PROGRAMS
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION
This was the fourth year of the JA New York Business Plan Competition (BPC). BPC was developed to:
- Inspire and seed NYC and Long Island students' interest in entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic and social empowerment
- Encourage students to think entrepreneurially to conceive and drive solutions that tackle business and social problems
- Reinvigorate the entrepreneurial spirit in a new generation to secure America's place as a global business innovator, and a technological and economic leader
By successfully engaging students in entrepreneurial thinking and creativity within a business context, BPC makes education more relevant and exciting to students. They are taught to make connections between what they learn in school and practical applications of this knowledge in the real world.
March through June, 2011 saw 195 high school teams (comprising over 1000 students) competing in a series of knock-out rounds of the 2011 BPC, presented by the NASDAQ OMX Education Foundation. The teams competed in an eight-week, classroom-based, business plan writing boot-camp where they were coached by corporate volunteers. The final six teams survived several rounds of competition requiring them to pitch their winning business ideas to seasoned business executives and entrepreneurs, with the ultimate goal of being singled out as having the next big winning business idea that could put them on the pathway to success.
The competition culminated with a final-round at NASDAQ Marketsite, Times Square, where Long Island's W.T. Clarke High School team WizarDry bagged first prize for their business plan idea. Bronx High School of Science’s team Caboost came in second and Newcomers High School (Queens) received third place honors.
IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS
- A record 1,005 Student Participants!
- 13 Schools
- 195 Teams
- 89% of students said that they increased their knowledge of business and entrepreneurship, and 75% indicated they could see themselves starting a business of their own
- 88% of teachers strongly agreed that the Business Plan Competition was a great experience for their students and felt high schoolers benefited greatly from participating in the program