Junior Business Academy Presents its Perfect Pitch

This past week, Junior Business Academy Campers arrived each morning at ESF Headquarters ready to work. In JBA: The Perfect Pitch – Marketing and Persuasive Advertising, a course powered by The Jack Welch Management Institute, these young entrepreneurs spent the week working in teams to create and market their own small businesses. This afternoon, they had the opportunity to present their pitch. 

Trifolds and PowerPoint presentations dominated the room, detailing full business plans for a clothing company, a new energy drink and a coffee shop to a panel of marketing and sales professionals on the ESF Executive team. As campers presented names, concepts and color schemes, detailed costs and profit margins, and showcased commercials they produced themselves, one thing became clear: These were not campers anymore – they really were young entrepreneurs! 

What stood out was the way these pitches combined profit and purpose in a way that created a larger impact than just the product itself. Style Clothing Company empowered young women to express themselves, DOGE Energy Drinks prioritized health by creating a safe alternative to chemical-filled caffeinated drinks, and Noah’s Cup of Coffee protected the environment by using biodegradable materials and donating a portion of their proceeds to the World Wildlife Foundation. Each entrepreneurial team set out to do exactly what businesses are meant to do – create solutions! 

Infused with insights from celebrated business leader Jack Welch, this program enabled campers to work through an advanced level business curriculum. After successfully completing their perfect pitches, each earned a business certificate from the Jack Welch Management Institute. This was not only to commend them for their hard work, but to motivate them to continue striving to create products that leave their communities better than they found them.  

And who knows— one day maybe you’ll see these products on the market. Keep an eye out, because these campers truly have developed an entrepreneurial mindset and a “personal foundation” to becoming tomorrow’s innovative leaders and design thinkers.