Future Founders Foundation Announces Winners of the 7th Annual Citywide Business Plan Competition

May 9, 2012

Chicago’s next generation of entrepreneur’s complete year-long program and receive scholarships

The Future Founders Foundation hosted their 7^th Annual Future Founders Citywide Business Plan Competition on May 9, 2012 at Hard Rock Café, where ten student finalists showcased their business concepts at a high-energy “American Idol” meets entrepreneurship style competition.

Attallah Wilson, a senior at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy was crowned winner of the Product & Services Category and Stevie Bailey, a senior at Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Longwood was crowned winner of the Technology Category and was the favorite from the Audience Vote.

“The Future Founders Foundation inspires students to explore careers they never imagined. With mentoring and guidance, students create viable business concepts like Stick and Zips and 10 Trey Records,” said Scott Issen, CEO of the Future Founders Foundation. “Through experiences like today’s competition and the Future Founders program as a whole, we can address the country’s unemployment problem by providing students with the skills and connections they need to succeed in the future.”

The competition was the culmination of a year-long program during which 200 students from seven South Side Chicago high schools received insight on creating and running businesses of their own from 125 of the city’s top entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Student finalists presented their business concepts in front of more than 350 guests consisting of students, family members, entrepreneurs, and business leaders at the Hard Rock Café Chicago.  A winner and runner-up were named for two categories focused on Products & Services and Technology.  There was also a winner of the audience vote.

The Future Founders Foundation awarded more than $25,000 in prizes, including $10,000 in scholarships to the Future Founders Academy, an entrepreneurship camp that will take place in June. Prizes included college scholarships, laptops and Microsoft-branded accessories.

2012 Future Founders Citywide Business Plan Competition

Product & Service Category:

• Winner: Attallah Wilson – Senior at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy. Founder: Stick and Zips, an adhesive product that helps keep opened food products fresh and unspoiled.
• Runner-Up: Woodrow Claybon III – Junior at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy. Founder: Serene Dream, an innovative pillow that plays soft music and releases aromatherapy to help users sleep.

Technology Category Winner and Audience Vote Winner: 

• Winner: Stevie Bailey – Senior at Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Longwood. Founder: 10 Trey Records, an online music production company for aspiring artists and producers.
• Runner-Up: Shaquiesha Davis – Sophomore at Chicago Tech Academy. Founder: Baby b4 Me, a mobile app that helps parents monitor their kids and communicate with babysitters.

Future Founders gives motivated high school students in Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods the opportunity to learn about and experience entrepreneurship from the city’s top entrepreneurs. The goal ofFuture Founders is to expose students to entrepreneurial careers, have them create business plans and/or assist them through classroom programming developed by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

The Future Founders program consists of mentoring and specialized activities which give students the opportunity to learn the public speaking, presentation, technology, and financial literacy skills needed to create and grow a business. More than 900 students have participated in this program since 2005.

Future Founders is generously supported by the Motorola Solutions Foundation, AT&T, Baxter International Inc.: Science@Work, BMO Harris Bank, CME Group Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility Foundation and Smart Bet Charity.  Our media sponsor for the event is Tribune Media Group.  The program was co-founded by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), NFTE and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and is run in partnership with the Illinois Technology Association, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, University of Illinois at Chicago, Carminati Consulting and the SME Education Foundation.