South Florida Area Teens Win Business Pitch Competition
MIAMI (PRWEB) June 18, 2019 -- Three young entrepreneurs from area high schools won top honors in the NFTE (Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship) Southeast Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge held at the Little Haiti Cultural Center on May 30.
The students pitched their business ideas to a panel of expert judges, competing for cash prizes and a free trip to New York City this fall to represent the Southeast region in the next round of nationwide competition. The first and second place winners at the Southeast regional finals now advance to the quarterfinal rounds of NFTE’s National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, where they’ll go head-to-head with other top young entrepreneurs from across the U.S., competing for seed capital to grow their businesses or pursue educational goals.
The results of the Southeast regional finals:
• First place went to juniors from John A. Ferguson High School, Liza Guanch and Christopher Pressley are the founders of SuperTutor; a non-profit corporation partnered with Baptist Hospital that provides in-hospital tutoring for children affected by cancer from the ages of 5 to 12 years old, for free.
• Second place went to 17-year-old Cameron Franco from Nova High School is the founder of Camzcardz, a business that buys and sells individual and boxes of sports cards, which taps into the over 6 billion dollars sports card market, one of the largest markets in the world and the number 1 investment for men ages 15 to 30 years old.
• Third place went to Hialeah Miami Lakes High School junior Samya Zia and sophomore Markwell Grace, the creators of Munch Monster, have created an educational app that supports healthy eating habits. The Munch Monster Game is a fun, educational game, with multi-levels of excitement that informs players on the benefit of eating the right foods, promoting good eating habits. The app even allows parents to customize their child’s healthy eating options.
Student business pitches were judged by a panel of experts that included:
• Jim Berra, Chief Marketing Officer, Royal Caribbean
• Rocki Rockingham, SVP, Global Human Resources, Newell Brands
• Diane Vidoni, COO, eMerge Americas
• Tony Cho, President & CEO, Metro1
• Jenna L Wulf, Esq., Edward J. Jennings, P.A.
Three special awards were presented during the evening event:
• Tamelya Moore from Homestead High School was awarded the NFTE Southeast Model Teacher Challenge Award. Moore now advances to the next round of national competition in the Model Teacher Challenge.
• Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines was honored with the NFTE Southeast Corporate Volunteer of the Year Award.
• Patrick Corbett of Mind Stimulus Labs was honored with the NFTE Southeast Individual Volunteer of the Year Award.
The NFTE Southeast Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge was presented by Citi Foundation, Ernst & Young, LLP (EY), and Mastercard with additional support from Microsoft, Santander and Commissioner Eileen Higgins, District 5, Miami Dade County.
The evening event was emceed by talk show host, television journalist, writer & educator, Charles Perez and featured a panel discussion on entrepreneurship and the future of work in South Florida, moderated by Tom Hudson, VP of News and Special Correspondence, WLRN, with panelists including:
• Raul Moas, Miami Program Director, Knight Foundation
• Lang Dobson, NFTE Alumni Entrepreneur and founder of Lang D Visuals
• David Evensky, Principal, Evensky & Katz
• Camila Cote, Assurance Partner, EY
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About NFTE
NFTE is the leading educational nonprofit focused on teaching startup skills and activating the entrepreneurial mindset in young people from under-resourced communities. Research shows the entrepreneurial mindset—skills including problem-solving, adaptability, initiative, and self-reliance—leads to lifelong success. Equipped with the business and academic skills NFTE teaches and empowered by the entrepreneurial mindset, NFTE alumni are prepared to thrive. NFTE works with schools and community partners across the country through its nationwide network of program offices. Alliances with global youth development organizations bring NFTE programs to additional students internationally. NFTE reaches more than 100,000 young people annually and has served well over a million students since its founding. Learn more at http://www.nfte.com.
Media Contact
Ashley Johnson
mediainquiries(at)nfte.com
(212) 232-3333
Ashley Johnson, NFTE, http://www.nfte.com, +1 212-232-3333, [email protected]
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