BizWorld Academy Empowers 5th Graders with Entrepreneurship Education (Part 1 of 3)

By Troy French

Senior Vice President Corporate Foreign Exchange, Wells Fargo

Board Member, BizWorld.org

Last week, I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker at BizWorld Academy, a wonderful opportunity that pairs a corporation with a local school. The academy introduced BizWorld.org's entrepreneurship programs to a group of bright 5th graders from Ford Elementary School located in Richmond, CA. The academy was held at Wells Fargo in San Francisco, CA.

The students asked me a series of questions about my role and what I do at Wells Fargo. They formed their own friendship bracelet companies while learning real-world skills such as leadership, teamwork, and financial management. These students were in the presence of other Wells Fargo employees that taught them about their own jobs, and helped the students to thrive in their roles as mini-executives! In turn, BizWorld Academy gave Wells Fargo and it's employees an opportunity to give back to their community by involving the volunteers in mentoring the students. It was a positive and inspiring event! The following is a list of questions that the students asked me.

Q: What was your 1st job?

A: I was a landscaper at age 13. In high school, I worked in a restaurant as a bus boy and then a server. In college I worked in a gym, and then I worked for a stock broker for free to gain some business experience.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love working with people! I like working with businesses of all sizes and learning about their products and services. It is very satisfying when we are able to help customers achieve their financial goals.

Q: What do you like least?

A: The paperwork can get kind of boring. There are a lot of complexities and regulatory requirements in our business that require careful documentation, which may not be the most interesting part of my job but it is certainly important.

Q: What countries do you work with and send money to?

A: My group sends money all over the world. We do a lot of work with Canada, Mexico, Japan, all over Europe and increasingly in China.

Q: Why did you want to come and work at Wells Fargo?

A: I was looking for a move back to the Bay Area. I really was impressed with the person that interviewed me from Wells Fargo. She was really smart and had a great personality. I knew that I wanted to learn from someone a lot smarter than me. Fast forward to today, and I have been working for that same person and at Wells Fargo for nearly 18 years now.

Q: Do you know a foreign language?

A: I wish I did, but I don't. I wish I knew Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese and others. I would recommend that each of you learn at least 3 languages.

Q: What inspires you?

My wife and kids. I work hard for them. In addition, I love to learn new things.