President Barack Obama greets winners of youth entrepreneurship competitions in the Oval Office, Nov. 25, 2015. The President greets from left to right: Joseph Fortuno, Jannatul Rowshan, Crystal Sanchez, Urbana Anam, Rachel Gorgas, and Kenneth Huertas.
(Photo Credit: White House/Pete Souza)
The President and two of his senior advisers – his Science Advisor, Dr. John Holdren, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith – met some of that talented next generation as they welcomed student winners from national entrepreneurship competitions to the White House, including Rachel Gorgas, CEO of the JA Company of the Year CCA Today, and Joseph Fortuno, winner of the JA Microsoft Social Innovation Award for his company Herban Movement.
The competitions were run by two national organizations that mentor students in entrepreneurship: the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and Junior Achievement (JA). The two students from Junior Achievement include the CEOs of two of JA’s top annual awards – the JA Company of the Year, powered by The Hartford, and the Microsoft Social Innovation Award. This year, JA will reach 500,000 students with entrepreneurship programs across the United States.
White House Demo Day brought together more than 90 entrepreneurs to highlight diverse talent that exists around the country, and served as an opportunity for the government and private sector alike to announce concrete actions to foster inclusive entrepreneurship. As part of the Administration’s Startup America initiative, White House Demo Day joins a sustained effort to promote high-growth entrepreneurship – from democratizing access to capital through crowdfunding to accelerating lab-to-market opportunities through the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps training program for entrepreneurial scientists.
Entrepreneurship is not only key to America’s future prosperity, but it is also a critical component of economic development around the world. That is why last week, the President announced that the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit will come to “the birthplace of modern innovation” – Silicon Valley – serving as an opportunity for entrepreneurs, investors, educators, government officials and business leaders to advance inclusive entrepreneurship.
In the proclamation announcing National Entrepreneurship Month, the President noted that, “By supporting entrepreneurs, we can help ensure our daughters and sons are able to do whatever they set out to accomplish and achieve their highest aspirations.” As we approach the end of National Entrepreneurship Month, talented students like the ones at the White House today give us great reasons to be optimistic about the future.