The Pennsylvania Entrepreneurship Challenge Competition is a program in which students from schools throughout the state work in teams to formulate business plans.
Their plans are evaluated by a panel of judges, and the top five plans at the regional level are submitted to a statewide competition, sponsored by Economics Pennsylvania, a non-profit organization, founded in 1978.
Its staff works in collaboration with colleges, university and corporations to help young people develop sensible economic ways of thinking along with vital financial decision making skills. U.S. Savings Bonds and cash prizes are awarded to winning teams and teachers.
A training workshop for the Entrepreneurship Challenge Competition was recently held at CPI school in Pleasant Gap. The Centre County event was created by Allan Darr, President and CEO of ProAct Ltd., a medical instrument development company. The event was sponsored by ProAct, Fulton Bank, Lion Country Kia, and Videon Central.
Participating schools were: State College Area School District, Bald Eagle Area School District, Bellefonte Area School District, Central PA Institute of Science and Technology (CPI) and Penns Valley Area School District.
Guest speakers and mentors for this event were Allan Darr of ProAct, John Rodgers of Fulton Bank, Todd Erdley of Videon Central, and Kathleen Warner, a Schreyer Honors student at Penn State majoring in advertising and theater. She is the former president of Innoblue, the entrepreneurship organization on the PSU campus that teaches classes in marketing, programming, and design.
The speakers instructed the students on the skills of formulating business plans, including marketing and sales techniques, identifying a target market, knowing your competition, and cost estimating and control. They dispensed useful advice to the teams of students, which the students will use, along with guidance from their individual school team coaches, to formulate plans for potential businesses.
At the competition, these plans will be judged based on practicality, completeness, and their probability of success in the business world.
Warner had praise for the Entrepreneurship Challenge program and the students involved.
“I think it’s incredibly impressive. They’re in high school and already sitting down working on business plans,” says Warner. “I’m excited to be a part of this, and trying to help them out in any way I can.”
Penns Valley business teacher, Eric Weaver brought his team of business students to the workshop. Students in his classes are required to formulate business plans in lieu of final exams. The plans will be evaluated by a panel of teachers and community members, and the top two plans will be submitted to the Centre County Entrepreneurship Challenge competition.
Weaver gave some examples of the ideas the students had for businesses. They included a homemade dog treats business, a hunting and fishing lodge in the Penns Valley area, a skateboard shop, and several others.
“Some of these kids have good ideas, but don’t know how to develop them. That’s what this session is all about,” Weaver says.
He notes that Penns Valley senior and team member Tyler Zimmerman, has been running a small lawn care service for the last two years, and would like ideas on how to expand his business.
The Centre County Entrepreneurship Challenge competition will be held in the spring of 2014. For more information on the Entrepreneurship Challenge program, contact Economics Pennsylvania at (570) 975-5149.
