Future Founders: Citywide Business Plan Competition

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Nicole Minadeo

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Future Founders Foundation Announces Finalists for 7th Annual Citywide Business Plan Competition

Nine Southside Chicago Students to Present Business Plans in Technology and Product & Services

CHICAGO – The Future Founders Foundation, a non-profit organization that expands entrepreneurship and career exploration programs for low income students in Chicago has announced nine Chicago area student finalists for the 7th Annual Business Plan Competition. The finalists will showcase their business concept at a high-energy “American Idol” meets entrepreneurship style competition on May 9, 2012 at the Hard Rock Café at 9:00 a.m.

The competition was the culmination of a year-long program during which 200 students from seven South Side Chicago high schools received insight on creating and running businesses of their own from 125 of the city’s top entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Over the past three weeks, the Future Founders Foundation and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) hosted competitions at partnership schools so students could showcase the business plans they created during the school year. From each school’s competition, judges selected 2-4 plans to advance to the Future Founders finalist pool.

During the event, the nine student finalists will compete in two categories: Product & Service and Technology. Each category will award first and second place honors.

The 2012 Citywide Finalists include:

PRODUCT & SERVICE CATEGORY

• Krystal Ball (Senior) Scent-I-Mental Body Deli, School of Leadership at the South Shore Campus (Subway sandwich-like shop for making customized lotions and skin care products)

• Woodrow Claybon III (Junior) Serene Dream, Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy (Innovative pillow that plays soft music and releases aromatherapy to help users sleep)

• Monet Cole-Goode (Senior) Access R3, Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Longwood (Hair accessories made from recycled trash such as food/potato chip bags and gum wrappers)

• Crystal Willis (Senior) Clear Like Crystal Oatmeal Mask, Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Ralph Ellison (Protective oatmeal mask for people suffering from acne and other skin issues)

• Attallah Wilson (Senior) Stick and Zips, Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy (Adhesive product that helps keep opened food products fresh and unspoiled)

TECHNOLOGY CATEGORY

• Stevie Bailey (Senior) 10 Trey Records, Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Longwood (Online music production company for aspiring artists and producers)

• Briana Griffis & Brendan Buie (Seniors) B & B Electronics, Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Ralph Ellison (Special noise cancelling microphones and headphones)

• Demetria Hill (Junior) Vision of Pursuit, EPIC Academy (Mobile app that helps young teenagers find part-time jobs)

• Shaquiesha Davis (Sophomore), Baby 4 Me, Chicago Tech Academy (Mobile app that helps parents monitor their kids and communicate with babysitters) 

The judges for the competition include Vicki Bednar, Motorola Solutions; Lilah Bernard, Microsoft; Corliss Garner, BMO Harris Bank; Kurt Mueller, Tribune Company; Collin Wallace, GrubHub & Life Made Mobile; Kevin Willer, Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center

For more information visit www.futurefounders.com

About Future Founders Foundation

The Future Founders Foundation is a non-profit organization that expands entrepreneurship and career exploration programs for low income students in Chicago.  We inspire teenagers to explore new careers and connect them with successful mentors from various professions.  We operate two career exposure programs to empower underserved students to consider careers they never imagined and help them to create roadmaps to achieve these career goals.

Our organization was created in 2011 through the merger of Future Founders, the youth entrepreneurship program founded by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) in 2005 and Connect to the Future, the career exposure program that Lightbank Co-Founder Brad Keywell launched in 2006.

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