Last week on March 9th, student entrepreneurs from Manhattan High School participated in the annual Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, a tradeshow and pitch competition sponsored by Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, NetWork Kansas, K-State Extension, Riley County, Rockin’ K’s and Spark.
The event featured business tradeshow booths where community members and professionals had the opportunity to meet student entrepreneurs, hear a receive a pitch of their business and ask questions about their product or service. While many of the students were still in the concept phase with their business, some had already launched a product or service and were operating.
Riley County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, by the numbers
Students participated in two forms of presentation: a tradeshow and pitch competition. Participating student businesses competed for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards of $750, $500 and $250 respectively. Those in attendance also contributed a vote for the People’s Choice Award, and the winner took home $250. Students were able to use the award money as they chose, to invest in their business, future education or other personal projects.
“Entrepreneurs and small businesses are vital to our community’s economic vitality,” says tradeshow judge and sponsor, Daryn Soldan, Economic Development Director at the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce. “YEC is a great way to help high school students explore entrepreneurship and receive valuable education in the process. We look forward to seeing some of these YEC participants build their businesses in the Manhattan region.”
2nd Place Winner and owner of Paint For Fun, Oleksandra “Sasha” Lapshova, shared her experience participating in the event. “It was my first time ever doing such thing, and it was so fun! I enjoyed meeting new people and talking about business, of course! It was so exciting to have opportunity to present my idea, my work, my business to people who are known entrepreneurs!”
Tradeshow and pitch judges included:
-
Pitch Panel Judges: Kara Titus, Kansas Gas Service, Jake Voegeli, Manhattan Brewing Company, Pete Frasco, Intelligent IT
-
Tradeshow Judges: Summer Dierks, Dierks Law Firm, Tiffany Oppelt, Therapie, Daryn Soldan, Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, Marcy Cantrell-Akin, Commerce Bank
Student winners from each participating county will have the opportunity to compete at the state-level Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge this Spring, hosted at K-State University Center for Advancement of Entrepreneurship and sponsored by NetWork Kansas. Learn more about the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge event here.
