Studer Community Institute

Young entrepreneurs survive shark tank

March 25, 2015
/ Staff Reports
/ economy

The Pensacola area's youngest business minds survived their version of the shark tank last night. The University of West Florida’s Center for Fine & Performing Arts, hosted 10 students from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy for a friendly competition as they pitched their business plans to some of the most prominent members of the area's business community. The students, who have been refining their business plans for the last five months, were featured on stage in a shark-tank-like scene where they were judged by a panel of investors based on the appeal and merit of their business proposals. The investors awarded a grand total of $6,000 to the eight businesses, with Blue Angels Elementary School’s Cierra Moore, 11 selected to compete in the YEA! Saunders Scholars Regional Competition. Her winning business, Coterie Beads. Miss Moore was followed closely by Pensacola High School’s Thomas Booker, 15, with his business, Your Just Desserts by Thomas, who was also the recipient of a Sam’s Club $500 gift card.

The panel of investors included Chick-fil-A’s Robert Barnes, Beck Partners’ Gregg Beck, Central Credit Union’s Maggie Conaghan, THG Investments’ Chad Henderson, Gulf Power Company’s Gary Sammons, SBDC’s Mike Myhre, Nowak Enterprises’ Peter Nowak, Pen Air’s Pam Hatt, Studer Community Development Group’s Andrew Rothfeder, Warren Averett, LLC’s Cyndi Warren, and Sam’s Club’s Broddrick “Tray” Ruffin. YEA! is a national educational program that guides sixth- to 12th-graders through the process of starting and running their own businesses over the course of a full academic year. The regional competition will take place in Boca Raton May 28-29.

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Young entrepreneurs survive shark tank

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