NFTE Chicago's 8th Annual Citywide Business Plan Competition

On Tuesday, May 24th, six of the top Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Chicago students competed for over $10,000 in investment money and prizes in the 8th Annual Citywide Business Plan Competition sponsored by NYSE Euronext and Bank of America, hosted at Morningstar. In what was certainly one of the closest competitions in NFTE Chicago's history, Attalah Wilson won 1st place for her invention, Stick and Zips, an innovative food storage alternative. Attalah Wilson and Karalyn Kelley, both juniors at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep, will be traveling to New York City in October to represent Chicago in NFTE’s National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, where they will have a chance to win up to $10,000 in investment and seed funding.

1st Place: $2,000

Attallah Wilson, 17
Junior, Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep
Founder; Stick and Zips
Stick and Zips, founded by Attalah Wilson, 17, is a manufacturing/retail business that sells a food bag sealer to help customers avoid wasting food and save them money. Attalah plans on selling her invention to consumers directly and through grocery stores and supermarkets. The inspiration for her idea came through her entrepreneurship class at her school in the Roseland community area on the far south side of Chicago. Learning about entrepreneurship has taught her the skills necessary to run a business, and she plans to pursue a degree in Business Management after high school.

2nd Place: $1,500

Karalyn Kelley, 16
Junior, Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep
Founder; Food Girl
Food Girl, founded by Karalyn Kelley, 16, is a lunch delivery service that is currently functional within Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep in the Roseland community area of the far south side of Chicago. Recognizing the dissatisfaction towards lunch options from the students, teachers, and staff at the school, Karalyn created a gourmet sandwich delivery service to provide her service to her most accessible market. Karalyn hopes to grow the business and franchise the idea out to other schools to expand her reach. She believes that learning about entrepreneurship has changed her view on what she wanted to do with her life, and now has made her excited to start her own business.

3rd Place: $1,000

Tia McClellan, 18 & Renita Williams, 18
Seniors, Whitney Young Magnet High School
Co-Founders; iCollegeProcess
iCollegeProcess, co-founded by Tia McClellan, 18, and Renita Williams, 18, is a software “app” that allows college-bound students to organize and track their college application process for multiple schools to avoid missing deadlines and submissions. Tia & Renita attend school in the Near West Side community area of Chicago, where their own challenging college application processes inspired this idea. Both girls have faced their own challenges and obstacles, but both attribute learning about entrepreneurship having a large impact on their current success. Growing up in a predominantly low-income neighborhood, Renita believes everything in life must be earned, and that with entrepreneurial knowledge she will always the opportunity to turn any idea into a source of income. Both girls are planning on obtaining a business degree after high school.

Honorable Mentions, $500 (In no particular order):

Anthony Driver, Jr., 18
Senior, Chicago International Charter Schools – Ralph Ellison
Founder; Charge ‘n’ Go
Charge ‘n’ Go, founded by Anthony Driver, Jr., 18, is a service that provides a secure mobile device charging locker for customers. For a small fee, customers can conveniently and quickly re-charge their electronics when the need arises away from home. Anthony hopes that not only will customers pay for the service, but those businesses and shopping centers will invest in the service as well to help drive traffic to their stores. Attending school in the Auburn Gresham community area of the south side of Chicago, Anthony feels that his greatest obstacle he had to overcome to be successful was going to school with some “rough surrounding neighborhoods.” However, Anthony is grateful for learning about entrepreneurship as it has motivated him to obtain a business degree after high school and inspired him to be a serial entrepreneur.

Tracy Nunnery, 18
Senior, School of Entrepreneurship at South Shore Campus
Founder; Creative Desire
Creative Desire, founded by Tracy Nunnery, 18, provides delicious customized pastries as a healthy snack-alternative for customers with dietary restrictions. Targeting the South Shore community area where she attends school, Tracy hopes to bring healthy food options to a community that historically lacks these products. Overcoming numerous obstacles, including homelessness, Tracy believes learning about entrepreneurship has made her view life more opportunistically, and has given her a chance to live out her dream of being successful. Her plans after college include attending culinary school so she can receive more training to further actualize her business.

Michael Padilla, 15
Freshman, EPIC Academy
Founder; Off the MAP Tutoring
Off the MAP Tutoring, founded by Michael Padilla, 15, is a tutoring service that hopes to decrease the rate of youth criminal activity by increasing students’ performance in school. Inspired by his social entrepreneurship class at his school in the South Chicago community area of Chicago, Michael saw an opportunity to better his community through offering his tutoring skills as a service. Michael feels that learning about entrepreneurship at such a young age has given him a reason to not choose the wrong path in life, and that there are many opportunities available that he would not have known about otherwise.

The students were judged by ten esteemed members of the Chicago business community:

Dillon Dalton

Senior Vice President - Chicago Market Manager, Midwest Commercial Banking - Bank of America

Bob Hill

Senior Vice President – NYSE Arca, NYSE Euronext, NYSE Group

Lindsay Gaskins

Vice President - Sandbox Industries

Chief Executive Officer - Marbles the Brain Store

Zack Johnson

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer - Syndio Social

Joe Mansueto

Founder and Chief Executive Officer - Morningstar

Karen Murphy

Chief Financial Officer - Chicago Bears

Maria Pinto

Creative Director - Mark Shale Designer Apparel

Jerry Putnam

Chief Executive Officer - TruMarx Data Partners

Gordon Segal

Co-Founder - Crate & Barrel

Manny Valdes

President and Chief Executive Officer - Frontera Foods, Frontera Media Productions, Frontera Fresca and Red Fork Natural Foods

Congratulations to all the students who did a tremendous job in the Finals Competition. Also congratulations to all the students who competed in the Semi-Finals Round. Thanks to all of NFTE’s board members, teachers, parents, volunteers, partners, and NFTE students for coming to the competition and making it such a special event!