Cape Cod students win entrepreneurship contest with business ideas

BARNSTABLE — Younger men and women can discover a ton at Barnstable Superior School: how to resolve an algebra dilemma, how to browse DNA code and how to make sense out of literary classics. Some learners are even learning what it can take to start off a business enterprise.
In a competition similar to TV’s “Shark Tank” — where entrepreneurs try out to convince a panel of tycoons to make investments in their idea — learners recently pitched their company suggestions to a panel of judges.
Rising from the pack on June 14 were being Nicholas Pouliot and Dominic Ford, who gained prizes at a New England semi-closing competition for young business people.
The competitors was sponsored by the Network for Educating Entrepreneurship, or NFTE, a global nonprofit group that delivers entrepreneurship training to center and large university learners.

What have been the Barnstable students’ strategies?
Pouliot arrived up with ideas for a biodegradable, reusable marker for academics to use in lecture rooms.
The strategy for “Pouliot’s Preservation” came to him after noticing how lots of markers teachers threw away. The marker would have a specific cap and back design so the marker could be refurbished, he said.
Pouliot received $1,000 and a probability to contend in a countrywide NFTE opposition to be held in New York City in October.
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Ford gained $500 for his plan for a cell grooming company, “Limitless Grooming.”
He arrived up with the thought when the pandemic hit. With corporations shut and men and women unable to get so a lot of items accomplished, he believed the Cape would be a best market. Quite a few Cape people are older and retired, so bringing his grooming business to them appeared like a great plan.
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This marks the 3rd 12 months Barnstable Higher Faculty has participated in NFTE competitions. The faculty teamed up with NFTE after on the lookout for techniques to carry out a lot more rigor into its Pathways applications, in accordance to enterprise trainer Justin Ogilvie.
“We’ve been blown absent by them (NFTE),” he said.
The college operates a calendar year-very long study course by way of NFTE. Sixty college students in 3 sections concluded the class this calendar year. Twelve of them moved on to NFTE’s regional quarter-remaining spherical. Five college students went to the semi-finals. Two, Pouliot and Ford, went to the regional finals in Boston.
“It’s a wonderful piece of the business pathway,” Ogilvie claimed. “It gives children an option.”
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And it does so substantially additional, stated Monice Maurice, Barnstable’s direct instructor with NFTE.
“The courses are much more than just for children who want to be business people,” she mentioned.
It’s about generating a attitude that acknowledges option, and is comfortable with threat, she stated. She called those people characteristics important as the area and country move into an economic climate that is global.
“They (pupils) are expected to be intrapreneurs within just the providers they perform for,” she mentioned. “We want to acquire all those forms of capabilities that they can transfer in any path.”
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How to train – and develop – that form of mindset is the magic dilemma, Maurice claimed. The state of mind piece of the curriculum is in each individual course, she said. With just about every principle taught, learners master to create a business. They have to make your mind up what kind of business enterprise they want – does it supply items, or does it deliver providers? As they discover the principles, they implement them to their organization thoughts.
Some students notice starting their individual business enterprise isn’t for them.
What is actually next for Pouliot, Ford?
Pouliot and Ford made it as a result of a quarter-remaining levels of competition that had 34 students and a semi-closing competitors in opposition to 16 pupils. They joined a single other scholar for the national levels of competition. Daisha Jackson, a college student from Providence, RI, received to start with spot and $2,500 for “Yoga for All.” She will head to the NFTE countrywide competition in October.
Volunteer judges from across the nation reviewed college student pitches and watched video clips of their displays, according to Joanne Lessner, controlling director for Lambert, the public relations firm representing the NFTE.
The judges provided business people and company people, which include employees associates of NFTE sponsor companies.
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Pouliot designs to do more analysis and refine his challenge just before the future competitors. He’d like to make his presentation improved, and if achievable, have a prototype completely ready. A representative from Hasbro spoke with him immediately after his pitch in Boston. He’s produced other contacts, Pouliot stated. Even though his warm-up presentation didn’t go easily, he felt self-assured presenting to the judges.
Ford designs to prepare, as well, for the reason that there is a possibility he could enter the national levels of competition if a pupil finalist drops out. His takeaway from the knowledge: a ton goes into beginning a small business.
For Ogilvie, a single of the most vital lessons is that a 15-year-aged doesn’t want to feel it’s unattainable to get a small business off the floor.
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“Young people today are altering the world,” J.D. LaRock, CEO of NFTE, wrote in an e-mail. “Each youthful entrepreneur’s modern plan signifies an possibility to handle crucial issues facing communities all around the world.”
The NFTE nationwide opposition will be held in New York City in mid-Oct. The day, time and location have not however been announced.
Call Denise Coffey at [email protected]. Abide by her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.