06/22/2005
CONTACT: Steve Burke (703) 683-5004; Michael J. Donohue (202) 554-9000
|
|
|
Central Regional Winner Vellore Arthi, Western Regional Winner Jaqueline Laird, Southeast Regional Winner Joshua Sommer, Northeast Regional Winner Simon Tao and Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Richard Jensen. |
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 22, 2005 - The National Federation of Independent Business and Visa USA today announced that 17-year-old Richard Jensen of Chippewa Falls, Wis., won the NFIB/Visa USA "Youth Entrepreneur of the Year" award. In recognition of his entrepreneurial achievements and spirit, Jensen has been awarded a $10,000 educational scholarship to help defray the cost of his tuition to the University of Wisconsin--Madison this fall.
Jensen is the founder and sole proprietor of Maille Time, a chain maille apparel company. Chain maille is a mesh type material made of tiny metal rings that was used as a knight's body armor during medieval times. He conceived of the idea during his freshman year of high school when he learned how to weave it from a friend. Jensen's first sale was a pair of chain maille pants which he made and sold to a classmate for $100.
"In an effort to further encourage and foster the spirit of entrepreneurship in America's youth, Visa has again joined with NFIB to sponsor the 'Youth Entrepreneur of the Year' award," said Rhonda Bentz, vice president, Visa USA. "Young, aspiring innovators like Richard Jensen should be recognized for their ingenuity because the important contributions they are making today will help maintain a strong and vibrant economy for future generations to come."
This summer, Jensen plans to take Maille Time on the road to local craft fairs throughout Wisconsin. He is currently in the process of developing a company Web site as well as hand-crafting all of the chain maille merchandise he will sell to the public.
|
|
|
The 2005 Free Enterprise Scholars were recognized in a full-page ad in USA Today. |
"I am very grateful to NFIB and Visa for supporting my ideas and helping to further my education," Jensen said. "I am quickly learning all of the challenges to starting a small business, so the scholarship will go a long way in helping me to succeed in today's competitive business world."
"People used to think of youth entrepreneurship in terms of kids selling lemonade," said Don V. Cogman, chairman of NFIB's Young Entrepreneur Foundation. "We are proud to be working with Visa as we both share a common interest in helping more and more students realize their dream of turning those lemonade stands into successful Main Street businesses."
The NFIB/Visa USA "Youth Entrepreneur of the Year" award is given annually to the top applicant in the NFIB Free Enterprise Scholars Award program, sponsored by NFIB's Young Entrepreneur Foundation. To earn a scholarship, students were asked to demonstrate their entrepreneurial ahievement by answering a short, personal questionnaire defining their efforts. Each applicant also composed an essay about the importance of free enterprise. Standardized test scores, GPA and class rank were also taken into consideration. Jensen was chosen by an independent selection committee from a field of more than 2,000 candidates who were nominated by NFIB members.
In addition to Jensen, four high school seniors were named as regional winners of the NFIB/Visa Free Enterprise Scholars Award and will each receive a $5,000 scholarship.
- Northeast Regional Winner: Simon Tao, Hopkinton, Mass., attending Yale University. Tao has been playing the piano since the age of six and now has his own "Private Piano Lesson" business.
- Central Regional Winner: Vellore Arthi, Columbia, Mo., attending the University of Southern California. In the fifth grade, Arthi and a friend started a Beanie Baby accessory company, which sold custom sleeping bags for stuffed animals. She now makes and sells hand-painted magnets and thumbtacks at a local vintage store.
- Southeast Regional Winner: Joshua Sommer, Greensboro, N.C., attending Duke University. Sommer worked closely with his mother on the successful launch of her business. He helped formulate business plans, picked office space and managed the entire computer and database infrastructure.
- Western Regional Winner: Jacqueline Laird, Sunnyvale, Calif., attending University of California--Los Angeles. Laird's interest in health and nutrition helped her found and start Project ECHO, a volunteer organization which teaches elementary school students about the importance of having and maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
For the second straight year, Visa USA has donated $100,000 in scholarship money to the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation to support the NFIB Free Enterprise Scholars Awards, which includes the special $10,000 "Youth Entrepreneur of the Year" Award and the four $5,000 regional Free Enterprise Scholars Awards. Additionally, the Foundation announced 376 $1,000 Free Enterprise Scholars Award winners across the nation last week, a record for the three-year-old program.
About Visa
Visa USA is the nation's leading payment brand and largest payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs. Jointly owned by nearly 14,000 financial institutions, Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice, convenience, acceptance and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders in the payments systems -- members, cardholders and merchants. Through its members, more than 458 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders, which are accepted at more than 5.7 million locations within the United States. Each year, U.S.-based financial institutions rely on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $1.3 trillion in transactions with virtually 100 percent reliability.
Worldwide, cardholders in more than 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accepted at nearly 22 million locations, accounting for $3 trillion in annual transaction volume.
Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources -- anytime, anywhere, anyway.
About NFIB
The NFIB Young Entrepreneur Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization promoting the importance of small business and free enterprise to the nation's youth. The Foundation is associated with the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's largest small-business advocacy group. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its 600,000 members in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. More information is available at www.NFIB.com/education.
