Entrepreneurship Committee Building Pipeline of Local Business Leaders

The Chamber's Entrepreneurship Committee, led by Board members Ben Powell and Zak Ammar, has partnered with Blowing Rock School Principal Patrick Sukow to bring together the school and business communities. By providing a weekly "Intro to Entrepreneurship" class for 25 eighth graders, the Committee hopes to encourage local youth to pursue entrepreneurship in the High Country. Classes are led by Ammar, Founder & CEO of Vixster Waste & Recycling, and Erich Schlenker, Managing Director of App State's Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship. The school's Technology Facilitator, Rob Smith, is also involved with the class.

Entrepreneurship class with leaders Zak Ammar, Erich Schlenker and Rob Smith

The students first explored idea creation, discussing what gets them excited, what they're good at, and how they can merge those two things into a business idea. During the second class, they produced deliverables on their business concepts; interests ranged from clothing design to providing art supplies to hospital patients to dog sitting and more. They recently learned about using market research to review their competitors and determine potential customer profiles. The class is ongoing, and at the end of the semester, students will pitch their business ideas to a judging panel and request start-up funds. 

If you're interested in serving on the judging panel or donating funds for these student-run businesses, please contact Zak Ammar. 

Student business cards donated by Precision Printing

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