The Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative (YEI) in conjunction with the Department of ICT Policy & Innovation and Bermuda Economic Development Corporation will conduct a 5-day BizCamps at Sophia House, Hamilton for 16 aspiring young Bermudian entrepreneurs 13 to 17 years old.

Dates are Monday, February 11th to Friday, February 15th. Over the past 18 years close to 1,000 youths have developed and presented business plans, earning certificates for participating in BizCamps.

During these intensive programs, students use textbooks, a syllabus specific workbook, online research, guest lecturers and field-based market research to learn about opportunity recognition, cost of goods, pricing, marketing and many other aspects of running a company. Their objective is to develop and present their own comprehensive business plan at the end of the session.

Joe Mahoney, Executive Director of the YEI uses curriculum from a combination of sources including the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (www.nfte.com), Babson College, (www.babson.edu) and the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education (www.ceed.org).

He states, “The goal is to inspire young people to become business-savvy and economically self-sufficient. Participants are provided with a business plan template. After learning the concepts, they complete the plan with information for their own business idea and present it to a panel of judges selected from the business community.”

Local entrepreneurs and financing partners present real-world practices. One of them, Jamillah Lodge of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, who also served as a BizCamp judge stated, “This is an awesome opportunity to see what the future of Bermudian entrepreneurship looks like.”

There is no cost for students who are accepted to attend BizCamp thanks to the support of the Department of ICT Policy & Innovation and our other sponsors the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, Bermuda Community Foundation, Tokio Millennium Re, Chubb Charitable Foundation, XL/Catlin Foundation, Argo Foundation, and One Communication.

Participants will be admitted on a rolling basis until we fill the 16 spots, many are still available. Electronic applications are available at www.bedc.bm (follow the link in Events to Winter Term-Break BizCamp) or https://bedc.bm/workshop/winter-term-break-bizcamp/. Or send an email to: jmahoney@gov.bm.

• Press release from the Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative