The Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center was the high-tech campground for a four-day summer camp and pitch competition.
Purpose-Fueled Leader, an executive coaching and consulting firm based in the Shaffer-MacCartney Building, launched its first “Spark the Hustle: Youth Entrepreneurship Lab.”
“It’s for rising eighth graders to rising 12th graders. It’s a four-day camp,” Anna Bradsher, Director of Strategy, Trainer and Coach, told ABD. “We’ve really boiled down to the fundamentals of business, because a lot of times we overcomplicate things. So, we’re going to help you find your product, your target audience, what’s your branding, and then where are you promoting?”
Bradsher said they want students to understand they can control their future; they have it within themselves to create a career and wealth with their own hands. They do not need to be dependent on someone else to secure their future.
“They’re not reliant on someone else telling them what their paycheck is, or someone else telling them if they have a job or not,” she said. “You create your own job and it gives them security that, ‘oh, I can create wealth with my hands, with my brain, my hands, my experiences.’ So, we help them start focusing on the core values of who they are as a person.”
Another goal, said Brasher, was to raise awareness of the Georgia Cyber Center and the opportunities to brings to the area. For many students and their parents, this camp was the first time in the center to see possibilities for their own future.
“We have an awesome partnership with them, and it’s an amazing space and doing amazing things,” she said. “It was a win-win to host this camp here, because we have the space, the partnership, and we want to raise awareness and let these kids see, ‘Oh, snap, I could work in a place like this. Oh, this is in Augusta. This is attainable.”
While this was the first time for Spark the Hustle, Bradsher said they envision similar events in the future with this year’s campers returning as counselors next summer.
“They will become a Spark coach next summer, so they will actually be working with students and helping them start their business,” she said. “Just kind of walk with them and support them. So, anybody that graduates this year, next year, will be eligible to be a Spark coach.”
Although campers were encouraged to work independently during the four-day program, on the final day, they learned how to work as a team.
“We’re having the teens come up with their own business idea, but we also wanted them to work in a team and collaborate. So, we’re going to have a dual focus of being an entrepreneur, and how do we collaborate? They’ll have a team cheer. We’ll have balloons and games. We’re just trying to make it fun and really have them walk away feeling excited and motivated, because entrepreneurship is not for everyone.”
While this camp focused on introducing middle and high school students to entrepreneurship, Purpose Fueled Leadership has programs for adults and existing businesses. Learn more about the programs HERE.
