Young Pakistani Girl Wins
Coveted Award
Warda
Ali – 15-year-old high school sophomore –
has just returned from winning first place in the 2nd
annual Smith Barney/NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship |
San Francisco: Local 15-year-old
entrepreneur Warda Ali won the top prize in New York, NY at
the 2nd annual Smith Barney/NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship
Challenge. Prevailing over 30 competitors, Ali brings home
$10,000 in cash prizes for investment in her business or education.
The students in the Challenge represented the top 31 competitors
out of 21,000 students participating nationally.
Ali – a 10th grade student at Silver Creek High School
in San Jose – looked to her love of playing and watching
cricket for her business plan. She devised a business plan
for an online retail company selling customized cricket bats.
Ali then built a partnership with her uncle in Pakistan in
order to manage manufacturing and importation.
“Warda is truly a rising star and a great example of
what young people can deliver when given the skills and training,”
said Gerald Richards, Executive Director, National Foundation
for Teaching Entrepreneurship Bay Area region. “Seeing
young people take ownership of their education, strive to
develop their skills and then flourish is what NFTE sets out
to do,” added Richards.
When she was just 14 years old, Ali learned the fundamentals
of business during her freshman year through a partnership
between Silver Creek High School and the National Foundation
for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). She then went on to
win her classroom and the Merrill Lynch/NFTE Bay Area Regional
Business Plan Competition – winning first place in both.
NFTE’s entrepreneurship education program teaches students
in low-income communities the business skills to start their
own small business, while reinforcing academic, life and financial
literacy skills. Students learn the business fundamentals
and develop business plans that include start-up costs, expenditures,
return on investment (ROI), sales, and projected growth. Students
also develop a philanthropic component to highlighting the
importance of corporate responsibility.
NFTE’s goal is to give young people the skills and confidence
to unlock their true potential, so that they can improve their
lives and their communities. According to research conducted
by the Harvard Graduate School of Education on students participating
in NFTE programs, entrepreneurship education may be powerful
in helping students stay on the academic track and aspire
to attend college.
The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (www.nfte.com)
is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, whose mission is
to provide entrepreneurship programs to young people from
low-income communities. Since 1987, NFTE has reached over
180,000 youth. NFTE currently has active programs in 28 states
and 13 countries.
Smith Barney is a leading provider of comprehensive financial
planning and advisory services to high net worth investors,
institutions, corporations and private businesses, governments
and foundations. With more than 13,000 financial advisors
in some 600 offices, Smith Barney offers a full suite of investment
services, including asset allocation, private investments
and lending services, hedge funds, cash and portfolio management,
as well as retirement, education and estate planning. A division
of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., (Member SIPC), the firm
currently has more than 9 million client accounts, representing
nearly $1.2 trillion in client assets. Additional information
may be found at: www.smithbarney.com.
Citi: Citi, the leading global financial services company,
has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in
more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations,
governments and institutions with a broad range of financial
products and services, including consumer banking and credit,
corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and
wealth management. Major brand names under Citi's trademark
red arc include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Citi Smith
Barney and Banamex.
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