Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Nov. 7, 2024 – Nine weeks of work came to fruition as several Douglas MacArthur Junior High ninth graders showed off their business leadership skills in the Jonesboro Business Association’s first Youth Entrepreneurship Program Business Pitch Contest on Thursday.

The event, held at the Jonesboro High School Performing Arts Center, saw 10 student-run teams present their business ideas to a panel of judges from the Jonesboro Business Association (JBA).

Students from MacArthur Junior High Keystone classes, taught by Coach Steve Etter and Miranda Kelley, participated in the entrepreneurship program to form 26 companies, of which the top 10 groups were chosen to compete in the finale. The Keystone course is designed to help ninth graders successfully navigate high school, teaching self-realization, interpersonal skills, study skills, self-management skills, and goal setting and planning strategies.

The JBA reached out to Jonesboro Public Schools about the entrepreneurship program earlier this year. Currently, MacArthur Junior High is the only school participating in the program.

“We decided at MacArthur to jump on board,” Etter said. “The program has been going great and the students have enjoyed themselves and learning about how to become an entrepreneur.”

In the weeks leading up to the competition. students created their businesses and ideas for how to run them. In addition, they spoke with over thirty community members including business owners, bankers, Arkansas State University professors, and even the Jonesboro mayor.

Then, the teams organized a slideshow presentation and pitched their idea to the classes, JBA reps, and Etter, after which they were asked a series of questions regarding their business, which was based on a point system. The 10 teams with the highest scores moved to the finale.

“This has been an opportunity these students would not have gotten without this program,” Etter continued. “Along with this, the students have had to give their pitch to the class and judges about their business and have learned about public speaking. These have been a great nine weeks of learning and growing our students. Plus, the collaboration with JBA has been nothing short of outstanding. Mr. Burrell and Mr. Prunty [Jonesboro Business Association Founders Henry Burrell and Reginald Prunty] have invested countless hours and time in the students and the program.”

Burrell said they partnered with the Jonesboro Public School administration to create a unique program supplementing the Keystone curriculum for ninth graders at MacArthur Junior High School.

“The JBA Youth Entrepreneurship Program delivers hands-on experiences in vision development, product and service design, marketing strategy, financial literacy, and operational planning. Our learning objective is for students to understand the fundamentals of a business plan, recognize the value in their ideas, and gain the confidence to present these ideas publicly,” Burrell said. “A highlight of our program is the JBA Pitch Contest, where students pitch their business concepts to a panel of judges, putting into practice everything they’ve learned.”

This year’s contest showcased the student teams as they presented 5-minute pitches followed by Q&A sessions with judges James Turner, Kevin Hofstadler from Arvest Bank, and Kristi Pulliam from Kitzo Coaching and Consulting. After which the students were evaluated on clarity of vision, quality of planning, and feasibility of their ideas.

The winning team received the Rennel Woods Award, a $500 seed fund named in honor of one of JBA’s earliest supporters.

“We will also work with the winners to apply for the Bagel Fund through GrantStation, a grant specifically for young entrepreneurs ages 14 to 18. These opportunities reinforce the message that students’ ideas have tangible value and potential impact,” Burrell said. “We believe that the next big idea is sitting in someone’s classroom right now, waiting to be discovered and nurtured.”

This year’s winners included:

• First Place and Rennel Woods Award winner – Delivery Masters, a drone food delivery service. Team members include Zion Smith, Saniya Wright, Shaniyah Sanders, Coreyuna Robinson and Zarriah Lewis.
• Second Place – Simple Clothing, a clothing business and charity. Team members include Fuad Talib, Sadia Uddin, Sam Bittle, Joseph Spack and Victoria Williams.
• Third Place – Recipe Book, a southern-cuisine restaurant. Team members include Lillie Craft, Maddisyn Jones, Violet Callantine, Alajiha Campbell, Lillian Boone and Milo Paratain.

Wright noted how exciting it was to win the competition.

“It’s so exciting to win,” she said. “We worked really, really hard on it. So, it just shows that despite all your hard obstacles, with God, you can do anything. Anything is possible with God. We prayed over our presentation before we did it. We prayed that we would get at least second or third, but we got first.”

Sanders said after the competition that this experience helped her team a lot.

“It helped us with teamwork, it helped us with communication. It helped us get really close to each other,” she stated. “This project pulled us together through good communication and good teamwork. Like they’ve been telling us in class, there’s probably a person in here that has a million-dollar idea and today I guess it was us.”

Other teams that made it into the top ten included: KKNM (Kreative Kreations N’ More), a women’s fashion store; NSM (Non-Stop Motion), a clothing design and fashion store; Site Sculptor, a website design company; Sunshine Daycare, a daycare service; Protection Against Hackers, an anti-hacker software company; Paw Print, an animal rescue and shelter; and Magnifique, a skincare company.

For more information on the Jonesboro Business Association, visit their website or Facebook or Instagram pages.