Getting Down to Business: Entrepreneurship at St. Michael's (By Fanjia "Jennifer " F)

I started the SMCA entrepreneurship club last year, wanting to raise the financial literacy level and entrepreneurial spirit of SMCA students to better prepare ourselves for the future workspace. Our club's main projects/focuses are business forums through Zoom with successful entrepreneurs, business competitions, business article discussions, valuable summer program information, etc. 

 

After a little less than half a year, I want to give some updates. We successfully held our business forum last semester with a Texas small business owner, numerous student-led article discussions, and participation in the NFTE Innovation competition. We also have an upcoming speaker, Tony Hartl. He is the CEO of Crunch Fitness Austin, former founder and CEO of Planet Tan (chain business, which he sold), MIT alumnus, book author, investor, and mentor. We plan on meeting with him on Wednesday, February 10, from 12:30 - 1 p.m. on Zoom. I have also secured an interview with the CEO of II Technology, Mark Abraham. II Tech is a leading tech that provides efficient investment advisory. Mr. Abraham also serves on the SGCS board. 

 

The goal here is to reach more members so that we can enlarge our influence and provide more opportunities for SMCA students. Because I have participated in the Wharton school's 'Future of the Business World' program, I know a group of really amazing youth entrepreneurs, and they are giving out opportunities to people all over the world with their startups. One example is Zenarc, a tech non-profit that offers the opportunity for kids globally to become an instructor (to teach ANYTHING they want), in exchange for service hours, and work with an amazing network of talented teens. In addition, they are also hiring a marketing person on their board. They are going to be featured soon on the Wharton podcast, which will bring them a lot of recognition.