November 13 – 15, 2011

The Youth Entrepreneurship Summit: Jump Start America 2011, hosted by the Kauffman Foundation was an unforgettable three days. The very first YES USA Summit brought together key stakeholders within the YouthTrade ecosystem including young entrepreneurs, Conscious Capitalism CEOs, foundation and co-working space leaders, investors, non-profit organizations and members of YES and the Conscious Capitalism Institute.

November 13th: Opening Ceremony

John Courtin, Vice President, Kauffman Foundation opened the Summit with a warm welcome and kick-off to Global Entrepreneurship Week. Following John, Summit Co-Chair Roy Spence took the stage and wowed everyone with his unique outlook and the inspiration that he is “Entrepreneurship is jumping off a building and building wings on the way down. If you can dream it, you can do it!” He shared with us the importance of building a venture with purpose, and how YouthTrade will help re-awaken the American dream, “up until the industrial revolution, everyone was an entrepreneur… we need a rebirth of that.”

Following Roy, we heard words of wisdom from two of Inc Magazine’s 30 Under 30, David Hauser of Grasshopper and Kyle Smitley of Barley and Birch. The night concluded with 2 minute pitches from 25 featured young entrepreneurs, who proudly took the stage to share their purpose-driven ventures.

November 14th: Conscious Entrepreneurship

Day Two was dedicated to exploring the power of Conscious Capitalism and many members of the Conscious Capitalism Institute took the stage. We opened with the journey of YES, where I was joined on stage with YES leaders: Samuel Gonzalez of YES Mexico (Congratulations on your YES Change-maker Award), Jason Caya, YES Flint and Kalilou Dama, YES Mali (who also brought Hon. Minster of Youth from Mali). We shared the catalytic power of YES to capture the imagination of youth and move from vision to action – 55 YES Networks, 5 Global YES Summit, 400 projects, 150 original publications, 1 million youth touched by our programs and more.

Following the YES Panel Andre Porter, Executive Director of the Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship announced that Gregory Bialecki, Secretary Economic Development Massachusetts had provided a challenge grant to set up the YouthTrade Innovation Studio. The YES Session culminated with an inspiring keynote from Andrea Taylor, Director of U.S. Community Affairs, Microsoft Corporation. Andrea spoke of how Microsoft is empowering young people to be entrepreneurial, and reminded us that” The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Conscious Capitalism CEOs took the stage for the Journey of the Masters panel chaired by Roy Spence, Chairman GSD&M Idea City, Lawrence Koh, CEO International Diversified Products, Jeffrey Hollender, former CEO Seventh Generation, David Murphy, CEO Better World Books, and Betsy Sanders, Former General Manager, Nordstrom. The CEOs dazzled us with their wisdom. Lawrence Koh shared his “DO BE HAVE” mantra, and reminded everyone that “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right. If you have limiting beliefs, change your beliefs.” David Murphy of Better World Books told the story of social entrepreneurship, reminding us that “social entrepreneurship is not easy, mushy, kumbaya or ultimately about mission only”- that it comes down to great products. Betsy Sanders spoke about her amazing story of moving from a sales rep at Nordstrom to General Manager. She shared her secret of success “Put yourself at the bottom of the organizational chart and empower everyone to be an entrepreneur. “

Following the CEO panel John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods Market took the stage with his bold wisdom about how capitalism is changing the world. “If we continue to embrace economic freedom, we will witness the end of poverty in this century.”He reminded the entrepreneurs in the room that “fear ruins empowerment in organizations, and encouraged everyone to know their purpose, be authentic, and respect employees.” Following John’s keynote we gathered on stage for a group photo!

The afternoon of Day 2 was unforgettable as participants joined Conscious Capital CEOs in YES Cafes to get to know them in an intimate setting over a brown bag lunch. Entrepreneurs had the opportunity to pose questions, and share their hopes and aspirations.

November 15th: The YouthTrade Do-Tank

On Day 3 the Summit was transformed into the YouthTrade Do-Tank. Shubhro Sen, Executive Director, CCI and I had the privilege of sharing the potential of YouthTrade to transform the lives of young entrepreneurs by helping access and build markets for their businesses. We shared the power of YouthTrade which is built on a simple yet big idea—providing markets for goods and services of young American entrepreneurs under the age of 35. YouthTrade was born out of a simple question of how to align conscious companies with conscious entrepreneurs.

Together we spent 3 hours aligning on the concept of YouthTrade, building the model and our commitment to it, and by sharing ways in which together we would build the movement, members of the YouthTrade Do-Tank signed a pledge to support YouthTrade.

The final day of the Summit concluded with a fabulous series of breakout sessions, where entrepreneurs shared their wisdoms with each other on how they are changing the world. We closed out the Summit with inspiring words from our host Cameron Cushman, Senior Analyst at the Kauffman Foundation.

Together we shared three magical days paving the way for YouthTrade. Thank you for your engaged participation and joining the team that will reshape and invigorate the American Dream through YouthTrade.

A special thanks to our sponsor Gold Sponsor Microsoft and our Bronze Sponsor Acteva. We love our 100% recycled fabric Summit t-shirts donated by SustainU, and enjoyed sampling the products of our young entrepreneurs Runa and Sustyparty.

Finally, none of this would have been possible without the above and beyond support of the Kauffman Foundation team in particular Cameron Cushman, Joy Torchia, Leslie Kenagy and Norma Getz.

