Justice Waite wasn’t at all intimidated facing the River Region Chamber of Commerce’s investor panel, also known as the “mini Shark Tank.”
After all, at the ripe old age of 17, this Destrehan High School senior had already been in motion several years with her startup business called Silly Sweet Shop.
She just needed to advance her product line and refocus on pricing.
Which she most definitely did on April 21 when she won over the chamber’s nine-member investor panel with her Japanese street fashion jewelry designs. She’s going to the regional competition in Boca Raton, Fla., and, if she wins there, she goes to the nationals with national sponsors and a hot spot in mass distribution.
Her work will go into Walmart stores and set her on the fast track to her ultimate goal – to acquire her own store in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, Calif.
“The people who buy this totally get the whole Sweet Shop name,” said Annette Ray, program manager of the chamber’s Young Entrepreneur Academy (YEA).
Although her business name sounds like a bakery or candy store, YEA research confirmed buyers understood the name so it was named accordingly.
Waite knew it.
Her work is already in local conventions and anime conventions, in Kawaii NOLA in New Orleans and online with Etsy, an online marketplace for self-starters like Waite.
But the chamber helped set her business on a stronger foundation and the investor panel provided needed funding to grow it.
Today’s techno- and business-savvy students easily grasp the immediacy and reach of the digital market, as well as employing it to their advantage.
No matter how local or global, they are grasping opportunities to go into business for themselves – and with surprising ease and profitably.
“Being that they’re all high school students, they’re most dedicated and committed to their business ideas,” said Ray.
“They find a value being empowered by their own business and their choices.”
The chamber targeted high school students this year and promoted the program. Students submitted applications, underwent a review process in November and those chosen get the fundamentals of starting a business.
They develop a business plan, a marketing plan, are shown how to target their market and get instruction by mentors, who included Buddy Boe, St. Charles Parish chief administrative officer, along with small business owners and managers.
The challenge is part of the YEA program started in Rochester, N.Y., and the chamber was the first to host it in Louisiana.
This is the third year the chamber has held the program and the expo, which featured Waite, along with seven semi-finalists that also includes three fellow St. Charles Parish students.
They were featured at the chamber’s Business Expo and YEA Tradeshow and Graduation on May 6.
“What they learned from this program was a better appreciation for the numbers and being better grounded in business,” Ray said. “They’re creating viable ideas now and these are great ideas.”
Semi-finalists from St. Charles Parish included:Ra’janae Morris, 14, a ninth-grader at Hahnville High School, who got start-up money for her 3L Color Guard Kiddie Camp.
The camp is a four-day program for children ages 7 to 14 who want to do Color Guard (the people with flags with marching bands). 3L stands for Live, Love, Learn … Color Guard. She’s ready to start signing up children.
Charles Franck, 16, a senior, also at Destrehan High School, got funding for his start-up business called Franckly Jerky. Franck makes the beef jerky himself.Franck also won a $500 Sam’s Club gift card to be used toward his business.
Already selling his jerky, he wants to expand his market nationally by the time he finishes college.
Dalton Bergeron, also of Destrehan High School, has started MSC (Media Services Co.) making custom soundtracks for games and movies. He also does corporate photography for company images and events.
Bergeron can make soundtracks for commercial television and radio.
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