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We are thrilled to announce that our annual Impact Challenge will take place on March 18th until June 7th, 2019. Teachers, it’s a wonderful opportunity to challenge classrooms to run successful businesses to turn $100 into $500 of profit to donate to meaningful social causes while empowering other classrooms to do the same. Help encourage your students to nurture their entrepreneurial spirit and become socially conscious citizens! Here is how it works: We look forward to having you, our BizWorld family of educational leaders and students, participate in this impactful challenge!

By Sherri Wright, Teacher, Hidden Hills Elementary We are so grateful for everything the BizWorld staff did for us, and that you allowed us to participate this year in the Education Riskmaster Luncheon competition. I’ve encouraged the students to write a book about their experience that they can share with others to inspire them and teach them a little about what it takes to start a business. We’re also going to order a few more products from you so that we can do two sessions of BizClub after the first of the year. The students who participated last year are excited to lead it. I think the letters from our students speak for themselves about the impact this experience had on them. I’m sure they’ll keep in touch. Please thank the anonymous donor who so generously gave each of the other schools $1000. That was such a wonderful thing to do. I was sitting there wishing I could afford to do something like that for the other schools too. Once again, we are grateful to you and your team. I personally have loved the opportunities you have given me. It’s one of those things that words or gifts don’t quite express the deep appreciation. When I see young people empowered to learn in real world ways through a simulated experience, I know their learning won’t just last for a day or a month – but it will last a lifetime. You’ve had a great impact on the over 200 students that I’ve personally worked with using your model, and I wish you continued success.

By Grazia Bennett, Bizworld Advisory Board Member Name: Marco PalladinoAge: 29Favorite Food: PastaFavorite Video Game: CivilizationFavorite Toy: Soccer ball Bizworld.org encourages kids to be creative thinkers, to become problem solvers, to make decisions and take risks. Marco Palladino, the co-founder of Kong Inc. has mastered all this and more. Kong Inc. is an open source API technology focusing on the protection, safety and authentication of data. Currently the top global 5,000 companies and some governments use Kong’s products. I recently had the opportunity to meet Marco and his enthusiasm and energy are contagious. How old were you when you first thought you wanted to create something? Since I was a child the only thing I was interested in doing with my toys was to take them apart. I was curious to learn how their mechanisms worked. I kept a hidden box for all the broken pieces of toys so that my mother would not find them. Were you a good student? I was a terrible student, although I had an immense passion to learn as much as I could once something attracted my interest. I would completely forget to do homework if I became interested in, for example, learning more about a compass – reading about the topic for hours. At 12 years old I taught myself coding. I did not have money to buy software, but I could spend Friday evenings designing apps on sheets of paper. You are Italian. How much more difficult is it for a foreign entrepreneur to succeed in Silicon Valley? In 2009 I moved with my co-founders, Augusto Marietti and Michele Zonca, to Silicon Valley after being accepted into the TechCrunch50 pitch competition. When we arrived to the Bay Area we had enough money to last for one week. We replied to a blog post by the former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick who was just starting to work on his idea of ridesharing service. Travis was offering his couch to founders coming in from out of town for the competition. Our team was chosen with the teams of other two start-ups and we moved to Travis’ house. To raise funds for a start-up is truly a herculean task but we had tenfold more obstacles to overcome: we spoke broken English, we didn’t know the Silicon Valley ecosystem and we had only 3 months to do it in. At one of the evening events for entrepreneurs and investors that we attended daily to meet investors — and frankly for free food — we succeeded in getting funded. What is your best advice for the emerging and young Bizworld entrepreneurs? If you think you are doing the right thing, however hard it is, just do it. Things are not going to be easy and you know it, that’s what makes it even more exciting. As Winston Churchill said, “When you are going through hell, keep going.” By the way, I will attend the annual Bizworld’s Riskmaster Luncheon on December 13 and I will be happy to talk with any aspiring young entrepreneur about pursuing their dreams.

