In Search of Young Entrepreneurs
How about finding and assisting the next Michael Dell and Dineh Mohajer hidden among Orange County’s 95,000 high school students?
As an 18-year-old at the University of Texas, Michael Dell got the idea to sell computers over the phone in 1984. Today, Dell, the man, is worth $7 billion and Dell Computer Corp. is the largest of its kind in America. As a 22-year-old college student in Los Angeles, Mohajer’s passion lay in fashion, particularly nail polish. Frustrated at the lack of vibrant colors available, she created her own brand--Hard Candy--and sold $10 million worth in 1996, her first year.
As a business owner myself, I have been dismayed at annual reports of high school graduates unable to read and write at appropriate levels, leaving them with an equally limited future. My frustration mounted when I read a 1994 national survey of high school students regarding their interest in entrepreneurship.
Conducted by the Gallup Organization and funded by the Kauffman Foundation, the poll found that while 69% professed an interest in starting their own business, 86% admitted to learning “little or nothing” about the process in school.
I took action in 1997 and formed a nonprofit educational organization, the Southern California Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative Inc., or SCYEI, dedicated to providing the inspiration and education that youths need to turn their passions into small businesses.
It began immediately to provide free entrepreneurship presentations to every high school in Orange County. Next, it hosted a one-day teen entrepreneurship conference with the help of professor Mike Ames on the Cal State Fullerton campus, where teens learned to translate their passions into business plans.
The demand for entrepreneurship education in Orange County is overwhelming. Surveys conducted by our organization show a high interest among our teens. Desire to start a business within individual classes ranged from 48% to 100%.
According to the Orange County Department of Education, in 1996 there were 85,000 students in public school grades 10 to 12. Add another 10,000 in private schools, and the countywide total came to 95,000. If 78% were interested in entrepreneurship as a career, then more than 69,000 students could have benefited from the unique services SCYEI provides.
The organization is in the process of raising $1 million by Jan. 1, 2001, to improve entrepreneurship materials left with students, expand conferences and start an “entrepreneur club” at every school that requests one.
I personally donate more than $1,000 to SCYEI annually. Even if I donated 100% of my profit, it wouldn’t be enough to provide for 69,000 students.
