Last Friday I had the pleasure of helping judge the California finals of the 2008-2009 SAGE tournament. SAGE is "Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship" founded by Chico State professor Curt DeBerg. SAGE's mission is to help create the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders whose innovations and social enterprises address the major unmet needs of our global community. In other words, future entrepreneurial leaders in Silicon Valley, California and way beyond.
In this case they are students from some 30 high schools around California presenting an annual report about their commercial and societal/non-profit ventures, competing to go to the U.S. national finals and with the winners of that event going to the global finals in Brazil.
Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect from this event. Boy, was I impressed by many of the teams and their presentations! The ventures and ideas from some of these kids are amazing! My favourite team was from Benicia High School - and they were the ultimate winners of the event. Just to give you a sense of what they have done this school year:
- Started a reusable water bottle venture to replace plastic disposable bottles
- Changed their business model on home energy audits started last year - now the City of Benicia pays them to do these for senior and low income residents of the city
- Raised money and collected books for children in Uganda
- Won a contest and contributed $4,600 to BeRewarding
- Used business profits to make loans to 3 small business people in Peru and Ghana via Kiva
- Held a mock debate for the 2008 presidential campaign with 1,200 students participating
- Helped obtain a grant to improve traffic safety around their campus
- Partnered with the City of Benicia on a Climate Action Plan
Here's the winning team - congrats to them!!
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