EAB/BizWorld Summer Camp Sparks Entrepreneurial Inspiration in Jamaican Teens

What happens when you put Entrepreneurs Across Borders (EAB) in a room with master educators, an innovative curriculum, and a group of teenagers? We found out this August, when we partnered with entrepreneurship education nonprofit BizWorld to hold an unforgettable two-day summer camp in Kingston, Jamaica. And there’s only one word to describe the experience—magical.

 Over the course of two days, we watched 24 Jamaican teenagers from diverse backgrounds come together to learn the essentials of launching a venture-backed business. While some students showed up at the camp with an idea for a business, others told us they were only there because their parents forced them to come. As our Executive Director Chris Cochran recalled, one young woman announced at the registration table,“it’s summer. I should be sleeping until 1:30 pm and eating all day.” But nearly every student finished the program on a high note, including the aforementioned young woman. After spending two days pitching her company, diving into product development, and counting her teams profits, she admitted that she’d actually enjoyed the experience.

According to Chris Cochran, the BizWorld facilitators passion was evident in the way they encouraged, inspired, and made each student feel like they were capable of achieving anything. Over the course of two days, Amparo Leyman Pino and Patricia Solis led the students through an interactive curriculum that taught them the entrepreneurial cycle. BizWorld runs programs for young people all over the world, but Amparo was struck by the Jamaican teenagers familiarity with and interest in entrepreneurship. “Everyone had something they sold at school,” Amparo told us of the students, “all of them have a hustle going on, that was very refreshing because we usually don’t hear those things when we do the program.” Amparo was also impressed by the questions the teenagers posed to entrepreneurs visiting the program at a fireside chat led by Chris. “The questions they were asking the entrepreneurs were really elaborate,” Amparo recalled. “They are thinking of entrepreneurship in a very serious way.”

Not everyone is destined to be an entrepreneur, but everyone should understand what it takes to build a successful business. With 93% of startups failing within the first two years, educating young people on the principles of entrepreneurship can help pave the way for a more innovative, resilient generation of business leaders. At EAB, we believe that the more successful entrepreneurs we help produce, the more jobs and opportunities we create—especially in vulnerable communities. 

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