Could you spend a school year setting up a business with a complete business plan and then get on stage in front of friends and family to present your plan — when you were in middle school?
“Definitely a hardworking group, especially for students so young, 12-, 13-, 14-year-old kids who write a business plan and go through all the aspects of starting a business,” said Steven Gaus, in his eighth year as the Young Entrepreneurs Academy program manager, after Wednesday’s YEA investor panel event at Harper College in Palatine. “Remarkable. I wouldn’t have had the wherewithal at that age.”
The nine-month program is in its ninth year locally, thanks to the Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rolling Meadows Chamber of Commerce. It was launched by the University of Rochester in 2004, and the national finals will be hosted in Rochester, N.Y., albeit…
