Entrepreneurial Summit
Did the COVID-19 epidemic cancel your plans for the summer? Are you left bored at home, with nothing to do? Do you have a great idea for a business, but are unsure of where to start? Or do your college apps just need a boost? If any of these questions apply, the National Youth Entrepreneurial Summit sounds like the perfect opportunity for you!
In light of current events, including the murder of George Floyd and the protests for Floyd and many others, we would like to express our support for the Black Lives Matter movement. As an organization, we are in support of the movement towards equality—”and in order to do our part to make change, we have several updates as follows.
- The summit itself has been postponed, and the new dates are July 2nd to July 5th.
- The registration deadline has also been moved to June 28th.
- We have decided to donate 20% of each registration fee to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Specifically, we will be donating to Black and Brown Founders, an organization that strives to “provide community, education, and access to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, allowing them to launch and build tech businesses with modest resources.”
- We are connecting with organizations that support underprivileged youth in order to provide them access to NYES without the barrier of an entrance fee.
Through these measures, we hope to encourage others to support the movement as well, whether it’s through a donation or signing a petition—”every effort helps!
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ABOUT THE EVENT
The National Youth Entrepreneurial Summit, or NYES, is a virtual entrepreneurship competition open to high school students across the nation. Started by a team of high schoolers in coordination with Empowerly, NYES provides students with an opportunity to learn about business. Additionally, NYES encourages students to bring their own startup ideas to life. This project emerges during a time when such opportunities are limited.
This summit is not limited to students who are just interested in business, however. There are many categories for submissions, allowing submissions from those interested in STEM or humanities subjects, as well. The categories are as follows:
- marketing,
- technology,
- social impact/sustainability,
- finance,
- and hospitality.
This means students can submit a wide variety of plans! Options range from an innovative app to a way to make the world a better place through business.
WHAT YOU DO
Running from July 2nd-July 5th, 2020, this four-day competition will occur virtually. It features numerous opportunities for students to learn and grow their ideas! Activities include live professional mentoring, guest speaker sessions, and lectures by experts in the fields. The live mentoring sessions offer direct feedback on their pitches, from which they can improve their plans before judging. This means that win or lose, the summit is still an incredibly valuable experience. Mentors give participants feedback on making their dreams a tangible reality. Further, the Q&A session gives participants an opportunity to ask any business or entrepreneurial related questions they may have.
SPEAKERS
NYES features multiple guest speakers, each highly experienced in their fields. The list of stars includes names such as Vinay Ramesh, co-founder of Wildfire, a news app that instantly notifies you when a major event occurs near you. Featured as one of the “Forbes 30 under 30 for Consumer Technology” in 2020, Vinay will be speaking about startups. Other speakers include Anthony Maddox, a professor of Clinical Education and Engineering at USC and the Director of USC Rossier EdVentures, who will be discussing problem-solving, and Raja Weise, the CEO of Spotidol, who will go over making a strong business plan.
JUDGES
The judges are also well known in their fields of expertise. Raj Puri, the founder and CEO of Yaana Inc, has over 30 years of experience in the communications, media, entertainment and technology markets. Divya Jain is an industry-recognized product and technology leader in machine learning and AI, with more than fifteen years of experience, and has been featured in Forbes and Fortune magazines. She is currently serving as an Engineering Director for Sensei ML platform at Adobe, was recognized as one of the top 25 women engineers in the world by Business Insider. Max Kim is the Director of Operations of Entrepreneurs@Berkeley, Berkeley’s central start-up accelerator associated with SkyDeck. He recently worked on a start-up called WinAR, and has founded a non-profit called Guiding Our Lives. Among others, these judges will listen to all of the student pitches during the tournament over Zoom before making their decision.
Whether you want to gain valuable business experience over this summer while testing your skills, or are just looking for something exciting to do, the National Youth Entrepreneurial Summit is the perfect way to reach your goals. Winners will even receive prizes – $250 for first place, $100 for second, $50 for third, and surprise sponsor prizes. Students can take part in this incredible opportunity by signing up on our website, nyes.info, where you can find more details.
Make sure to register on our website by June 28th!
You can choose to work individually or as a team of up to three. If you can’t find a team, in the true spirit of collaboration and entrepreneurship, we have a Slack channel where you can find one.
If possible, please consider donating on our Go Fund Me page. Your money supports us in buying materials to hold this webinar series and pitch competition. The funds go toward the event itself. Resources provide high-quality websites, promotions, workshops, prizes, and other necessities for running this business pitch competition. All will make the participants’ experiences as memorable and impactful as possible. We appreciate your help to make this youth entrepreneurial summit possible.
