Noah Mulholland and Vishvak Venkatesan, both juniors at Barron Collier High School, won first place at the 4th Annual Young Entrepreneur Scholarship Competition 2017.The YES Comp, as it is popularly called, was held on Saturday, May 6th at Barron Collier High School. Many thanks to Kelly Wilson, business teacher, for hosting the event and to the four judges who served on the panel this year (scroll down to “Meet the Judges”).
Sponsored by the
Young Entrepreneurs 2017:
Noah Mulholland & Vishvak Venkatesan
At center: Winners of the 4th Annual Young Entrepreneur Scholarship 2017 Noah Mulholland, a junior at Barron Collier High School, and Vishvak Venkatesan, also a junior at Barron Collier High with (l-r) Karen D Clawson, Founder and Executive Director of K is for Kids Foundation; with Judges Justin Ray, Ed Larsen, Denise Degemmis, and Gary Indianer.
YES Comp First Place: BCSN
Noah Mulholland and Vishvak Vekatesan are both junior students at Barron Collier High School. Summarizing their new business venture to the judges, they said, “We are the Barron Collier Sports Network, or more formally known as BCSN. We broadcast Barron Collier sporting events live on our YouTube channel for thousands of people to watch live. Even though we broadcast live sporting events, our income is based off advertisements. We are the only Southwest Florida public high school that broadcast sports through YouTube. We want to promote Barron Collier Athletics and student-athletes at a larger level, to get recognized by the public and colleges.”
Young Entrepreneurs 2017 Vishvak Venkatesan and Noah Mulholland, present BCSN at the 4th Annual YES Comp on May 6th.
L-R: Second place, Bait-Up from Lely High School, Kenneth Excellent, Hakeem Durity, Jaiden Crane.
K is for Kids Young Entrepreneurs 2017 Photo above, L-R: Second place – Kenneth Excellent, Hakeem Durity, and Jaiden Crane of Bait Up, Lely High School; Third place – Aracely Aguilera of Pro-Mitt, Lorenzo Walker Technical High School; and First place – Noah Mulholland and Vishvak Seenichamy of BCSN, Barron Collier High School.
What Our Judges Have to Say
Ed Larsen – President, Sales Synergies, LLC
“The K is for Kids competition continues to represent an excellent forum for our top entrepreneurial teams to present their creative ideas while honing their presentation skills. The teams all look forward to being selected to participate in the Best of Class selection process.
All of this year’s participants presented their diverse products & services in the spirit of innovation and representative of the team work they had put into these ideas during the school year, many of which will continue on next year.”
Gary Indianer
“It was my pleasure to be a participant in the 2017 Y.E.S competition. As I shared the acronym of TAG with the competitors of “Learning with Technology, Enjoying the Adventure and Giving something back”, we the panel of judges unanimously chose BCSN as this years winner! Other than the feed-back in their presentation BCSN’s Technology that they have developed is outstanding. They look like they are having fun working with student athletes with their scouting videos, and they have plans to share and monetize their business with all of the Collier County High Schools. Bait-Up is the runner-up and Pro-Mitt came in Third place. All three competitors’ presentations showed clarity and hard work in making it to the finals. It was a pleasure working with Ed, Denise, and Justin as judges for the 4th Annual Young Entrepreneur Scholarship Competition. Thank you K is for Kids, Karen and Kelly for all you do for local education.”
Denise DeGemmis –
1-“These kids are uber professional and have worked hard. In addition to first prize they deserve community support.”
2- “Innovative thinkers and hard at work, they will do well in their future.”
3- “Tenacity and ingenuity will carry her through” “Its heartwarming to see a young adult concerned with safety.”
L-R: YES Comp and K is for Kids Founder and Executive Director Karen D. Clawson with judges and third place winner Aracely Aguilera of Pro Mit from Lorenzo Walker Technical High School at center – Ed Larsen, Denise DeGemmis and Gary Indianer.
About Our Judges
Ed Larsen – President, Sales Synergies, LLC
Ed is currently President of Sales Synergies, LLC (SSLLC) and Managing Principal of Components Solutions, LLC based in CT.
Ed held previous sales & marketing management positions with GE Plastics before launching an entrepreneurial plastics manufacturing operation in NJ which he sold in 2005.
He serves on the Board of Directors of a multi-location plastic pipe & conduit business in the US and locally on the Advisory Board for the NAF Academies at Barron Collier HS and the Entrepreneurship Advisory Group for Collier County Public Schools and as a Business Counselor for the SCORE chapter in Naples.
SSLLC specializes in the design, manufacture, assembly and strategic sourcing of plastic and metal fabricated products across diverse commercial, industrial and consumer segments ranging from building & construction, hardware, home improvement, sporting goods, toys to recreational, leisure products as well as medical devices. Many of these products find their way to shelf space at Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Toys R Us as well as Costco.
SSLLC as well as CSLLC have local offices in the US and Jiangsu Province in China.
Ed squeezes in time between his frequent trips overseas to China to mentor students at Barron Collier High School who are enrolled in the Incubator program offered by Collier County Public Schools.
You can learn more about Ed here: http://www.salessynergiesllc.com/
Denise DeGemmis –
Denise purchased Naples Senior Moving while a full time realtor with John R. Wood Properties. Her love of the business model, compassion for helping and matching skill set were the perfect fit. As a friend to many realtors, Denise is happy and proud to bring this established concierge moving service to local area realtors, their clients and families. While Denise specializes in many “D’s” (de-cluttering, de-stressing – de-tuscanizing…) for seniors through Naples Senior Moving, her service is readily available to all generations in need of help; hence Naples Move Managers.
With a passion for home design, architecture, and organization, Denise & her Move Management staff are taking the Naples area community by storm, with kindness, compassion, finesse, expertise & taste – all that Neapolitans deserve, and more. As a 22 year resident of Naples, nothing makes Denise happier than helping her neighbors; upsizing, downsizing, rightsizing, moving in, or moving “back north”. Whether it’s a small “please ship my closet items home” job or a highly complicated, extremely cluttered, emergency situation. it is always taken care of with discretion and a smile.
Denise is a proud sponsor of WCR Naples on The Gulf, an affiliate of National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), a member of Naples Interagency Council, Associate of Seniors Blue Book University.
About the Competition
The YES Competition was conceived and launched in 2014 by K is for Kids’ founder and executive director Karen Clawson as an initiative to help foster students’ innovation and community involvement. “The YES Comp is like a teen “Shark Tank” offering high school students an exciting venue to showcase their leadership and business skills outside of the classroom,” said Karen. “It’s wonderful watching these kids take their idea to the next level — plus our judges are wonderful at sharing tips and strategies, so that no matter the outcome, all the competitors walk away empowered with gaining new tools for their ‘toolbelts’.”
“The Y.E.S. Competition offers students in the idea and/or startup phase of their business the opportunity to research, develop and clearly articulate the critical elements that will compel K is for Kids Foundation (and others) to invest in their business, i.e. to award them a scholarship. In essence, competitors create a blueprint and present it. The judges assess the viability of the idea, product and/or service as well as its current and potential impact.”
— Vin Izzi, President of Izzi Business Consulting (IBC) and Judge of the YES Comp 2015
The individual or team named “Young Entrepreneur” will receive a scholarship for $1,000; second place receives $500, third $250, and fourth $125.