By David Seduski | Development Associate
NFTE New England’s GlobalGiving project to host provide business mentoring for our students did not quite hit our goal. Thanks so much to those who did donate; your funds helped us bring out an entrepreneurial mindset in our students by connecting them with business mentors who can give them invaluable expertise. Today’s youth need a mindset that equips them to recognize opportunity, take initiative, and innovate in the face of challenges. Part of that involves hearing from entrepreneurs who have the firsthand knowledge of the hard work that goes into creating and running a business. These volunteers lend their guidance with business development and financial advice, which our students in turn use to help create a business plan for a new venture of their own. Whether our mentors serve as classroom volunteers, guest speakers, or guides on field trips to local businesses, the experience they can impart on NFTE’s students is tremendously valuable to their continued business education.
Two students who definitely took advantage of their mentoring sessions are Selma A. and Selma M. of Hartford, Connecticut. Both Selmas were both born in Bosnia and grew up in households where electricity was unstable and unreliable. In hard times, their mothers would make candles for light using just vegetable oil and toothpicks. As a result, both girls grew up with a deep, personal knowledge of the impact a simple candle can have. Recently the girls noticed that store-bought candles were turning their walls black, so they began conducting research. Soon after the girls founded So Scentsational, LLC: a company which creates eco-friendly, hypo-allergenic, sustainable and clean-burning candles using beeswax and cotton wicks. They see both a business and social need for their product, due to damaging and unhealthy side effects of commercially available candles. This is “a time where we, as humans, produce so much waste and purchase products that we are not educated on.”
Your donations through GlobalGiving helped give the So Scentsational, LLC Selma team the resources they needed to see their entrepreneurial dreams burn as bright as their candles. They will be presenting at the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge this October in New York City, and will continue to work with mentors to hone their pitch in the hopes of winning additional scholarships and startup capital for their new business. Thanks again for you contributions to our New England programs.
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