FORUM
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Kidscommerce develops entrepreneurs
Nigel Alston
Motivational \
Moments
t
i
I
"Talent is the gift plus the
passion - a desire to succeed so i
intense that no force on earth \
can stop it." ]
-Neil Simon <
\
A few were experienced. ]
Most were newcomers to ;
the world of business owner- . ]
ship. They all had great ideas.
They were under the watch- i
ful eye of Devora Ascott- ]
Transou, a business owner and
executive director of Kid- ?
scommerce, a new program for ,
middle and high school stu
dents that develops young
entrepreneurs by teaching
them the rudiments of owning
a business.
Each 'business' had pre
pared a plan that would make
the chief financial officer at a
Fortune 500 company smile.
Each plan included an execu
? tive summary, market analysis,
strategy and sales forecast.
The participants all had
one goal in sight - to convinc
ingly sell their ideas to a panel
of judges.
One after another they pre
sented their ideas. Some were
more animated than others,
moving around as they
described their business opera
tion.
Others stood confidently
behind the podium while their
high-tech-computer-generated
presentations flashed across a
screen.
There were InGen Beekeep
ing Supplies Co.; LATCO
Enterprises, a . vending
machine placement and ser
vice company; Water Craft
For What It's Worth - which
lubbed itself "the only Blue
Book for boats."
There were Katie's Violin
Academy, The Candleman,
Printing Ideas By Justin and
Players Plus, a video game
store.
And we can't forget Impact
Productions, Lynx Computer
Services and DsS Printing and
Publishing, fine purveyors of
"bilingual coloring books for
the young and young at
heart."
It was quite impressive lis
tening to these young business
owners.
One young woman
appeared extra nervous. It was
probably her first time trying
to sell a business idea.
"Take your time," I said.
Others, like David Michael
Charles Small, owner of MC
Beads .Unlimited, appeared
very confident, as if they were
seasoned veterans./ who have
been in business for years. . ,
"I have been told that I aim
wise beyond my years,"" he
said.
A few are already estab
lished and successful , like
Jerry Guess, who owns Button
Zone Inc., a promotional and
novelty button manufacturing
company.
Most needed money to
start up and/or to expand their
business.
Pam Jordan, the parent of
one of the young entrepre
neurs - James Coleman, CEO,
The Backpack Snack/The
Snack That Speaks - said the
program was a great idea.
"That kind of creativity bot
tled up in one group, I was
impressed in the first 10 min
utes," she said. "Kids need to
try to get in it."
The Backpack Snack is a
combination of food for the
body and mind, says the rising
lOth-grader at Carver High
School. James offers a variety
of trail mixes with positive
messages on each bag.
"They are nutritious and
convenient to store," he
explained in a recent inter
view.
The idea came about as he
thought about things he'd like
to buy and that other students
would like as well.
He is always thinking about
improving his product - he
wants a thicker, more durable
bag. He offers a dried fruit
mix that includes apples,
pineapples, apricots, raisins,
granola and papaya. There
also is the original trail mix,
hard candy and soft candy
mixes and cheddar mix.
He started with about $100
of his own money and initially
sold to "kids and some grown
ups."
And based on his sales dur
ing the event, more kids are
buying into the idea of whole
some snacks.
His best seller, he said, was
the dried fruit until recently
when the soft candy mix
became popular with 4- to 7
year-olds. He thinks they sold
extremely well because they
were colorful. The mix con
sists of two big marshmallows,
sour gummy worms, gummy
bears, regular gummy worms
and sour gummy apples.
He has written about 50
different messages and tries to
add about five a week. He
hopes his positive and encour
aging statements help influ
ence students to change their
thought process, like "living in
the past leaves no future";
"you should floss your teeth
even at school"; and "commu
nity service-helps with scholar
ships."
"It is different," he says.
"No one else is doing it."
And most important,
James says, is that he's his
"own boss."
"I'm not working for any
body. I'm my own boss," he
told me. "I make a little bit of
change and meet new people."
He has a goal to sell 1,000
bags of trail mix during the
months of July and August.
Jordan said she was glad
her son participated in the |
program.
She said the group was cre
ative, the program has good
leadership and, most impor
tant, it keeps her son involved
and active.
That's a recipe for success
in her eyes, she said.
""Every parent wants their
child to succeed. Owning your
own business is good. He is
accomplishing something and
staying out of trouble."
