YEA! Investor Panel Event

On Wednesday, March 25 at 6 p.m. student entrepreneurs will take the stage to present their business plans before a panel of local leaders of industry and a public audience. The students are dressed as young professionals, and are ready to wow the crowd.

The business community is invited to attend the event, hosted by the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce offices in Hampton at 21 Enterprise Parkway, Suite 100 in the Lakefront Plaza.

Eleven students in grades 6 through 12 representing eight businesses and social movements from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) at the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce will have six minutes to pitch their business plans to prominent local members of the business community, during the program’s annual YEA! Investor Panel Event (think Shark Tank meets The Apprentice meets American Idol!). Based on the appeal and merit of the students’ plans and presentations, representatives from companies like Ferguson will determine the amount of funds to allocate to each business or social movement.

The participating investors will also select the one business group that will advance to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Saunders Scholars National College Scholarship competition, where they will compete for hundreds of thousands of dollars in college scholarships, a fast-track application pass to apply to be on ABC’s Shark Tank, and an all-expenses paid trip to attend America’s Small Business Summit in Washington, DC courtesy of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Event is free and open to the public. Interviews with young entrepreneurs or members of the judging panel can be arranged.

The Investor Panel will be comprised of prominent local business people.

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!)

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) is a groundbreaking and exciting year long class that transforms middle and high school students into real, confident entrepreneurs. Throughout the class, students develop business ideas, write business plans, conduct market research, pitch their plans to a panel of investors, and actually launch and run their own real, legal, fully formed companies and social movements. Founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester with support from the Kauffman Foundation, the Young Entrepreneurs Academy today serves thousands of students in communities across America. For more information about the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, please call 585.272.3535 or visit www.yeausa.org

Virginia Peninsula Chamber Foundation Inc.

The Virginia Peninsula Chamber Foundation, Inc. (VPCF) founded in 1991 has a mission to promote and advance economic stability on the Virginia Peninsula business communities of Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, James City County and York County through the development and delivery of business education programs with emphasis on basic business education and leadership training for adults, students and Peninsula business organizations while providing mentoring support systems. The foundation has developed three proven educational programs, LEAD Peninsula, Youth LEAD Peninsula, and Youth Career Expo, which produce community leaders. These unique programs incorporate different teaching styles and require the participants to develop program solutions to improve the present economic climate within the Peninsula. The Virginia Peninsula Chamber Foundation is now partnering with community organizations to bring the YEA! program to the Virginia Peninsula.