Schools may be closed but that didn’t stop NFTE students from refining their business plans and pitches. Three businesses made it to the final round of competition in the 2020 St Louis Metro Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge. Here are the results:
- Micah Montgomery, age 16, from Jennings Senior High School, took first place with a business pitch for Cavy Pads, which provides owners of guinea pigs and similar pets with stylish, easy-to-clean, animal-safe cage bedding.
- Michael Bostic, age 16, an alumnus of a NFTE program at the St. Louis Science Center, took second place with a pitch for I Am Not a Statistic (IAS), a nonprofit after-school program that combats illiteracy in students from grades three to five.
- Lailah Hall, age 17, and Anthony McDonald, age 18, both alumni of a NFTE progam at the St. Louis Science Center, finished third with a pitch for Quick Farm, an app that helps people in local food deserts access healthy and affordable produce
Micah Montgomery and Michael Bostic, the top two finishers, have qualified to compete in Nationals this year. They advance to the quarterfinal rounds in the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge this October.