By John Lin, BizWorld Advisory Board Member For all you chocolate lovers out there, young and old, here’s a sweet story about pursuing your dreams. Since BizWorld helps kids discover and nurture their entrepreneurial spirit I thought I’d share a story about my friend Todd, a chocolate entrepreneur who got the entrepreneurial bug when he was a young boy. He and his business partners own a chocolate factory now, have been selling chocolate since 2010, and are about to expand. I asked Todd a few questions about his chocolate journey. So when you look back at your childhood what do you think influenced you and made you think you might have an interest in starting something? My parents were high school teachers but I think my father had always wanted to get into business, so our family always kind of thought in that mindset. I remember my brother was always starting businesses when we were young. We would collect stuff like golf balls that were lost on the course and then sell them to people, so definitely much of it came from my brother. Since you didn’t have a background in chocolate what gave you the confidence to go into the chocolate business? I’d say I had a background in chocolate eating! In fact, I was very good at that… but I didn’t have any formal training [in chocolate making]. We hadn’t intended to start a chocolate company. We were just making it in a garage for fun to see if we could do it and before we knew it, friends and family said they really liked our chocolate and then we started winning awards! Next thing you knew, people started trying to place wholesale orders while we were still in the garage. So at that time we realized there was quite a demand for what seemed like a new type of chocolate. Modern chocolate had become so divorced from the original agricultural ingredients that in some ways it benefited [us] to not have a formal education in chocolate so we could start from first principles like, “How did people used to make chocolate?” I would say our lack of expertise actually ended up being an advantage. What do you think is cool about BizWorld? I think it’s beneficial for kids to have actual business projects they can work on. They can practice working in teams, practice building stuff, practice actually getting stuff out to customers. All of these are really good experiences for eventually learning how to build and run a successful company. What would you tell your younger self? I think it comes down to if you are excited about something there will always be reasons why it may not work, but that shouldn’t stop you from going for it. I think you have to take problems one by one. So, if you’re passionate about something you should just go for it. Deal with what is in front of you and take it one day at a time. Put one foot in front of the other eventually you end up somewhere! Todd Masonis is co-founder of San Francisco’s popular Dandelion Chocolate, a bean to bar chocolate factory in the SF’s Mission District. Todd and his partners plan to open up additional locations and are launching their first book “Making Chocolate” this month.

Written by Carla Foster “Hard fun.” In her tribute to the great Computer Science Educator, Seymour Papert, Joy Buolamwini of the MIT Media Lab was referencing Seymour’s contention that everyone likes hard challenging things to do. His phrase for this was “hard fun,” a phrase he first heard from an elementary schooler in an underprivileged neighborhood in San Jose, California, right here in our backyard. There we were, Thais and I, sitting in the auditorium at the White House Summit on Computer Science For All in Washington, D.C. A few weeks earlier, we could not have imagined that we would be here. But based on our collaboration with our friends at NCWIT in the development of our STEM-based entrepreneurship curriculum BizMovie, we were recommended to the White House. We responded to their inquiries and told them about BizMovie and our latest entrepreneurship curriculum that incorporates HTML coding. BOOM! — we received an invitation to the White House to participate in the first #CSforAll Summit. Honestly, I was doubtful at first. I figured they were inviting thousands of people and making us think we were special. So I inquired and, well, 150 attendees and even fewer invitations extended. We were special after all. I learned a lot about what people and organizations all over the country are doing to democratize access to Computer Science education and was reminded of why it matters so much. More specifically, I saw striking similarities between these educators’ approach and how we at BizWorld think about entrepreneurship education. Our experience tells us that our students learn when we DEMYSTIFY, INSPIRE, and BUILD. I heard all of these themes at the Summit and particularly from the educators with stories from their classrooms. Our programs de-mystify business and entrepreneurship by making it entertaining – “hard fun,” as the great Seymour said, is a great way to learn. We introduce business in simple terms they can easily relate to. It’s easy for kids to imagine a lemonade or taco stand and we build from there. We inspire them to act by giving them a sense of independence and the ability to be creative. No two teams (companies) make the same decisions or the exact same products. All outcomes are different and there is no “right answer.” And we build their confidence – they practice doing the things they naturally do best and then learn a few more skills. The “chatty” or “active” kid makes a high powered head of sales and the girl with her head in the numbers all day makes a great VP of Finance. But they both have to be involved in manufacturing, marketing and design. Build. We learned that there are many organizations that can help us do the CS part of our curriculum even better and we can start by looking to the CSforAll Consortium, a new group of more than 180 organizations which will connect stakeholders. We also feel hopeful that we’ll be able to serve more children with our STEM programs as access to computers in schools expands. Recently, I was at an elementary school in Richmond, California where over 90% of the student population is eligible for free or reduced rate meals based on their families’s income. There was a boy in one of our 6th grade BizMovie classrooms who seemed to be the brunt of his classmates’ anger based on his constant movement, interruptions, and limited attention span. So it was surprising and heartening to see his teammates reaction when he learned to make movies so quickly and outpaced all his peers considerably. I saw the newfound respect from his team, and more importantly, his pride was visible. There is no question in my mind that both entrepreneurship and CS education can be life changing. And every child deserves to have them. I am personally committed to having hard fun in my life until I can’t remember what that is. Thanks Seymour for your simple eloquence and thank you White House, for an amazing conference.

