Participants in LAUNCH CHA's High School Entrepreurship program gather at The Granfalloon for "Pitch It," the district-wide competition in which students' business ideas are judged for a chance to win prizes such as Chromebooks and tablets to further their education.They may not have graduated high school yet, but scores of local high school students now have viable ideas for launching their own businesses thanks to LAUNCH CHA's High School Entrepreneurship Program.
Participants in the semester-long program held at Tyner Academy and East Ridge and Central high schools this fall gathered at The Granfalloon earlier this month for Pitch It, the program's district-wide youth entrepreneurship competition. With the help of LAUNCH CHA facilitators and mentors, participating students worked in small groups over the past several months to develop a business idea, craft a plan for their business, and create a prototype of the product, if applicable.
For Pitch It, teams from the program pitched their business ideas before a panel of judges from the local business community: Lakweshia Ewing, CEO of Unlearn Everything and Live; Aaron Welch, CEO of Woorly; Rebecca Feldbin, public relations and marketing specialist at The Bex Co.; and Tucker McClendon, manager of The Chattanooga Market and a Hamilton County school board representative.
Teams were judged on the clarity of their statements concerning the problem their business addresses and how their business solves that problem, their understanding of the startup costs and other financial aspects of the business, and the creativity of their pitch.
A group from Tyner placed third for a product they called Essentials, an all-natural, handcrafted flaxseed gel for all types of hair.
Coming in second place was a group from East Ridge that pitched an insulated, reinforced fanny pack they called the IDFP (an acronym for Industrial Diabetic Fanny Pack) for diabetics to keep their insulin and other supplies safe while on-the-go.
The winning pitch, also from an East Ridge team, was for Ideas, a portable idea dispenser to help artists and writers overcome blocks in their creativity.
First place winners each received Chromebooks, second place winners were given tablets and third-place winners received a small cash prize. The prizes were funded by donations received through a GoFundMe campaign, which also served the purpose of teaching students that crowdsourcing is an option they can use to help fund their ideas, said LAUNCH CHA Program Director Gina Soltau.
LAUNCH CHA was founded in 2011 with the goal of empowering residents of underserved communities through entrepreneurship, with a focus on women- and minority-owned businesses. The Chattanooga based nonprofit provides training, coaching, and access to business and capital resources through its Business Entrepreneurship Academy for adults.
Its High School Entrepreneurship Program started in 2012 in partnership with The Howard School and has since expanded to include eight other local high schools. The program is offered in three to four local schools each semester.
LAUNCH CHA was recently selected by Nashville based Launch Tennessee to expand the program to 10 more schools across the state starting in January, and the local organization will bring the high school program to even more schools in the state in the following semester, said Soltau.
"I think that they need to know that there's an option for them to make money - legitimate money - if they don't go to college," Soltau said, as to why she thinks it's important to introduce students to entrepreneurship in high school. "It teaches them that they can take a look at their community and see a problem and try to conquer a piece of the problem in a small way [through a business]."
To learn more about the program or to make a donation, visit launchchattanooga.org.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com