These findings reinforce our conviction that youth entrepreneurship programs are particularly effective at keeping students from underrepresented backgrounds on track academically and can be a significant force in driving them toward high achievement and leadership," said Stephanie Bell-Rose, President of The Goldman Sachs Foundation.
"Many neighborhoods are filled with bright children who just need help finding their talents," said Steve Mariotti, founder of NFTE, an organizer of the upcoming Entrepreneurship Expo. "By exposing these students to entrepreneurship, we expand their capacity, unleash their creativity, and encourage their individual growth."
About The Goldman Sachs Foundation
The Goldman Sachs Foundation is a global philanthropic organizations funded by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. The Foundation's mission is to promote excellence and innovation in education and to improve the academic performance and lifelong productivity of young people worldwide. It achieves this mission through a combination of strategic partnerships, grants, loans, private sector investments, and the deployment of professional talent from Goldman Sachs. Funded in 1999, the Foundation has awarded grants in excess of $54 million since its inception, providing opportunities for young people in more than 20 countries.
About NFTE
The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (www.nfte.com) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, whose mission is to teach entrepreneurship to young people from low-income communities to enhance their economic productivity by improving their business, academic, and life skills. NFTE is headquartered in New York City. The organization reached over 17,000 young people in 2003 and has trained teachers and youth workers in 44 states and 16 countries.