Only in America can a 19-year-old kid launch a million dollar business from a dorm room and grow it to a billion dollar empire.

Scott Smigler, now is 22, and CEO of Executive Concepts Inc., is able to pursue his dream, and thousands of other young adults are also finding success. Youth entrepreneurship is booming in the United States.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a leading foundation promoting entrepreneurship, recently commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a survey of more than 3,500 U.S. young people on entrepreneurship.

The results indicated that a large majority of our youth want to be their own boss and make their ideas a reality. Overall 63 percent of youth ages 8 to 21 years old, said they have the ability and desire to successfully launch their own business. More than 70 percent of our high school students consider owning and operating a business as one of their top three career choices.

Recently, the U.S. Small Business Administration has partnered with Junior Achievement to encourage youth entrepreneurship. Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Together, the SBA and JA have developed a resource Web site to help youth explore and take the necessary steps to start and grow a business. The site is at www.mindyourownbiz.org.

Entrepreneurship is becoming a viable alternative for our young people who may not be interested in a traditional liberal arts college education. Entrepreneurship training in tandem with career technical education training is a dynamic combination that provides our young adults the skills to apply their technical knowledge, like graphic design and strengthen it with business knowledge and applications. Recently colleges throughout the United States, including Napa Valley College are developing entrepreneurship initiatives within college and high school vocational programs.

Napa Valley College is responding to the demand of educating the next generation of entrepreneurs.

A grant through the California Community Colleges Economic Workforce Development is allowing us to start the Napa Youth Entrepreneurial Program or “YEP.”

The YEP grant allows the NVC Small Business Development Center to provide more resources, including counseling and training to youth and young adults ages 14 to 28.

This summer Napa Valley College is launching a business boot camp for young entrepreneurs this summer at the NVC main campus on July 14-19.

The NVC Youth Enterprise Academy is a five-day program that will train youth in a fun and hands-on environment.

Camp participants will have the opportunity to learn the skills needed to start and operate a business including: researching a business idea, analyzing your competition, understanding e-commerce, developing promotional materials, understanding financials, and presenting plans.

Participants will be guided in teams by our NVC SBDC business advisors, business instructors, and local business leaders. The business boot camp is also sponsored by Napa Community Bank which is offering full scholarships to students interested in attending the camp.

For more information on our programs for youth entrepreneurs, I encourage you to contact me at the NVC SBDC at epratt@napavalley.edu.