Written by CAPA-JRC reporters Eileen Luo, Doris Wang, Sophie Huang, and Emily Jia
Throughout the month of August, the International Leadership Foundation (ILF) hosted a series of four Zoom-based trainings to help applicants succeed in their annual Asian-American Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) Contest. Founded in April of 2018, the ILF is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Asian Pacific American community. By organizing this contest, the ILF hopes to “explore and foster entrepreneurial talents and innovation-driven business strategies for the next generation.”
Inspiring Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Speaker: Terry Hsiao
How to Write a Business Plan and Operate your Business
Speaker: Nina Wang
Building Your Business
Speakers: Rachel Wang, Ivy Shi, Sophia Shiu, Emily Wu
How to Attract Venture Capital Investment
Speaker: Millie Liu
The Value of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship can provide many valuable lessons, from developing ideas to pushing through difficult times in order to execute such ideas to working in a team with others. Such skills can come in handy in not only entrepreneurship, but also in life as a whole.
“Look at it as an experience… [for] that experience will be highly valuable,” said Hsiao during an interview with the Junior Reporter Club (JRC). Wang concurs: “I think it’s so awesome that students are taking that initiative at a middle and high school age, way before it’s actually introduced to them in school and their lives.” The contest, after all, is an avenue for students passionate about entrepreneurship to explore that interest.
Such an endeavour will certainly have its bumps and crossroads, but that is all a part of the journey. As Shiu said: “The reason why we make mistakes is to learn from them.” All entrepreneurs had to start somewhere small, and it is from that starting point that they embarked on their individual journeys to create the innovations of today.
For more information about the contest, visit: https://www.ilfei.org/application.
This article was provided by Chinese American Parents Association Junior Reporter Club (CAPA JRC) with members who interviewed, audio recorded, wrote, translated, and video recorded. CAPA JRC has 26 Montgomery County middle to high school students. They have created a bilingual platform delivering news and serving the community.
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