Youth Entrepreneurship Center Begins

Metanoia Youth business students discuss economics and the way items are priced before being put on the market.

In October, Angela Mauldin and James Holland of Regions Bank presented Metanoia with a $1,000 gift which we will be putting toward our Youth Entrepreneurship Center.

    Beginning in August students in Metanoia's middle school program started studying about creating a small business with the goal of putting a business plan together and raising the capital for the plan in order to put it into effect.  This is the result of Metanoia revamping its middle school program to help students learn Entrepreneurship skills.   The students now occupy new space at St. Matthew Baptist church and each day the eight students in the program spend their afternoon studying such important phrases as "supply and demand,"  "SWOT Analysis," and "command economy." 

   The program is headed by Metanoia Staff person April Lowe who is a business major at Charleston Southern University.  This past summer Metanoia sent her for training with the nationally recognized Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).  The weeklong training gave her many of the tools she now uses daily to teach business skills to students in a way that is fun and interactive.

  By developing the Youth Entrepreneurship Incubator we are hoping to invest in a number of neighborhood assets.  We will be teaching students positive ways to generate income for themselves and our community.  The students and their families will both benefit as they learn the practical steps to starting a business and see that business grow to earn income.

    This is just one small way that Metanoia seeks to both grow youth leaders and generate economic development in our community.  Stay tuned this spring for opportunities to support this program by becoming a consumer of the products they will produce.

			Generating Economic Development