Monthly Archives: April 2013

Financial Education Week Youth Entrepreneurship Boot Camp Business Plan Competition

The Mexican Consulate in San Diego concluded its Financial Education Week program on Saturday with a closing event at the San Diego County Office of Education building in National City. The weeklong program, geared toward the hispanic community and coordinated by the consulate in collaboration with the City of National City, City of Chula Vista, and various community-based organizations, featured informational fairs and presentations throughout the county on financial literacy topics.  The program also included a 3-day Youth Entrepreneurship Boot Camp hosted at Alliant International University. Students from various high schools throughout the county received entrepreneurial training through a series of intensive business classes delivered by Alliant professors. The boot camp culminated in a business plan competition in which the students presented the business ideas they developed during the camp to a panel of judges for a chance to win scholarship money and an iPad. The panel of judges included Gabriel Reyes, YEP Coordinator; Valery Belloso, Business Development Officer with ACCION San Diego; Maria Kachadoorian, Finance Director – City of Chula Vista; Ernesto Arredondo, Regional President – Wells Fargo Bank; Luisa McCarthy, Director – La Vista Memorial Park; Zulema Maldonado, Realtor and Board Member – Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce; Miguel Angel Ma, Owner – The Steakhouse on Broadway; Andy Carey, Executive Director – US Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership; Joise Calderon, CEO – JLC Consultant Services; Juan Carlos Lopez, Owner – Rincon del Mar Restaurants. Three winners were selected and announced at the program’s closing event. However, all the students that completed the program walked away winners when Mr. Arredondo offered them employment with the bank, which includes tuition assistance as part of their benefits package.

The San Diego CITD Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) will be taking the winning students through the next phase of the implementation of their business plan. In this phase, the San Diego CITD will provide additional entrepreneurship training and mentoring geared toward helping these students fine tune their business plans and ultimately launch their businesses.

Fall 2012 YEP Business Plan Competition Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Fall 2012 YEP Business Plan Competition! The winning plans were submitted by Jo-Ann Dilay, Victor Cruz & Aaron Estrada, and Allison Bumatay.

Jo-Ann, a recent graduate from National University’s MBA Program, submitted a plan for a customize your own pizza restaurant concept and is currently seeking investment to get her business started.

Victor and Aaron, friends and avid video gamers, submitted a plan for a video game tournament hosting business. Victor and Aaron are already moving forward with their business idea and will be hosting their first tournament later this month.

Allison turned her interest in crafting and passion for art education into an idea for a business that will make hand-made custom journals using Scrabble^® tiles. She plans on donating proceeds from her business to a non-profit organization that supports art education in elemetary schools.

Victor, Aaron, and Allison are all seniors at High Tech High Chula Vista.

In addition to the prize package offered through our regional competition, the winners have gained automatic entry into a statewide business plan competition where they will have a chance to win $5,000 in seed money. The YEP Spring 2013 Business Plan Competition is currently underway and the deadline to submits plans for this competition is April 17th.

YEP at the Career Pathways to Success Job Fair in National City

The San Diego Center for International Trade Development’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) participated at the Career Pathways to Success Job Fair held in National City, California. The annual job fair, organized by the National City Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the City of National City, South County Business Services, and other community organizations, featured more than 50 exhibitors and over 1,400 employment opportunties. This year’s fair included a special section on self-employment, dubbed the “Entrepreneur Center”. Representatives from various business development organizations, including the San Diego CITD, Small Business Development Center, ACCION San Diego, SCORE, and others were on hand to provide information on resources and assistance available to potential and existing small business owners. YEP Coordinator, Gabriel Reyes, spoke with attendees about the free training and business counseling available to young entrepreneurs through YEP.

More than 800 job seekers and potential entrepreneurs attended the event, which was sponsored by American Medical Response.