We finally made it to the final day of Minnesota Business Venture: Empowerment Day, sponsored by The Allstate Foundation! Camp started off with our guest keynote speaker, Jael Kerandi. Jael is a finance intern at Microsoft, who talked to students about what it takes to reach your goals. What’s your biggest dream? What does it take to achieve it? How likely do you believe you’ll achieve it? These are the questions Jael asked students to think about today in her presentation. She encouraged students to shift their mindsets, and remember that determination and hard work can take you anywhere. Any dream is achievable, if you put the work in and know what you are capable of.
Next, we had the influencer and founder of The Hunger Diaries, Lindsay Moser, speak to us about her food blog journey. Lindsay gets to try all sorts of food from around the world, and shares recipes with her followers. She talked about how she knew what her passion is, and how she made it her life. As Lindsay stated, “You know what you love. As long as you are motivated and want to be the best, that’s what matters.”
Students wrapped up camp by presenting the business plans they’ve been working on throughout the week. Each company spent some time deciding how they wanted to approach their business plans. They needed to include a marketing and sales plan, operation plans, a financial plan, and a summary and loan request. Students presented their work to a panel of judges who then decided whether or not to approve their loan request.
We’re so glad you could join us for the first session of Minnesota Business Venture’s 40th Anniversary! We hope you got some great insight from our guests, learned some valuable information, and made some friends along the way. Although students can only attend as a camper once, they may apply to return as a CEO or a Communication Specialist. We would love to see some familiar faces back at camp next year, and encourage students to consider applying for these positions. Information for applications will be sent out on a later date. Thank you to all our guest speakers and entrepreneurs who shared some great advice and words of encouragement this week. We’d also like to thank our sponsors for making camp affordable for each student. It is so important to take advantage of these opportunities, and we’re glad you decided to join us this summer. Give yourself a round of applause for all your time and hard work this week, you deserve it!