Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Wanted: Bright, hardworking kids
For: Business training
Reward: Possible entrepreneurial future
If you were to compose an ad for the youth business programslaunched by KidsWay Inc. or Taller San Jose, it might very well runsomething like that. Take, for instance, Chamblee, Georgia-basedKidsWay's youth-operated retail store, which sellsenvironmental and educational products. "They're doing agreat job," says KidsWay chair and CEO Steve Morris of theeight high school students who've run the company'sAlpharetta, Georgia, store since it opened last fall. "We putthem in there and basically said `Figure it out.' And theydid."
As the self-proclaimed first store in the country to be runsoley by kids, the enterprise follows a school-to-work curriculumdeveloped by KidsWay. Observes Morris, "Kids would ratherlearn by doing."
That same philosophy is reflected in Santa Ana, California-basedTaller San Jose's The Benchmakers program. A little more than ayear old, The Benchmakers introduces Latino youths with troubledbackgrounds to bench-crafting and business basics. "We want[participants] to begin to understand all the elements that go into[business]," says program co-founder Eileen McNerney."We're not just teaching them how to make qualitybenches."
Will any of these workers go on to become entrepreneurs?McNerney, who devised the program with architect Dominic Walsh,thinks it's quite possible. "These young people are quitebright," she says. "They just didn't have muchopportunity or mentoring [growing up]." Now they--and theKidsWay teens--are taking care of business their way.
Contact Sources
KidsWay Inc., 5589 Peachtree Rd., Chamblee, GA 30341,(888) KIDS-WAY
Taller San Jose, 801 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA92701-3423, (714) 543-5105, ext. 106.
