High School Students from Ten Countries Compete for Entrepreneurship World Cup
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2005
Joe Wills
530-898-4143
Curt DeBerg, SAGE
530-898-4824
High School Students from Ten Countries Compete for Entrepreneurship World Cup
Nigeria vs. Poland? Russia vs. Ghana? U.S. vs. China? High-school students from those and four other countries will be competing, not in soccer, but in business presentations as part of the third annual Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) World Cup, Aug. 12 and 13 in San Mateo.
Other countries sending high school teams to the competition are Tajikistan, South Africa, Ukraine and the Philippines. Last year’s SAGE World Cup winner was a team from the Philippines.
To participate in SAGE, high school students complete projects related to entrepreneurship and community service. High schools with active business organizations, such as Junior Achievement or FFA, are welcome to participate.
Student teams competing in the SAGE World Cup make presentations before judges about their entrepreneurship and service projects and how they have benefited their communities. Each country has a competition among high schools to see which team will represent the country at the SAGE World Cup.
California State University, Chico business professor Curt DeBerg is the SAGE founder and director. “This program motivates and inspires high school students to complete entrepreneurship and social ventures while going to high school,” he said. “SAGE captures the competitive energy and excitement of sports, but focuses on real-life projects. The national winners are all coming to the Bay Area to try to win the World Cup.”
The SAGE World Cup team champion will be announced Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Pathways to a Better Future awards banquet from 7-10 PM in the San Mateo Marriott’s Golden Gate Room. Competition begins at 10 AM Friday, Aug. 12, at the San Mateo Marriott.
Nigeria is the most recent country to send a high school team to participate in SAGE. The winning high school from Nigeria is Gray’s International School from Kaduna, in northern Nigeria. One of Gray’s winning projects was the Rural Empowerment Initiative, where the students introduced a program to a remote village named Doka in the Kaduna North Local Government. SAGE students taught the villagers how to extract milk and make cake out of Soya beans. Four of the villagers have now started a business and are generating profits.
Among the seven judges at the Kaduna competition earlier this year was Abdul Oroh, a Nigerian House of Representatives member from Edo State. “This program has the potential to change the face of education in Nigeria,” Oroh said.
Tomorrow, Aug. 11, Benicia High School will vie for the title of USA SAGE champion by competing against SAGE champions from four other states. The Benicia students presented their projects in a statewide competition in Chico on April 2 and topped a field of 17 high schools. The U.S. competition will also take place at the San Mateo Marriott.
Businesses sending representatives to judge the SAGE competitions include Allstate Foundation, Deloitte & Touche, Merrill Lynch, E & J Gallo Winery and Steltzner Vineyards.
For more information about SAGE, contact DeBerg at 530-898-4824, cdeberg@csuchico.edu.
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