Innovate With Young Entrepreneurs in NY and CT

Unfortunately, NFTE Fairchester’s project to fund an Innovation Day for the World Series of Innovation did not reach the donation level we were hoping for.  Thanks so much to those who did donate, we appreciate all the efforts you have made to bring our students entrepreneurial dreams to life.  The World Series of Innovation allows young people to solve the challenges facing some of the biggest brands in the world.  Students learn about marketing and design by creating an innovative product or service for each challenge.  They also get the chance to pitch that idea to win prizes so they can help bring their ideas to life.  Companies who had participating challenges this year included Coca-Cola, Pitney Bowes, and Microsoft.

The NFTE Fairchester’s Innovation Day allows students to work with business mentors to fine tune their submissions to the World Series before the deadline.  Students who may be unsure of how to put together aspects of their plan go through activities to encourage them to think about the challenges with an entrepreneurial mindset.  Two of the challenges that were particularly fiercely contested were the Coca-Cola VEB Baby Boomer Challenge, as well as the Pitney Bowes Student Geolocation Challenge.  Coca-Cola challenge students to “launch a new beverage company committed to the health, wellness and vitality of Baby Boomers,” while Pitney Bowes asked them “to invent a location-aware application that addresses a need in their school or community.”

The team behind uHelp was the Adjudicator’s Winner in the Pitney Bowes Challenge.  They billed themselves as an app that will track organizations with individuals who would be willing to volunteer in the area.  With the aim of helping students who need to fulfill community service or need to volunteer to boost their resumes, uHelp uses geolocation software to hone in on which local organizations are in need of time.  It also allows users to specify which type of organization they are looking for.  Meanwhile, Samurai Soda won the won the Coca-Cola challenge.  The team suggested using umeboshi plums, which have historically been used by samurai to combat fatigue on the battlefield, as the main ingredient in their drink.  “Umeboshi is an antibacterial and helps cure indigestion, hangovers, and nausea,” they said in their submission. “This drink will be targeted to the Baby Boomer Generation because this demographic is into ‘superfoods,’ and new technology and innovations from foreign countries.”

Thank you again for your contributions to NFTE through the GlobalGiving platform!  Your contributions are helping our student teams fully realize the potential of their entrepreneurial mindset.

Links:

• World Series of Innovation
• Visit NFTE Fairchester on Facebook