Press Release: BUILD Metro DC Celebrates Its Inaugural Business Plan Competition

For Immediate Release
Contact: Barbara Bellissimo
Director of Development
650-688-5754
bbellissimo@build.org

BUILD Metro DC Celebrates Its Inaugural Business Plan Competition

Nation’s Largest Youth Business Incubator Program Launches in Metro DC with Twelve Ninth-Grade Student Business Teams

WASHINGTON, DC (May 12, 2009) – BUILD Metro DC is proud to present its first class of youth entrepreneurs at its Inaugural Youth Business Plan Competition to be held at Georgetown University Law Center on May 30, 2009.

This celebration culminates a year’s worth of achievements by BUILD’s young entrepreneurs from the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. Teams will be judged by a panel of local executives from the education and business communities, including Warren Brown of Cakelove, Robert Egger of DC Central Kitchen, Lois Zambo of Studley, Seth Morrison of The Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing, Wesley Bieligk of The Carlyle Group and Jit Sinha of JMI Equity .

“We are excited and amazed by the progress our first class of students has made this year,” says Maria Meredith, BUILD Metro DC Ninth-Grade Program Manager. “Twelve student teams will be presenting their unique business plans, with ideas ranging from t-shirts to cookie mixes to dog grooming services.”

WHAT: Inaugural BUILD Metro DC Youth Business Plan Competition
WHERE: Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
WHEN: Saturday, May 30, 2009
12:30PM – 2:00PM

BUILD currently operates two sites in California (East Palo Alto and Oakland), and one in Washington, DC, teaching entrepreneurial skills to over 500 students in thirteen public high schools in under-served communities. Through BUILD, students who are disengaged from school come to see business, and ultimately college, as way to succeed. BUILD understands that most savvy urban youth have real-world skills and experiences that are often not valued or used in a traditional school setting, so BUILD engages young professionals, venture capitalists and community volunteers to help students plan, launch and operate small businesses as a way to tap into their talents and re-connect them to the learning process.


About BUILD
BUILD is a four-year entrepreneurship-focused college preparation program whose mission is to provide real-world entrepreneurial experience that empowers youth from under-resourced communities to excel in education, lead in their communities, and succeed professionally. By helping students develop and run their own small businesses, BUILD supplements traditional school with real-world business experiences and critical skill-building for the future. To date, BUILD has served over 1,000 students directly, recruited over 350 mentors and other volunteers, and impacted thousands more indirectly. Our students are from East Palo Alto, CA; Oakland, CA; and Washington, DC. Most importantly, in communities with dropout rates of 50-70%, 100% of BUILD seniors graduate high school and are accepted into college. Established in 1999, BUILD is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. BUILD currently runs two youth business incubators for students in nine schools in Oakland and Palo Alto, CA (the Palo Alto incubator is the largest in the United States). BUILD currently serves ninth-grade students at two campuses in Washington, DC and will open its third youth business incubator there in August 2009. More information about BUILD can be found online at www.build.org.



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