LARNED — Pawnee County seventh through 12th graders are invited to participate in the annual Pawnee County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge slated for 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 10, at the Larned Community Center, 1500 Toles St. The event is hosted by the Larned Area Chamber of Commerce.
While the event is scheduled to be hosted in-person, the format may be altered to virtual to accommodate health and safety concerns for participants during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Registration deadline is Wednesday, February 10.
“This event is to encourage young people who are considering creating their own business, product or service that could lead the business industry into the future,” said Chamber Director Alexandra Filbert. “Participants can compete as individuals or as a team.”
Participants will be judged on four criteria:
• Business idea
• Executive summary
• Four-minute presentation with slides
• Responding to judges’ questions
Cash prizes for top competitors include:
• $500 - first place
• $300 - second place
• $200 - third place
A $250 award will also be presented for the top team performance.
“In 2019, we were able to host the Central Kansas Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge,” Filbert said. “In addition to Pawnee County, we also had Stafford, Kiowa, Hodgeman and Edwards counties involved so it was a really big regional event and we had a fantastic turnout.”
She added that, in the past, the Central Kansas event was rotated between different counties, but Pawnee County was able to host its own event in 2020. “This created an opportunity to focus on our own students within Pawnee County and we had great success with that.”
According to Filbert, the Challenge provides the young competitors an opportunity to throw their sales pitch for their business before a panel which is as close to real-world experience that students can receive before entering the market. “If our students were put into the position where they could open their own business right now, what would they come up with? The ideas they develop are very original and creative.”
Filbert also said the event educates students about the local resources at their disposal which can facilitate and assist them with pursuing business ideas and creation following high school. “They’ll have the opportunity to learn about the different businesses in Larned and Pawnee County in case they are interested in setting up their own business in the community after either high school or college.”
The Challenge has been likened to the popular show Shark Tank in that entrepreneurs make business presentations to a panel of investors or “sharks,” who decide whether or not to invest in their company.
“Again, they can be as creative as they want,” said Filbert. “They can come up with hypothetical businesses, realistic businesses or they can take the skills they may have learned from a family business and apply those skills in creating their presentations.”
One of the benefits enjoyed by Pawnee County is its membership as an E-community with NetWork Kansas. According to NetWorkkansas.com, a Kansas E-Community has made a commitment to cultivating an entrepreneurial environment by identifying and developing resources to help local entrepreneurs start or grow businesses.
Selected communities partner with NetWork Kansas to establish a locally-administered loan fund to assist entrepreneurs with capital, to increase connectivity to resources available to assist entrepreneurs and small businesses, to initiate activities to generate entrepreneurial development and to participate in a statewide partnership with other E-Communities.
“This status enables us to host different programs like the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge,” said Filbert. “NetWork Kansas has a resource guide, which is a great planning tool, that they distribute to the E-Communities every year.”
She added that part of the NetWork Kansas resource guide includes suggested criteria to use when facilitating these youth entrepreneurship events. “We just follow their format and that works to our advantage because it paves the way for things like grant funding for the prizes as well as being provided NetWork Kansas members to serve as panel judges.”
Form more information on the Pawnee County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge including registration details, contact Filbert at 620-285-6916 or visit www.larnedks.org/yec.
