The Alhambra’s Young Entrepreneurship Program kicked off on Saturday, October 26, with a day-long startup bootcamp followed by a pitch competition to select five aspiring high school students to achieve their entrepreneurship dreams.
Thirteen high school students from around Alhambra — either Alhambra residents or AUSD students — were accepted into the Saturday bootcamp, a one-day lean startup program held at The Alhambra campus and led by entrepreneur and Alhambra Foundation Board member Robert Fukui, who taught students the essentials of developing a business plan and pitch.
“It’s never too young to start a business,” Fukui said. “I’ve found that high school students are easier to work with in the startup phase because adults – because of our experience – have a higher level of pessimism. Sometimes we self-defeat too fast, which derails the creativity. So [working with] the high school students is sometimes more fun for me.”
The program also invited local business owners to mentor each table of students, answering questions and offering advice from their years of experience as entrepreneurs. The bootcamp mentors included Kay Lee Fukui (i61 Business Development Network), Fabian Centeno (AGBO), Alex Sophmone, and Mike McCollum (Iona Workspaces).
To wrap up the day, each student presented a 3-minute business pitch to a panel of judges that included Alhambra Chamber president-elect Wing Ho (TAG Design Works), Alhambra Chamber CEO John Bwarie, and Alhambra Chamber member Karen Kuit (eXp Realty). Five winners were selected to join the six-month mentorship program to further develop their business idea and work towards presenting a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) at next year’s annual Lunar New Year Festival in Alhambra.
Winning ideas included a pop-up restaurant, a better windshield wiper replacement, and a platform to match open internship positions with high school students looking for job opportunities.
“This was a tough presentation because they only had a few hours to learn and put together a presentation, so I’m pretty amazed at what they achieved. This is just phase one, to give them a taste of what a business plan is about and how to do it,” Wing Ho, Principal at TAG Design Works in Alhambra, said.
Just four days after the pitch competition, the winning students met with their mentors for the first time on October 30 and will continue to meet biweekly to discuss progress, address challenges, and refine their business plans. They’ll showcase their MVPs at the Alhambra Lunar New Year Festival on February 8, 2025, followed by a full launch event in April.
The Young Entrepreneurs Bootcamp program was driven by the Alhambra Foundation together with the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce.