Featured Below:

Conscious Capitalism CEOs: Roy Spence, Chairman GSD&M Idea City, Lawrence Koh, CEO International Diversified Products, Jeffrey Hollender, former CEO Seventh Generation, David Murphy, CEO Better World Books, and Betsy Sanders, Former General Manager, Nordstrom.

We invite you to support our ‘Adopt an Entrepreneur’ initiative. It is important for young entrepreneurs to know that they have support as they go though their start-up phase. We want to gather 100 young entrepreneurs to attend our Summit in Nov. 2011. We need your investment in these young entrepreneurs. We are inviting foundations, individuals, and businesses to adopt an entrepreneur and lend a helping hand in their journey to profitability. It only costs $2,000 per entrepreneur to help reshape their future. We are making efforts to ensure that every adopted entrepreneur has an opportunity meet a CEO or leader from their industry to network. We look forward to your engaged investment and support.

The Summit 2011 is rapidly approaching! In preparation for this wonderful event, the YES team has reached out to successful young entrepreneurs with invitations to the event. Their inspirational work is well worth showcasing at the event, thus we have nominated several to attend as featured young entrepreneurs. The youth have entered into various industries, including apparel and accessories, food, travel, web services, phone applications, living, education, and more. America’s youth are representing a variety of work within our communities. Below we will feature one youth company from some of the industries.
 
Apparel and Accessories:
 
Smathers and Branson
Smathers and Branson is a company that sells needlepoint products, such as belts, wallets, and headbands. In 2004, then roommates at Bowdoin University, Peter and Austin developed the idea for their company after receiving needlepoint belts as gifts from their girlfriends. After spending the following fall in Vietnam they found a network of stitchers who could make their product. In the spring of 2005 they began testing their market and it quickly became a thriving business. Their company is unique because they can make specialized products with unique patterns for schools, organizations, or even just individuals.
 
Food:
 
Chocomize
Chocomize is a chocolate company that allows customers to customize their own chocolate bar by simply choosing a base flavor then adding the ingredients. Founders Fabian, Nick, and Eric met while studying at Columbia University, and upon graduation the economic crisis forced them to pursue non-traditional career paths. All possessing a passion for chocolate, they decided to create the company. Chocomize is great for society because it donates a portion of the proceeds from each candy bar to charity. Chocomize has grown to a successful level due to the satisfaction of its loyal customer base.
 
Travel:
 
Airbnb
Airbnb is an online resource that connects people who have space to share with those who are looking for a place to stay while. Joe, Brian, and Nathan, all alumni of the Rhode Island School of Design, created the idea for the site in 2007 while hanging out in Joe and Brian’s San Francisco loft. At that time there was a prominent design conference coming to town, but all nearby hotel rooms had been booked. They decided to offer up their place, along with breakfast and hospitality, to a few strangers attending the event. After this first time, Nathan joined as the third co-founder and the team set off to change the way people travel. The company offers a diverse selection of accommodations in over 16,000 cities in 186 countries. What started as a small stay has grown into a huge movement.
 
Living:
 
The Next Step Realty
The Next Step Realty is a company that helps promising college graduates find their first home after graduation. Blair and Belton created this real estate network in January 2010 to make the rental process for graduating clients as easy as possible. The Next Step Reality puts graduates directly in touch with an emerging, accomplished real estate broker who will take care of all transaction needs. The realty is a network of 46 brokers in 28 cities with locations in the US and Europe.
 
Miscellaneous:
 
Susty Party
Susty Party is a company that promotes ideas, products, and best practices for creating environmentally friendly and socially responsible events. Specifically, the website sells tableware products to use at the party. Founder Emily Doubilet used to work for a company in which she created and implemented a range of sustainability policies, from purchasing to event-planning. She noticed that a lot of waste was generated from these events, thus her idea for green party products was created.
 
Register today for the YES Summit 2011; it is sure to be a rewarding experience. As we proceed forward to the summit we continue to look for young entrepreneurs and their companies to feature. If you know of a good candidate, please write to us with a direct recommendation.

We are excited to announce a new YES endeavor to inspire youth entrepreneurship: The Enterprise Studio™. This Enterprise Studio creates a space for young people to dream and be artists of their destiny. With so much conflict in the world, YES has generated the Enterprise Studio™ as refuge for young people to paint the canvas of their dream. Through a vision, declaration and planning process designed to awaken youth, the Enterprise Studio™ inspires young people to find and share their passions, build upon their ‘Big Idea,’ and locate tools and sign up with mentors to create a life of promise.

Yes Entrepreneurship Café:
The first initiative of the Enterprise Studio™, coined as the YES Entrepreneurship Café, was launched on July 12, 2011 at the Alexandria Library in Egypt. YES Inc. Founder Poonam Ahuwalia collaborated with 25 YES Egypt Members to design and run the very first cafés with Egyptian youth. The first Entrepreneurship Café included two studio sessions in which approximately 100 Young Egyptians formulated and shared their dream projects. One youth shares:

“I’m dreaming that every Egyptian girl has an access to education. I dream of equality and equal citizenship for all Egyptians regardless their gender, age, religion or where they live.” –Amany Soliman

The Entrepreneurship Café was also designed to organize the planning of Entrepreneurship Café’s in 29 Egyptian Governates in preparation for the Egypt Entrepreneurship Week in November 14-20, 2011.