October 31, 2008

Silver Creek student excels in business planning 

Ugo Ogamba (right), a junior at Silver Creek High School, represented Northern California in the Oppenheimer Funds NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York City. Ogamba made it to the semi finals, losing to Rodney Walker from Chicago who went on to take second place in the overall competition.

Ugo Ogamba competed with more than thirty of the top finishers from The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)’s regional high school business plan competitions.

“Seeing young people take ownership of their education, strive to develop their skills and then flourish is what NFTE sets out to do,” said Gerald Richards, Executive Director, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship Bay Area region. “Our NFTE students are great examples of what young people can deliver when given the skills and training,” added Richards.

The students presented their business plans detailing a market and competitive analysis, an annual income statement with a breakdown of cost of goods sold, a computation of return on sales and investment, along with a civic-minded philanthropy plan and an actual prototype of their product or service, before a prestigious panel of judges from business, philanthropy and sports.

The master of ceremonies for the evening competition was John V. Murphy, Chairman and CEO of OppenheimerFunds, Inc.  The first place winner walked away with $10,000 in seed capital to fund their business venture or use to further their education goals.