High school students pitch to local investors

Feb 27, 2014

Alief Taylor high school students, ages 16 to 18, from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) at Houston Community College will pitch their business plans to prominent local members of the business community during the program’s annual YEA! Investor Panel Event. Based on the appeal and merit of the student’s plans and presentations, companies like CapWest Strategies, Nation Waste, and Firat Educational Solutions will determine the amount of funds to allocate to each business. The event is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 27 in the Taylor Theater Room (7555 Howell Sugar Land Road). It is free and open to the public.

About the Young Entrepreneurs Academy

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy, or YEA!, is a groundbreaking educational program that takes students in grades six through twelve through the process of starting and running real businesses over the course of a full academic year. Students work in close cooperation with local leaders of industry, community members, and educators to develop ideas and objectives, write business plans, pitch potential investors, obtain funding, register with governmental agencies, develop their brand identity and much more.  By the end of the class, students own and operate fully functioning businesses that can be carried on after graduation. Students learn to make a job--not just take a job. 

YEA!’s direct mission is to help students embrace their passion, energy, creativity and talents, launch a venture, and view entrepreneurship as synonymous with success and freedom. In 2008, YEA! “spun-off” from the University of Rochester, where it was formed in 2004 with support from the Kauffman Foundation, to create its own not-for-profit corporation, YEA! Inc., which is currently launching sites in colleges, universities and high schools across the country to provide comprehensive, exciting entrepreneurship education, leadership development and innovation training to youth between the ages of 11 and 18 years old in the United States thereby making the program available to students at a variety of geographical regions, and providing them with skills they need to succeed in the 21st Century.

Begin as a student and finish as a CEO.