Competition will give high school students a chance to be business moguls

This fall, high school students will get a chance to pitch their best business ideas and possibly win money to fund them.

The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University recently announced it will host a business plan competition to coincide with the university's Global Entrepreneurship Week in November.

Center director Dr. James Stapleton said the competition ties in to the center's existing high school program. Funded through a WIRED grant, the center developed entrepreneurial curriculum and provided professional development for teachers.

"The curriculum and this competition go hand in hand," he said.

The event will give students a real-world application to build on classroom exercises, Stapleton said.

"What people really want to pursue are the things they're most interested in," he said.

He said there will be $10,000 in seed funding, so competition winners can invest in their plans. Stapleton said he hopes there will be several local competitions leading up to Southeast's November event.

"Our goal is [to] have enough participation that students would be able to compete first locally," he said.

The plan was announced at Southeast's Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Conference to students from 14 schools. Students and teachers were excited about the event, said Sandra Cabot, a project coordinator for the center.

"They really seemed to get it," she said.

Information will be available for teachers in the fall, she said.

Stapleton cited studies, done by the Kansas City, Mo.-based Kaufman Foundation, which rank Missouri low in startup businesses.

"People look for others to create businesses opportunities for them," he said.

He said getting young people interested in being entrepreneurs earlier will spark more development in the region.

To help reverse state trends, students leaving high school should consider ways to create jobs and employ others, a goal of the competition, Stapleton said.

abusch@semissourian.com

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