University of Wisconsin - Extension

Could your seventh or eighth grader become as successful as Bill Gates? A first step might be to attend the new Youth Entrepreneur Camp, a 40-hour program designed to foster the entrepreneurial desires of middle school students.

The UW-Madison Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is sponsoring the camp June 12-16. It equips young people to start a business through interactive activities, classroom instruction, computer lab, and field trips to local businesses. Camp headquarters is Grainger Hall, which houses the UW-Madison School of Business. To be eligible, a student must have completed seventh or eighth grade.

Instructors are Frank Kennedy, president of an entrepreneurship education company, and Barry Roberts of the UW-Madison SBDC, a certified youth entrepreneur instructor. According to Roberts, the young day campers will learn real world business skills. These include team building, leadership development, financial management, verbal communication and business etiquette through interactive lessons and exercises. Participants will also learn how to successfully negotiate for business materials, set goals, and recognize business opportunities.

Each camper will be given grant money to open a savings account, and each will develop a written business plan with marketing materials. They will also create advertising campaigns to market their product or service.

Since real-world business is competitive, entrepreneur campers will get a taste of that world through their camping experience. Participants will present their business plans to a panel of judges and will compete for real venture capital dollars.

According to a Gallup study:

• Nearly 70% of high school students want to launch their own business, yet they lack knowledge about business ownership.
• Forty-four percent of high school students acknowledged that their understanding of business issues is "poor" or "very poor".
• Up to 25% of kindergarten students display the skills, talent, and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, but only 3% of high school graduates display these characteristics.

For more information about Youth Entrepreneur Camp contact the SBDC at (608) 263-7680 or visit its Web site