By Helen Al Uzaizi, CEO of BizWorld UAE, Jordan, & Egypt When I said I was going to take BizWorld Jordan & BizWorld UAE to the refugee camps, and teach the kids entrepreneurship and financial literacy, people smiled and nodded like I was crazy and living in ‘Lala Land’. I said, the only way to change mind-sets from charity to productivity was to work with the kids. They said, ‘good luck with that’. I walked into the Jerash Refugee Camp last week hopeful but at the back of my mind, I was nervous. The first day was tough but over the 7 days what I saw was this: Smiles, excitement, commitment, team work, resilience, caring, intelligence and so much more. The moms came on the 4th day to see what this was all about as the kids were ‘different’… I asked how: 1. Ali was waking up at 7am instead of 1pm2. My son is spending time trying to make their business better instead of being on the streets3. The kids are at the door by 8:30am even though the work shops start at 10am4. The day off that they had, they still came in and worked together5. We had girls as CEO’s of the companies working with boys6. They brought coffee and dates from home for the market as a marketing tool!7. Mohammad was telling his dad how he can make his business better!! And the list keeps going.I left feeling happy, hopeful, grateful and satisfied that the kids got to see the world in a different light. They have so much potential in them, all they need is a chance!! The mothers were happy that it was NOT charity and it was actually something they learned and benefited from so much. 7 days later, today is one of the happiest days since we started this journey and it is just the beginning!

By Daniel Martis, 23 I’m 23 and work in the finance field. The first time I attended a Bizworld event, I had hardly stepped out the elevator when I was met with a group of youth trying to sell me products they had made. One girl explained to me that she was part of Bizworld and that Bizworld taught her and her classmates entrepreneurship skills including marketing, accounting, finance, and operations. I was blown away by these kids’ amazing entrepreneurship and finance skills and I was instantly intrigued by Bizworld. These kids had been taught great interpersonal skills, including cooperation and compromise for the good of their company. They learned to talk things out and listen to everyone’s ideas, really thinking through the long-term ramifications of their decisions. After being in the work world only a few short years, I understand how critical these skills are, and I saw for myself that they can be learned at a young age. Learning entrepreneurship and business finance skills in elementary and middle school is an invaluable experience which can enrich these kids lives in any profession they choose. Having majored in business, I wish I was given the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship and finance as a child. It’s an opportunity and privilege every kid should have. I was so impressed with the children I met and what they learned that I got really motivated to get involved. So now I’m a BizWorld.org volunteer and looking forward to helping this organization reach more kids that need these programs. If you are passionate about providing kids with exceptional educational opportunities that will better prepare them for life and their careers, join me!

Why I love BizWorld By Kari Andersen, CEO, BizWorld Denmark I’ve been honored to lead BizWorld in Denmark for the last 3 years. I was recently reminded of the power of the BizWorld program by a group of children, 3rd through 6th graders, who participated in a BizWorld after-school program at the Copenhagen International School (CIS) here in Denmark. These kids were in multi-age teams, the older ones taking the younger under their wings. Each team formed companies and together they worked to make products they could sell for money they wanted to raise for good causes. They worked hard on designing and manufacturing their own bookmarks and friendship bracelets, raising money from investors and developing their own marketing campaigns. They kept careful track of their finances along the way, making sure to manage their expenses while preparing for the big sales day. They were very motivated to do well since they wanted to help the CIS high school group that was working to support an orphanage in Peru, and a micro-credit program for women in Ghana. My favorite moment was when these kids, ages 8-12, presented their earnings to their fellow high schoolers. The pride and delight showed on their faces when they presented 1,000kr ($150) to their elder school mates. The high schoolers were clearly surprised at how much the BizWorld kids had accomplished. In the end, I believe everyone learned that you’re never too young to learn about the positive impact you can have on the world, and even young entrepreneurs can have a big impact. BizWorld has taught that lesson to our students in a way they will never forget.

It was a great evening! Our new friends and our seasoned supporters gave us plenty of reason to celebrate with their lively spirit and generous donations. Our young BizWorld alumni got a chance to show off their skills and impress our guests. We had a fantastic tribute to our founder, Tim Draper, who shared anecdotes and stories we’d never heard before. The photo booth was buzzing, the cake was amazing, and the champagne glasses were clinking! Most importantly, we raised enough funds to provide BizWorld programs to 15,000 deserving students around the US. If you were there to support us, give yourself a round of applause! Check out the evening’s photos here.