Polk County eighth grader Sachin Sivakumar is headed to New York next week, to represent his local chapter of national organization The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (or YEA!, natch) at the 10th Annual Saunders Scholars National Conference and Competition, held at the Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday, May 4.
(Maybe you shoulda done something with that idea you had for a machine that turns popcorn back into regular corn like ten years ago.)
Created by Travel Centers of America founder and philanthropist E. Philip Saunders, the Saunders Scholars Competition awards more than $70,000 in scholarships annually to ambitious and imaginative young students in its search for "America's Next Top Young Entrepreneur." Sivakumar rose to the level of semifinalist in the competition by pitching his idea for a new business, Shark Tank-style, to a panel of local business leaders at Southeastern University earlier this month. Next week, he'll present his pitch again, facing off against semifinalists from YEA! chapters across the country.
His pitch? ScoutVenture, an app that helps Boy Scout troops get and stay organized, and "plan for the future."
Founded in 2004, The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is focused on teaching students aged 11-18 about the vagaries of small and independent business, and empowering them by helping them start their own real-world endeavors.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 3, 2018.