This past week I had the distinct pleasure to serve on a panel of judges who were members of NJABWO ( New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners) and we judged a group of young undergraduate women who were setting out to create a business for an event at Rutgers with a generous gift from an alumni.
The competition was stiff. Each of the three groups had done hundreds of hours of research, problem solving, innovation in their ideas, and other information gathering as well as a financial plan which was then typed up neatly and presented in the form of a business plan. Each judge got a copy and we read them and critiqued them. On the day of the judging, each team did a PowerPoint presentation to the panel of judges and then it was time to evaluate the viability of each of the three proposals.
I was personally thrilled to be a witness to this new course placed within a major university where training through the real world experience is a part of the curriculm. Young Emerging Eve’s need this kind of work, class, education, experience and evaluation in today’s world, so they are prepared once they graduate.
The four business women owners who were judges, ranged in business from 5 to 30 years. Excellent points were made about things which were overlooked, insights were abundant, weakness in the presentations and business plans, the learning was huge! Both the student and the judges as well as the dean, faculty and graduate student who were present were lifted up.
These 15 young emerging Eve’s are really learning how to work in the real business world. It is a steep learning curve. The freshness of the ideas and the spot on message of this emerging generation were wonderful.
So now to you my friend; as a woman out in the business world, WHO are you lifting up in the next generation of women in business? Who are you supporting in some way? We can each buy products, encourage, ask permission to help the young emerging Eve over a particular challenge. Who are you modeling for?
Congratulations to the “Jersey Roots” Team for a job well done. I look forward to coming to the Rutgers event in April and to participate in your booth there!
