NFTE to hold its 27th Competition for Teen Entrepreneurs

Distinguished panel of business leaders judge as enterprising
teens compete for start-up capital.
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--The Greater Washington chapter of the National Foundation for
Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE-Greater Washington) will hold its 27th
semi-annual business plan competition on Friday, January 18. The
judging marks the culmination of NFTE's 80-hour "mini MBA" program it
offers each school semester to teach students in low-income areas of
DC, Maryland and Virginia the basics of starting and operating their
own businesses. At the end of the semester, each student writes a
business plan to be entered in the competition. On Tuesday, January
15, semifinalists presented their plans for businesses ranging from
car detailing to dog haircuts. The finalists will now advance to the
final regional competition on January 18, at the offices of Allied
Capital, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, 3rd floor, Washington, DC.

"We are extremely proud of this year's semi-finalists, who have
worked so hard to reach this achievement," said Julie Silard Kantor,
Executive Director of NFTE-Greater Washington. "It's remarkable how
much energy and passion these 15-to 18-year-olds have put into their
business plans. We are gratified that, thanks to the support of Allied
Capital, we are able to reward the winners with funds to take their
plans to the next level, demonstrating to them that they can reach
their goals; they can make a difference."

Distinguished panel of judges

This year's judges are C. William Booher, COO, Council on
Competitiveness; Jim Brown, Chief of Staff, U.S. Senator Robert P.
Casey; Calvin Cafritz, CEO, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz
Foundation; Susan K. Gallagher, Partner, Williams & Gallagher, LLC;
Stephen A. Hayes, President, DHL International; Richard H. Helms,
Abraxas Corporation; Charles Hiteshew, COO, American's Promise
Alliance, Michael Lach, Charles F. Larson, President, Innovation
Research International; Michael Lustbader, Principal, Arlington
Capital, Michael E. Melton, President and CEO, TME Enterprises;
Jeffrey Neal, Principal, Monument Realty, Guy Steuart II, Chairman,
Steuart Investment Company; and Sherry West, U.S. Department of Labor.

Sponsored by Allied Capital

This is the 10th year that Allied Capital has sponsored and hosted
the competition. Allied Capital is a Washington, DC-based company that
serves as a long-term financial partner to smaller companies that
might not otherwise have access to such investment capital and
managerial resources.

About NFTE

The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship
(www.nfte.com) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, whose mission
is to teach entrepreneurship education programs to young people from
low-income Since 1987, NFTE has reached over 186,000 youth. Currently
NFTE is taught by more than 1,100 active certified entrepreneurship
teachers at programs in 21 states and 13 countries outside the U.S.
Since 1994, NFTE-GW (http://dc.nfte.com) has served more than 16,000
students.

For more information about the competition or about NFTE, contact
Julie Kantor, Executive Director, NFTE, at 202-215-6383 or
juliek@nfte.com.

RMR & Associates
Kate Russell, 301-230-0045, ext. 19
krussell@RMR.com
www.rmr.com

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