“Y.E.S. stimulates entrepreneurial thinking. Kids have great ideas in their heads. If you can get them to think those may be good ideas to compete with, you’ve got a bunch of young people thinking in a new way.”
– Y.E.S. Veteran Teacher/Team Mentor
Arkansas Capital has partnered with Economics Arkansas on the Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase. Y.E.S. is open to all Arkansas 5th-8th grade students and there’s no cost to enter!
Students and teams can be from classroom-based schools; from virtual school; or from any after-school, church, or other youth program.
Arkansas Capital created Y.E.S. in 2006 based on the success of its Arkansas Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition, launched in 2001. Both are designed to provide real-world, hands-on entrepreneur education for our state’s future entrepreneurs.
Winning students AND teachers/mentors receive cash prizes, certificates of accomplishment, and a cool 3-D printed trophy for their school or program.
Check out the Economics Arkansas website to learn more about the Y.E.S. Competition!
The 2023 – 2024 Competition Guide can be found on the Economics Arkansas website!
Watch Expo Day Presentations from a few of the 2023 First and Second Place Y.E.S. Winners!
Expo Day Screenshots – 2023 Finalists
Why is Y.E.S. important to 5th-8th graders
AND to Arkansas?
- It brings a unique level of awareness to entrepreneur education not found elsewhere on a statewide scale – Y.E.S. encourages a pipeline of future entrepreneurs for the state.
- It benefits all students – whether or not they become entrepreneurs – because they gain learning experiences that will likely serve them well in their future careers.
- It’s real-world, designed to mirror the same steps the grownups have to go through if they want to launch a business idea or improve upon an existing one.
- It’s hands-on. Students are responsible for writing the business plan. They have to figure out how their idea will work, how it can be brought to market, do the math to see if it can make money, and more.
- Students must engage their core reading, writing, and math skills to write the business plan.
- Students must also use their soft skills – creativity, critical thinking, communication, problem solving, teamwork, responsibility to others, and more as they move through the competition process.
Y.E.S. is a fantastic way to promote and teach Arkansas’s
future innovators and entrepreneurs!
Since 2006
9,801
Arkansas Youth Impacted
3,241
Business Plans Entered
$124,097
in CASH Awarded
Competition Awards
CASH prizes will be awarded to the winning teams – that includes the students AND their teachers/mentors!
Previous Winners
Y.E.S. has been around longer than some of today’s competitors! More than 9,800 students have competed since the first competition in 2006. Who were the winners?
