Note: A 2022 survey by Junior Achievement USA found that 60% of teens hope to start their own business one day rather than work a traditional job. This week, Southern Indiana Business Report talks with young entrepreneurs who started businesses in high school. Today’s story looks at a few state and school programs that are teaching students about business ownership.
Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
Busy moms with a flair for decorating cakes, tech start-ups and landscape designers. There are nearly 500,000 small businesses in Indiana that employ more than 1.2 million Hoosiers, representing 44.4% of all employees.
The Hoosier state is ranked fifth-best in the nation for business, and first in the Midwest. In fact, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s “Small Business Policy Index 2019” ranked Indiana the eighth-most entrepreneur-friendly state in the nation.
Starting a business requires capital, careful planning and willingness to take and manage risks. Most entrepreneurs are adults, but one program in Indiana is teaching high school students how to think like entrepreneurs.
Innovate WithIN
The STARTedUP Foundation is empowering student entrepreneurs and innovators with collaborative, immersive experiences, accelerator programs and seed funding for students under 20 years old.
Don Wettrick is founder and president of STARTedUP, an education nonprofit, and is also coordinator of Innovate WithIN, a pitch competition for high school students in Indiana.
Innovate WithIN is a three-phase competition culminating in a state finals. Teams of students begin by creating a business plan and a 3-minute video pitch. From there, teams can advance to regionals where they will deliver a “Shark Tank” style 5-minute pitch to judges. Leading up to the state finals, regional finalists participate in an 8-week bootcamp where they collaborate with innovators, entrepreneurs and others to bring their idea to reality. The winning business receives $25,000 in seed funding, and team members can receive up to $10,000 in tuition to any Indiana college, and additional prizes worth $5,000.
To think like an entrepreneur is to see a problem as an opportunity, said Wettrick.
“Entrepreneurs love learning but they don’t necessarily like the confines of school,” Wettrick said. “They love to solve problems their way at their pace.”
After spending more than 20 years as a teacher, Wettrick knows kids.
Today’s kids spend hours a day scrolling through feeds, he said, “Watching other people be successful, with better abs, better-looking girlfriends, better vacations.”
Students who learn to problem solve rather than complain can lead to better communities, schools and individuals.
About 3,000 students participate in the pitch competition each year. Students don’t have to have an actual business, in fact most don’t. Students come with a raw idea and work with mentors to develop it.
Wettrick and the STARTed Up team work with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Indiana Department of Education and Small Business Development Administration. The pitch competition also has the support of Gov. Eric Holcomb.
“Governor Holcomb has been there every year but one and he was flabbergasted with how good the students were. He came to us and said, ‘How do we incentivize them to stay in Indiana?’”
To that end, STARTed Up created an alumni association for students who make it to the regionals of Innovate WithIN. With an alumni group, students can stay connected to the program and the resources across the state for innovation and entrepreneurs.
“We don’t think every student is going to be an entrepreneur. But we’re hoping that 3,000 kids will have their mindsets changed,” he said.
Daviess County CEO
In Daviess County, students at the county’s four high schools can learn about entrepreneurship and leadership via Daviess County CEO.
Joe Cummings is facilitator of the program, which is open to juniors and seniors at Barr-Reeve, Washington, North Daviess and Washington Catholic.
The program started in Midland, Illinois, and is offered nationwide to provide entrepreneur education and has been in Daviess County about 10 years.
The CEO program is not a traditional textbook course. Instead, students are immersed in real-life learning experiences with the opportunity to take risks, manage the results, and learn from the outcomes. According to the CEO website, the experience prepares youth to be “enterprising individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial thinkers and contribute to economic development and sustainable communities.”
The class meets the first two periods of the day. Over the course of a year, students will make 60 visits to area businesses. By the end of the first semester, Cummings said the class had visited 42 businesses.
Recent visits and presentations have included Graber Granite, Perdue Farm, Bobcat of Daviess County, NASCO Industries, Walton Farms and the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
“The goal is to get kids involved in the community and to let them know what’s in the area,” Cummings said.
Twenty-one students are currently enrolled and 140 have completed the program.
The students write two business plans each year and launch a business. Program funds provide up to $500 for start-up costs and each student is matched with a community mentor involved in business.
Some students make products such as candles, apple butter and jewelry. Others offer a service such as video production. Students keep any profits earned from their business.
“We have one student who makes barrel trains and he ships them all over the country,” Cummings said.
Some, but not all, will keep their businesses going after they leave the program.
Cummings gook over the program from Bill Turner, who was facilitator from the beginning.
“It’s a great program. We have great support from the community. Not all of them will become business owners, but they learn soft skills, communication and the value of networking … everyone needs that.”
Joe Cummings
On Feb. 16, Daviess County CEO will have a dinner and silent auction to raise money for the program.
Resources for small businesses
For small businesses just starting out, Indiana offers a wealth of resources.
Steve Bryant is regional director for the South Central Small Business Development Center and executive director of the Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington.
The SBDC provides business planning assistance, market research, traffic counts on possible business locations and consumer spending habits – all at no charge.
Interest in entrepreneurship is growing and the state is investing in resources to help people be successful. Colleges and universities have also recognized that and many now offer entrepreneurship programs, something few schools offered 30 years ago.
At the Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech, Bryant said about 60% who seek information aren’t in business yet and the other 40% are growing and have growing pains.
The center has advisers who are experts in accounting, manufacturing, agriculture among others and offers an entrepreneur certificate program that takes about one year to complete.