- Junior Achievement of New York

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2015
LOCAL TEENS PREPARE TO COMPETE IN JA NEW YORK’S
ANNUAL YOUTH BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION
NEW YORK, NY – Today, Junior Achievement of New York announced that the final round of the 2015
Business Plan Competition will be hosted at the mid-town offices of KKR on Thursday, May 28, 2015.
Now in its eighth year, the Business Plan Competition, JA New York’s flagship, youth, entrepreneurship
education program, provides NYC and Long Island students the opportunity to pitch ideas for new
business ventures in an exciting competition format. In addition, prominent members of the NYC and
Long Island business communities serve as judges. This year, more than 150 teams (nearly 700
students) will spend three months conceiving, researching, developing and competitively pitching
enterprising ideas for products or services that could transform the travel and tourism industry. The top
three winning teams will walk away with cash prizes valued up to nearly $20,000.
The 2015 cycle of the program kicked off at the end of February with a six-week intensive business plan
writing boot camp. With the support of business coaches and mentors, students accepted JA New York’s
challenge to develop detailed roadmaps of how they plan to achieve their proposed business ideas and
goals. The second phase of the program consists of a series of knockout rounds – where student teams
compete to advance to a final round – the concluding phase of the program. There, they will compete
and learn from each other in a high stakes, real world business pitch experience.
Established in 2008, the JA New York Business Plan Competition, funded by The Nasdaq Educational
Foundation, Terex Corporation, and G.C. Andersen Partners, provides students from various
socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of academic achievement, the opportunity to experience
entrepreneurship, and the business planning and funding process. Participating students develop and
strengthen in-demand soft skills like critical thinking, communication, and collaborative problem solving,
in a realistic business scenario. Students grow in confidence, and most importantly, they begin to think
about life beyond high school by exploring new options and pathways for future career success.
“We recognize that not all students want or need to start their own businesses, although many will,” said
Joseph Peri, President of JA New York. “The main goal of the Business Plan Competition is to help
young people become more competitive and more adaptable in a constantly changing business
environment. In addition, we hope to encourage them to ‘think entrepreneurially’ - to provide solutions to
their generation’s challenges, whether they jumpstart their own ventures, or provide value by working for
someone else.”
Participating schools include:
Academy of
Finance and
Enterprise
Bronx High
School of
Science
Commack High
School
High School for
Dual Language
and Asian
Studies
Newcomers High
School
New Hyde Park
Memorial High
School
Kings Park High
School
Brooklyn
Academy of
Science and the
Environment
High School of
Economics and
Finance
Brooklyn Prep
High School
Brooklyn
Technical High
School
Leadership and
Public Service
High School
Manhattan
Bridges High
School
St. Joseph High
School
W.T. Clarke High
School
Cathedral High
School
Urban Assembly
School for
Applied Math
and Science
For more information about the Business Plan Competition, visit: http://jany.org/programs/business-plancompetition/.
For press inquiries regarding the Junior Achievement of New York Business Plan Competition:
Contact:
Jacqueline Dolly, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
Junior Achievement of New York
212-907-0046
jdolly@jany.org
###
ABOUT JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF NEW YORK
Junior Achievement of New York is the local affiliate of Junior Achievement USA, the world's largest organization
dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their
future, and make smart academic and economic choices. We recruit, train, and mobilize more than 5000 corporate
and community volunteers to provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students knowledge and skills in
financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Today, JA New York delivers nearly 70,000 student
experiences per year, free of cost, in more than 200 NYC and Long Island public schools. Visit http://www.jany.org/
for more information