Manny Mollinedo and Danny Martinez of Hialeah Gardens High School recently placed second in the Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in South Florida Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). They will go on to represent the region in the 2017 conference.
The NFTE works to create programs that inspire lower-income youth to stay in school, plan for future success, and see business opportunities when they arise. The program was founded in 1987 in New York City. More than 700,000 youngsters coming from low-income communities have worked with the NFTE, turning their “street smarts” into academic and business skills.
Regional Youth challenges are held in many locations around the country, encouraging students to share business plans and present their stories to guest panels. Danny and Manny’s business plan was titled ‘Fresh Fit’, and was a company that both creates and distributes fitness shaker bottle liners. They will receive $1,000, and will go on to compete for a grand prize of $20,000 at the New York City national conference in October. Students also complete the entrepreneurship program at the NFTE as they complete their plan. Winners had their picture taken with large cards that used graphic design to look like credit cards.
The South Florida challenge included prestigious local judges who reviewed the students’ business plans and spoke to them about their entrepreneurship goals. Both Citi Foundation and Microsoft support the program around the country, along with Bank of America, MasterCard, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity Cruises.
