YE,A targets 14- to 18- year-old students in secondary schools.
Each team, consisting of up to six members, will:
- Organize itself as it deems appropriate, working together, but with individuals selected to assume the responsibilities of Chief Executive, Finance Director, Marketing Director, Sales Director, etc.
- Generate business ideas and pick one idea for a business
- Each business idea must focus on using any resources available to them to provide a product or service that others are willing to buy
- Write a business plan for their idea
- Raise capital by pitching their idea to YE,A, our corporate partners, or any other individuals or organizations of their choosing
- To keep teams on a level playing field and avoid turning this into a fund-raising exercise, YE,A caps the limit any team may raise.
- The business idea they come up with must be one that will be beneficial to the society
- Set up operations and attempt to grow their businesses
The program will be intensive and will run over a 4 week period during the long vacation.
YE,A will set up a mentoring program, in which mentors will meet with the teams they are assigned to, daily, to guide them in setting up their business processes. The role of the mentor is merely to advise teams; mentors may not make any decisions for any team. The mentors are individuals – local or foreign business owners, MBA graduates, artists etc – who believe in the vision of YE,A.
YE,A will also arrange for visiting speakers to offer insights on strategy, finance, and other business practices during the program.
Realizing reward for hard work is part of the entrepreneur’s reality. At the end of the program, YE,A will judge businesses from the various teams and reward members of the winning project with:
1) paid internship opportunities for all six team members in a business development role in partner company/start-up AND
2) Up to $1,500 seed capital to develop their idea further.
Each project will be judged on the basis of:
- Creativity of business idea
- Implementation of idea
- Synergy of team; ability to work together cohesively
- Record-keeping and presentation
