Resources for Young Entrepreneurs
I recently received an e-mail from a student at Babson College asking if I knew of any sites specifically focused on helping young entrepreneurs seeking advice and help in developing their ideas. I did some checking around, and it seems that a lot of sites that started a few years ago have since closed up shop, and several more I found were way out-of-date and had no active community. Here are a few that I found that are still current and active:
YoungEntrepreneur.com - A free online community for young entrepreneurs with over 10,000 members. The site features articles by both members and outside experts, member profile pages and business directory, young entrepreneur success stories, and a very active discussion forum with about 30,000 posts in nearly 5,000 threads.
GenX Startup @ IdeaCafe - Another very active discussion forum, plus some great articles specifically focused on GenX entrepreneurs.
YouthCove.com - A smaller (about 750 members), but very active online community for young entrepreneurs, YouthCove features member journals, and tips and support for goal setting and action steps.
Young Entrepreneur Journey - Michael Simmons, author of The Student Success Manifesto, has a great blog targeted at young entrepreneurs. A recent post of his is another great resource for young entrepreneurs: Top Awards & Grants for Young Entrepreneurs.
RichDad.com Teen Forum - A very active forum on Robert Kiyosaki's site where teens discuss entrepreneurship, investing and smart money management.
Teen Business Link - A site created by the U.S. Small Business Administration targeted at teen entrepreneurs. Good content, but static.
Collegiate Entrepreneurs Association - Doesn't seem to have much of a centralized online community, but there are dozens of local chapters across North America, and many of them have their own websites, forums, etc.
CELCEE Youth Entrepreneurship Articles - Links to recent articles in the media discussing youth entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education.
The resources above all have a substantial online component, but there are a number of other organizations focused on encouraging and supporting young entrepreneurs, including:- Junior Achievement
- Students in Free Enterprise
- National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (US only)
- Young Entrepreneurs Association (Canada only)
- ACE - Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (Canada only)
If you know of another site for young entrepreneurs, please leave a comment with a link and a brief description.
REMINDER: For youth entrepreneurs in the New York City area, the 2006 Youth Entrepreneur Awards is coming up. If you register by January 30, you receive some bonuses, including $200 worth of free business planning software.
Comments
I’ve also listed a variety of young entrepreneur resources which I’ve found useful so far.
cheers
hey guys!
My name is Sean and I am a member of my3P - an online entrepreneurship programme. The 3 P’s stands for: People, Planet, and Profits.
Click this link to visit my3P and register: http://www.my3P.com
my3P features cool easy-to-start business ideas that young entrepreneurs can take and make a reality. Each business idea has a fully-equipped template of how-to guides and resources like business cards, flyers, and business tips! The best thing is: you don’t need to pay for anything! It’s FREE!
my3P is also about the people - so we’ve got a huge range of prizes to be won! While using the my3P site, you will earn points which you can exchange for rewards like PDAs, mobile phones, and movie tickets!
So come and join us to start earning your very own cash NOW!
if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact me: sean@my3p.com
Young entrepreneurs should check out this website that is dedicated to helping young entrepreneurs develop their business ideas through expert feedback and community support: http://www.gen-y.org
Young entrepreneurs looking for fresh, practical information should check out Young Wealth Weekly, which delivers weekly inspiration for life, success, and business every Thursday morning. You can learn more about it by heading over to: http://www.youngwealthweekly.com
YoungEntrepreneur.com is still the best online for all your entrepreneurial networking needs!
Junior Chamber International is a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs. There are about 250 000 members in over 110 countries. Here’s their web address
http://www.jci.cc/
VenturePORT.org (currently in beta) is an online destination that connects entrepreneurs with each other and valuable resources to start and grow a business - and it’s free!
We are also Title Sponsor for the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (www.extremetour.org) - an experiential event travelling to 30 college campuses in 07/08 to teach the entrepreneurial mindset.
WE look forward to connecting with you on VenturePORT!
Young Americas Business Trust of the OAS, Organization of American States: Entrpeneurial Training for international young (18-35 yr old);trained 17k.
Talent and Innovation Competition (for business plans, active or still in planning stage) open for 2008.
In 2007 YABT had 800 teams from around the world apply. The top 30 went to Panama during the OAS General Assembly. Check it out!
One website in particular that I find very useful is http://www.internet-entrepreneur-resources.com/
it’s basically a one stop Entrepreneur Source.
It carries a lot of helpful information.