Entrepreneurship Senior Project Guide

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Overview

Georgia 4-H Project Achievement empowers young people with skills for a lifetime. Through a competitive process, students explore their interests, unleash their creativity, share their work, and celebrate their achievements! This guide provides 9th—12th graders with examples for getting started with their project exploration.

Overview of Project Achievement Process

1) Choose project
2) Develop skills in leadership and service
3) Prepare portfolio for work completed from January 1 – December 31
4) Prepare presentation
5) Practice
6) Compete
7) Reflect

Description of Entrepreneurship Project

4-H’ers may explore areas of innovation, networking, leadership development, starting and managing a business, and meeting real-world issues. Through this project 4-H’ers may:

• Explore and evaluate business models and develop a business plan.
• Study market trends and job-growth potential.
• Develop an understanding of customer service and effective business
practices.
• Explore real-world problems and develop profitable solutions to address the needs.
• Explore entrepreneurship topics to include accounting, finance and economics, marketing, logistics, and effective business management.
• Explore career opportunities in the field of free-enterprise and business.

Examples of Project Development Experiences

• Study business models and market trends
• Identify your interests and areas where you may start a business
• Based on your interests identify areas of innovation to address real-world needs
• Take a class from a professional and/or attend a workshop about business management
• Investigate various business ownership opportunities (start-up, franchise, brick and mortar versus online, lease to own, purchasing an existing business, etc.)
• Interview successful entrepreneurs to better understand business accounting, finance and economics, marketing, logistics, and effective business management.
• Interview professionals from your regional UGA Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
• Develop a business plan and share it with your UGA SBDC representative for feedback

Project Sharing and Helping Examples

• Start a project club and lead others in Entrepreneurship
• Present about steps you took to organize your business
• Mentor a Junior 4-H’er in the Entrepreneurship project and support the recruitment of Cloverleaf 4-H’ers in the project in the future
• Enter an entrepreneurship-related mini-booth as an exhibit at a fair
• Make a tutorial how-to video for peers on how to get started with a entrepreneurship project
• Share effective strategies for ways to raise funds to start a business
• Support others who are planning to start their own enterprise
• Write an article and publish in a newsletter or online media outlet about how to start a new business
• Share your work with your local Chamber of Commerce
• Offer training to support younger 4-H’ers in developing effective customer service (necessary for business transactions) and discuss effective entrepreneurial management practices

Special Considerations

• Choosing a innovation related to your interest will help you find pleasure in your work
• If at first you don’t find success, tweak your innovation and continue to follow your dream.
• Starting a new business may be risky. Be sure to discuss your plans with trusted adults for guidance.
• Youth should practice internet safety. A best practice is to include a friend or parent in all communications and interactions.
• Food should not be prepared as part of this project.

Recommended Resources

• Project Achievement – Georgia 4-H
• Home | University of Georgia Small Business Development Center
• Empowering Students | JA of Georgia
• Terry College of Business – University of Georgia
• Youth Entrepreneurship and Mentoring | Georgia.org
• Library

At Competition

Entrepreneurship 4-H projects may use posters, artifacts, biofacts, and/or technology to support their presentation. The time limit for these presentations is 12 minutes. Computers, projectors, screens, and other technological devices may be used but must be provided by the presenter.

Prepared by: Keri Hobbs and Craven Hudson