high school entrepreneurs

These last few weeks we have been working hard on the program curriculum for our high school entrepreneur summer program which we are planning to offer for a second year in 2011. All these discussions we’ve been having about creating an amazing entrepreneurial experience in an international setting has really got me excited about the potential we can bring out of young students and so I wanted to do some research online to find some great stories to help inspire future business leaders.

The web is full of amazing stories featuring high school students that have took the initiative to start their own ventures. Some big, some small, but the idea of really starting something more than just that corner lemonade stand has really started to transcend to this younger generation.  It seems with the growth of the internet, young high school students have more resources available making it possible to do everything from planning an idea, to launching a full fledged service.  Just take a look at Diane Keng, at 18 she’s already the topic of several news articles and for good reason; she’s already launching her third start-up, myweboo.com.

According to Diane, “My age, my gender and my lack of experience don’t deter me from going after what I want for the company.”  This is the attitude that many high school students are displaying.  For these highly motivated few, a day could look something like this:  Get up and go to school, participate in after school activities and associations, go home to do homework and then spend a few hours on their own business.  On weekends, spend more time working, marketing, selling, implementing and tweeking.

For three 16 to 17 year old entrepreneurs from Canada, the drive to start their own business led them to the creation of a company called Design Vetica.  Alex Gondek, David Kim and William Zhou came up with their idea during IT class and were able to launch the interactive web design and media production company soon after.  Sometimes being so young actually keeps some barriers that slow down or even stop other older would be entrepreneurs from ever launching their ideas.  For instance, young kids have less to lose and have less responsibilities to worry about and are able to approach a start up with more of a care free and “just do it” attitude, while older generations have to worry about whether they can maintain a full time job (to pay the bills) while trying to keep up with the demands of starting and operating their own business.  Of course a can do attitude and is not all that is required in launching a successful company as these young teenagers can confirm.  For the few that are able to succeed, the drive to pull such a venture off includes the need to absorb as much about business as possible, learn from mistakes and to continue pushing along.  It might be natural then, to say that starting a business as a youth might be ideal, similar to what they say about learning languages; a young brain seems to be able to take in a great deal of information much more quickly and effectively than adults.

Whatever the reason, I do believe that it’s never too early to get some entrepreneurial experience and believe that the internet is probably the ideal medium that is lowering the barriers of entry. If you are a student and are interested in learning from actual entrepreneurs in Shanghai, check out Next Step Connections high school summer programs.  This is a chance to do something exciting and different next summer.

The 9th China Entrepreneur Summit 2010

From PRNewswire-Asia 2010-11-09

From December 3 to December 5, 9th China Entrepreneur Summit 2010, the most influential annual business event in China, will be held grandly in Beijing. Themed by “New Business, New Conflicts, New Impetus”, the Summit will be co-sponsored by China Entrepreneur Magazine and China Entrepreneur Club. This year’s Summit will consistently invite entrepreneurs with independent minds and resolute actions, economists with outstanding achievements and politicians with great visions to discuss the most deep and cutting-edge topics in commercial society. It is estimated that over 800 guests from all circles of life will participate in the great event.

Eyes on the “Three-News“ in the “Year of Conflicts“

After repeated discussions by internal and external expert panels, we have finally set the theme of this Summit as “New Business, New Conflicts, New Impetus”. Liu Donghua, Chief of China Entrepreneur Magazine said, “Embracing the second decade of the 21st century, we must make explorations and find solutions for some major problems. For example, what path should Chinese business follow? Where should we seek for impetus? Where should we ask for support? Also, we’re in need of reaching some important common views. The theme is in line with our values, which are healthy, positive and keeping pace with the times.”

“The year 2010 can be named ‘the year of conflicts’, which is partly why we have chosen ‘New Business, New Conflicts, New Impetus’ as the final theme,” concluded Huang Lilu, Editor-in-chief of China Entrepreneur magazine, on the year drawing to an end, when asked about the theme of the Summit.

Huang held that this year was occupied with frequent conflicts: Capital is greatly favored while industry is increasingly left out in the cold; the state-owned enterprises are advancing vigorously while the private enterprises are struggling for survival; the domestic enterprises are enthusiastically marching into international markets while multinational corporations are complaining about Chinese market environments; the misunderstandings of the public towards entrepreneurs remain and the spirits of the entrepreneurs are obviously depressed because of delayed reforms and the lack of social recognition; the new generation of staff formed by post-80s and post-90s individuals are impacting the conservative management modes for many years; conflicts between the family businesses and managers are being aggravated during the course of going public…

Click on China entrepreneur summit for more details.