SEATTLE, August 20, 1999 — When young entrepreneurs from Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle join a videoconference today to share their business experiences, it may sound like a meeting among a group of creative, high-powered business executives, but it isn’t — at least not yet.
These business leaders are at-risk high school students and the most recent graduates of summer business camps offered by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) at eight locations across the United States. NFTE, a nonprofit organization that has offered summer BizCamps to children from at-risk communities for the past 10 years, has taught more than 23,000 students in the U.S. and abroad how to develop and operate their own businesses.
This is the first year that students completed BizTech, an online training program developed in conjunction with Microsoft, that contains a comprehensive business curriculum and culminates in the preparation of written business plans.
“For some of these kids, this summer will change their lives,” said Tom Hartocollis, Microsoft executive and NFTE board chairman. “Many of them grow up with no real role models when it comes to business. The training they get at NFTE camps, combined with exposure to professionals that are genuinely interested and committed to helping them succeed, completely changes their perspective. We salute all of today’s graduates and hope each and every one of them will take the skills they acquired this summer with them in their future educational and professional pursuits.”