Small Business Stories - Young Entrepreneurs Foundation

Small Business Stories - Young Entrepreneurs Foundation Alex Fees: I’m Alex Fees and welcome to sbtv.com where coming to you from the NFIB, National Small Business Summit in our nation’s capital and joining me here now is Hank Kopcial. Hank Kopcial: How are you? Alex Fees: Glad to have you here. Hank Kopcial: Thank you. Alex Fees: Hank is the Executive Director of the NFIB young entrepreneur foundation is that right? Hank Kopcial: Yes. Alex Fees: I’m guessing you’re not new to NFIB. Hank Kopcial: I’m not I’m actually in my fifth year and came to help grow the foundation and with a support of the NFIB membership, we’ve been able to do that. Alex Fees: All right specifically how so and the young entrepreneur foundation what do you do there? Hank Kopcial: Seven years ago, the board of directors of NFIB supported by the membership tells they wanted to create a way to motivate young people to think about entrepreneurial careers. So, they created the scholarship program and the first year we recognized about a 100 young people nationwide with thousand dollar scholarships. Since that time we’ve grown to where this year we honored 416 students with a little over half a million dollars and scholarship. Alex Fees: And these people are the future event FIB I’m guessing. Hank Kopcial: Well, certainly the thought was initially that if we can recognize young people that I have an interest in entrepreneurs that possible would start your own businesses and many already have they eventually could become members of then NFIB as adults. Alex Fees: Well Hank how was that demographic change over the past say 20 or 30 years as far as who are entrepreneurs? Hank Kopcial: Well certainly, the internet has made it possible to run a multi national company for your bedroom. And for that reason and also because of the comfort that young people have today with the internet and with computers, a great of the many of the young people that have started businesses depend upon the internet to deliver their service, to deliver their product in advertise with their doing. Alex Fees: So tell me about the future, where we are ready we’re this is going. Hank Kopcial: Well we certainly I went to continue to grow the value of the scholarships, that we recognize young people with. But, also we were asked by the education community to create a curriculum and we’ve done that. It’s called entrepreneur. In the classroom and the curriculum that helps teachers explain with entrepreneurs is all about to their students is something that we introduce nationwide last year. Teachers also asked this to create a product to support that curriculum and we create a Johnnie money the online game which will really is the business stimulation that you’re going to hear a little bit more. About later but, the key is young people today, want to get into business and I think it’s probably a result of few young people today that I have and been touched by somebody. Loosing a job or a company in their town closing down and they see the negative aspect of large business and they realize that maybe starting their own company gives a sense of security and the ability to enter their own lives. Alex Fees: Absolutely, now is FNIB working with certain corporations, certain companies in the scholarship program? Hank Kopcial: The support for scholarship come not only for NFIB members which as you know or small business but also several large companies have parted with us headed by this which for the past five years has been our largest corporate partner, also Wills Fargo joined two years ago. Sans Club this year but again under writing scholarships so we’ve had real good support from the number of companies and certainly appreciate that very much. Alex Fees: All right Hank Kopcial thank you for being here. Hank Kopcial: Thank you very much. Alex Fees: Again he is Hank Kopcial we’re at NFIB. I’m Alex Fees you’re logged on to sbtv.