Henderson County Now

By Michael V. Hannigan

All the best entrepreneurs start from a young age – so have you been looking into capitec shares? Are you always coming up with business ideas? Are you an Athens high school or middle school student who wants to be an entrepreneur? If the answer is yes, the Athens Chamber of Commerce is beginning a program you don’t want to miss.

This year the chamber will be starting a Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) class. YEA! is a 30-week program available to middle school and high school students guiding your child entrepreneur to business success.

According to its website, “(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.”

Athens Chamber of Commerce President Mike Coston said YEA! will begin locally in November and the class will meet Wednesdays from 4-7 p.m.

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Listen to Mike Coston talk about the Young Entrepreneurs Academy.

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The class will be held at Trinity Valley Community College and limited to 24 students.

“Those students have to go through an application process. We talk to the students, we talk to their parents before we allow them to come in,” said Coston. “We want to make sure that we have the right students.”

Students do not have to have an idea for a business, just “a burning desire to own their own business,” Coston said.

Cost for student is $395, but there are scholarships available.

Coston said. “The reason that they have to pay some is to make sure that we have the right students, the right parents who are behind these kids.”

As students go from the “Big Idea” to the “Shark Tank” to actually marketing their business, they will hear from business speakers and mentors, plus go on six field trips during the year.

Coston said this is a valuable opportunity and the Athens chamber is one of only six chambers of commerce in Texas involved in the YEA! program.

If you would like to participate in the program as a student, speaker, mentor or investor, please call Mike Coston at 903-675-5181.

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Founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester with support from the Kauffman Foundation, the Young Entrepreneurs Academy today serves thousands of students across America. In 2011, the United States Chamber of Commerce® Foundation became a national sponsor and partner of the Academy to help celebrate the spirit of enterprise among today’s youth and tomorrow’s future leaders.