Nigel Alston is an executive
with Integon Insurance and
can be reached at P. O. Box
722, Winston-Salem, N.C.
27102 or e-mailed at nal
> ston237@aol.com
Tough talk not enough, Mr. Mfume
Earl Ofari
Hutchinson
Guest
Columnist
Dear Mr. Mfume, ?
In your keynote address to
the NAACP's 90th annual con
ference you blasted the gun
industry, the TV networks and
police agencies.? ~ -
Your tough talk made me
wonder whether the nation's
oldest civil rights group would
again become the big player in
the battle against racism and
injustice that it has been for
most of its storied history.
I wondered about this
because the NAACP has spent
the better part of the 1990s in
a monumental retreat from vis
ible 'cutting edge social
activism. That retreat can be
directly traced to the collapse
of legal segregation in the
1960s, the class divisions that
imploded within blac^Ameri
ca and the greening of the
black middle class.
This is a process that has
been slowly evolving since the
death of Martin Luther King
Jr. and other civil rights lead
ers in the 1960s. They were not
only victims of an assassin's
bullet, illness and old age.
They were also victims of the
success and failure of the Civil
Rights Movement they
sparked, inspired and led.
By the close of the 1960s
the movement had spent itself.
The torrent of demonstrations,
sit-ins, marches and civil rights
legislation annihilated the
legal wall of segregation. With
the barriers erased,, the black
middle class had a field day.
They were starting more and
better businesses, marching
into more corporations and
staking out spots in the top
universities. They were spread
ing out into more of the pro
fessions; winning more politi
cal offices; buying bigger and
more expensive homes, cars,
clothes and jewelry; taking
more luxury vacations; and
joining more country clubs,
than ever before in the history
of the country.
The first chance they got,
many packed up their bags and
started their flight to greener,
suburban pastures.
None of their success had
even the remotest bearing on
the lives of the black poor,
who had become even poorer
and more desperate. Many of
them turned to crime, drugs
and gangs as a way out.
You and other NAACP
officials are trapped in the
middle by the twisting political
trends and shifting fortunes
upward of the black middle
class and downward of the
black poor. A tilt toward an
aggressive, activist agenda car
ries the deep risk of alienating
the corporate donors that you
have carefully cultivated the
past few years. You depend on
them to gain more jobs, pro
motions and contracts for
black professionals and busi
ness people and to secure con
tributions for the NAACP's
fund-raising campaigns, din
ners, banquets, scholarship
funds and programs. Following
is a list of major issues the
NAACP has missed .over the
past couple of years:
? The mass campaign to
refnove the TV series "The
Secret Diary of Desmond
Pfeifler" from the airwaves in
1998, and the decision by the
UPN and WB TV networks to
segregate black-themed shows
into a single time bloc and
then / eventually replace them
with programs that appeal to
young, affluent whites. Even
your plan to fight the TV net
works' blatant ethnic cleansing
of blacks and Latinos from the
fall 1999 TV line-up came way
after the networks had
announced their fall program
ming.
? The Federal Communica
tions Commission report in
1998 that condemned major
corporations for refusing to
advertise on . black-owned
radio stations and in black
owned newspapers.
? The billboards, TV and
radio ads by the alcohol and
tobacco industry that target
young blacks with their ads.
? The movie studios, record
companies, black filmmakers,
producers, actors and writers
that continue to pump out vile
and shopworn images of
African Americans as crooks,
clowns and charity cases.
? The spread of Three
Strikes Laws to more states.
These laws lock up mostly
poor blacks and Latinos for
what amounts to life sentences
for mostly nonviolent offenses.
? The dreary plight of thou
sands of black children
trapped in a poorly funded and
negligent foster care system.
? The catastrophic escala
tion in the nuifiber of black
women in prisons and the
heart-rending condition of the
children left behind.
? The refusal of Congress to
amend the disparity in the
mandatory sentencing laws on
drug use and sale. This dispar
ity in the laws has done much
to skyrocket the numbers of
blacks in state and federal pris
ons.
Mr. Mfume, you must back
up your fighting words by
fiercely attacking the pulsating
issues that confront poor and
working class blacks, refusing
to take money from those cor
porations that promote
unequal opportunity and again
promoting visible activist lead
ership on the cutting edge of
social change.
When you and other
NAACP officials arrive home
after your conference, we'll see
if you do that.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the
author of "The Crisis in Black
and Black." His e-mail address
is ehutchi344@aol. com
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