Last week, mentors, board members and students came together to hear about new exciting developments in BUILD at our first Open House. This was the official grand opening of our Youth Business Incubator, which many guests were seeing for the first time. The evening started out with a tour of the Incubator, where guests interacted with students and BUILD mentors working in teams, showing off their products (and getting some nice sales!).
The two groups who still needed investors for their products, called Spongies and the Attach-a-Pocket, practiced their pitches during this time and got some helpful tips from board members and visitors. One guest advised that the key to a good pitch is not only selling your product, but also selling yourself. Another said a good key phrase to use is “growth capital” to get possible investors’ attention.
Member of Taste Budz, Nadeline, shows off her group’s poster & explains their product.
After the students pitched their ideas to everybody, BUILD’s Regional Executive Director, Ayele Shakur, talked about new developments at BUILD and plans for expansion in the Boston Public Schools. Next, BUILD’s CEO and Founder, Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, took the stage to thank everybody for their support and talk about the great ways BUILD has and will help students across the country: “By 2030, all high school students in the United States will have the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship.” BUILD is helping to make that happen.
CEO and founder of BUILD, Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, speaking at the Open House.
Finally, Ayele Shakur extended an invitation for guests to learn more about the Local Advisory Board (LAB), which recently created six new subcommittees to advance its work. These subcommittees will meet throughout the year and report back to the LAB on a quarterly basis. Subcommittees are open to both board and non-board members, and include: Growth Strategy, Earned Income, Marketing and Communications, Board Development, Events, and Friend-Raising.
To learn more about these Local Advisory Board subcommittees and how you can get involved, please contact Ayele Shakur at ashakur@build.org.
