The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) launched in 2004 with the support of a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, is a groundbreaking program that takes students in grades 6-12 through the process of starting and running real businesses over the course of a full academic year.  

YEA! teaches students the process by which one establishes a business enterprise or social movement. YEA! students are taught to write a business or social plan, make a pitch to potential investors, obtain funding, register with governmental agencies, and actually launch their own company.  

In YEA!, students take all the real and necessary steps to launching an enterprise. Brainstorming ideas, preparing a business plan for their enterprises, pitching their business ideas to real investors at the YEA! Investor Panel presentation, developing marketing materials and preparing to sell their products and/or services to customers at the trade show and else where. As with all entrepreneurs, they learn that new business or non-profit creation requires determination, courage, and motivation.  

These lessons take on various forms, and are not limited to classroom lecture. Students work with attorneys, insurers, tax professionals, designers, printers and suppliers. They listen to guest speakers, shadow mentors in the community, and take exciting field trips to reinforce principles and witness applications of the skills taught in class.  

At YEA!, all of the learning is real and experiential, and focused on teaching students how to start and run their own businesses or social movement.  

YEA! offers an after-school program at colleges for 6-12 graders and an in-school high school program for 9-12 grade students. Learn more about YEA! today!