Keene Leaders to Teach Young Entrepreneurs About Business

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) named Ted McGreer, Ken Abbott, and Mary Ann Kristiansen as instructors for the Keene State College YEA! class of 2015. YEA! is a program to help transform local middle and high school students into real entrepreneurial successes.​

“Ted, Mary Ann and Ken’s dedication to our community and deep entrepreneurial knowledge and experience make them great role models for our YEA! students,” says Shari Bemis, interim associate provost at Keene State College. “Our goal with the program is to teach students how to develop the type of entrepreneurial mindset that all three of these instructors have taken with them throughout their extremely successful and diverse careers.”
 
Each of the three instructors will each add their own perspective to the class. McGreer, owner of Ted’s Shoe and Sport in downtown Keene for the past 15 years, will deliver the “Big Idea!” segment of the class where students will brainstorm to identify different business ideas. Abbott, president of ABTech in Swanzey, will lead “The Pitch!” segment, during which students will create their their business plans and preparing to pitch those plans for real funding. Kristiansen, executive director of the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in Keene will instruct “The Launch!” segment, where students put their business plans into action, manufacturing products, ordering equipment, perfecting their services and preparing for their first real customers at the Trade Show.
 
“I’m very much looking forward to being part of this program, helping to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of a class full of young people – the next generation of CEOs,” says McGreer. “The skills they’ll learn during the program will stick with them for years to come. Our community welcomes entrepreneurship and supports small business. It was an easy decision for me to support such a groundbreaking and exciting program.”

Throughout the year, students will work in close cooperation with local business leaders, community leaders and educators who use their personal experiences to demonstrate how to develop ideas and objectives, write a business plan, pitch potential investors, obtain funding, register with governmental agencies, establish e-commerce and a web presence, and much more. By the end of the class, students own and operate fully-formed and functioning businesses, which may be carried after their graduation from the program.