Young Entrepreneurs…Be Your Own Boss

Gr 9 Up—Tommy, an aspiring magician, is our guide through this mash-up of an annual New York business competition and featurettes on successful young entrepreneurs. Junior Achievement of New York (JANY) recruits corporate volunteers to guide ethnically diverse high school students as they develop their business plans. Amy, a PricewaterhouseCoopers employee, works with a class to identify a problem and create a plan for a business to solve it. A student identifies the need for price check scanners on every grocery cart. Amy outlines the role of the Vice President of Marketing, the CFO, COO, and CEO before the students assume these roles in the development of their scanner business. Footage from the JANY finals represents the students' success in developing their business idea for the competition. Entrepreneurs spotlighted in the short films include a music producer, a sporting goods store owner, and a personal trainer. The inspiring music and sports training segments will especially appeal to teens. The entrepreneurs offer advice such as carefully reinvesting income in better equipment to grow one's business and constantly staying up to date on industry developments. The segments are shot with a handheld camera in the seemingly unrehearsed style of MTV Cribs. Teens will easily relate to this program that can be used with classes on entrepreneurship and business.—Amy Pickett, Ridley High School Folsom, PADriver Education