Youngstown student entrepreneurs compete in mock 'Shark Tank' event today

YOUNGSTOWN

Young entrepreneurs were showered with thousands of dollars – fake dollars – by mock investors as part of the Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley’s Innovation Challenge event at Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration.

Teams of students from five city schools – East High, Martin Luther King Elementary School, Volney Rogers Middle School, Williamson Elementary School and William Holmes McGuffey Elementary – spent today making business pitches to mock investors and participating in workshops led by local business leaders.

During part of the event, the students showed off their product ideas using poster boards in a setting similar to a trade show, with mock investors wandering the floor, talking to the students and doling out fake investment money to the products they found most impressive.

The challenge was the culmination of a 12-week after-school course undertaken by the students that focused on entrepreneurship. The course dealt with idea development, marketing, advertising and building a client base, among other topics.

Read more about the program in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.