Wharton puts young entrepreneurs in the game

When he was in high school, Philadelphia native Malik Armstrong had an unusually entrepreneurial spirit -- selling pretzels, T-shirts and even school supplies to his peers. A decade later, Armstrong is a successful business owner, having started up the Five Spot Soul Food Restaurant in Brooklyn. And in many ways, he credits the Milken Young Entrepreneurs Program, run through the Wharton School -- in which he participated more than a decade ago -- with transforming his ambition into practical business knowledge. "It was incredible," Armstrong said of his experience with the program in 1988. Before the program, he said, "I just could not conceptualize how to start a business." Sponsored by the Milken Foundation and now in its 12th year at Penn, MYEP -- also known as the University-Community Outreach Program -- places dozens of local high school students like Armstrong into a two-week business seminar over the summer. The students devise ideas for their own businesses during the seminar, and then, along with their volunteer mentors, prepare to present their improved plans to a venture capital board early the next year. Besides providing encouragement and support for the budding entrepreneurs, the mentors impart advice about topics ranging from technical issues like project feasibility to public speaking skills. Though not every student is required to present, some can earn grants of up to $500 from the board, made up of Wharton faculty members, MYEP staff and alumni of the program. In the last phase, the mentors form themselves into Business Centers of Excellence Teams, acting as resources for the entrepreneurs in different business-related areas. MYEP selects high school students not by looking at their grades but through a process that includes an application, a letter of recommendation, essay questions and a formal interview. That way, "we can assess a level of commitment, motivation and interest in entrepreneurship," according to Jeffrey Harris, the program's director in Wharton. Last year, Harris acted as an instructor and a consultant to the program. From a service standpoint, "our goal is to serve the West Philadelphia community," Harris said. He noted that 95 percent of the 36 high school students involved, most of whom will continue with the next phase of the program, live or go to school in West Philadelphia. And from a business standpoint, the goal is to expose students to entrepreneurship early, leading to future accomplishments in business. "There are a number of success stories," Harris said. After holding several information sessions over the past week and the group's first one-on-one meetings with students yesterday, Harris said MYEP has more than achieved its goal for recruitment of mentors, although he added that about right more female mentors are needed. The group hopes to pair up students with mentors by gender. Mentors say that their involvement with MYEP can be as valuable for them as it is for the students. Though scheduling conflicts can make it difficult to meet, working with a high school student is "very enlightening," said Audrey Greenberg, a second-year Wharton MBA student and one of last year's mentors. "You're influencing their life in some way," she said. MBA candidates "get an opportunity to work with people who are not of a similar background," Harris added, which will make them more competitive. And while some entrepreneurs may decide not to immediately pursue a business plan, he said, they can still cultivate positive relationships with their mentors. MYEP members hope to continue to support the entrepreneurs after they have completed the program and to try to accommodate those entrepreneurs who did not present their plans during their year of enrollment but wish to do so the next.

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