A lemonade stand, often a first taste of entrepreneurship, is simple, hands-on, and full of early lessons in pricing, customers, and profit. Across the Rochester area, youth explore business ownership on a much larger scale through programs that teach leadership, financial literacy, product development, marketing, and real-world business skills.
For more than two decades, Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) has helped young entrepreneurs turn ideas into reality. Founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester with support from the Kaufman Foundation, YEA! has grown from a local after-school program created by Gayle Jagel into an initiative serving thousands of students through chapters across the country and around the world.
Jagel, a Boston native who has called Rochester home for nearly four decades, says her mission has remained unchanged over the years: “to inspire young people and help them step into their own confidence, demonstrate how they can turn their ideas into enterprises.”
YEA! guides students through every stage of launching a company, from developing business plans and establishing operations to building websites and pitching investors. Jagel says the program “propels entrepreneurial thinking,” beginning with identifying student passions and opportunities to turn those interests into viable businesses.
The year-long program connects participants with business leaders, mentors, educators, and community volunteers, while guest speakers, business visits, and investor panels provide hands-on experience. It culminates in a youth version of “Shark Tank” (notably, Rachel Zeitz, a Boca Raton YEA! student, pitched her Gladiator Lacrosse business to the real “Sharks” at age 15, becoming one of the show's youngest contestants).
Beyond business ownership, students build leadership, communication, problem-solving, and financial literacy skills while gaining confidence in their ability to turn ideas into action. The goal, Jagel says, is not simply to teach entrepreneurship but to help students become entrepreneurs, arming them with “a solid process they can repeat back at their high school, off in college, off in the world.”
Community support has been a hallmark of YEA! since the beginning, Jagel says. “It's a virtuous circle. Students are energized and enthusiastic, and then the adults begin to see opportunities and become excited, too.”
She believes young people possess a unique entrepreneurial advantage. “Kids aren’t afraid to try things,” she says. “Adults have mortgages, families, responsibilities. Help a young person think about what’s possible, and they’ll go for it.” That willingness to take risks, embrace creativity, and solve problems is precisely what YEA! seeks to nurture.
For 22 years, the organization has shown students that entrepreneurship can begin with a simple idea and the willingness to act. This year's YEA! students from the Golisano Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship demonstrated exactly that spirit.
YEA! Winners Advanced to Nationals
Three regional winners advanced to the 2026 YEA! National Competition, hosted by the University of North Texas in June. Rory Nearpass, an avid outdoorsman and rising ninth grader at McQuaid Jesuit developed North Dry, a device designed to dry wet hiking boots.
Lily Loewenguth and Arianna Iorio launched The Insider, a company that creates audio and video highlight reels to help student-athletes showcase their leadership, communication, and character to college recruiters.
Inspired by her father’s entrepreneurial success, Iorio, a rising senior at Honeoye Falls-Lima High School, joined YEA! to learn how businesses are built. Her favorite memories include preparing for investor presentations, making new friends, and advancing to nationals. “The program taught me how to communicate with a wide range of people, especially those whose knowledge and experience could help support our business,” she says.
Loewenguth, a rising junior at Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women, joined YEA! to learn business fundamentals and challenge herself. “I enjoyed having the opportunity to take ownership of the process and learn by doing,” Loewenguth says. She credits the program with strengthening her public speaking, pitching, marketing, sales, and website-development skills while boosting her confidence.
Though previously afraid to make mistakes, Loewenguth says she learned, “Entrepreneurs have the freedom to make decisions, try new ideas, and build something in a way that reflects their own vision. That realization helped me become more confident and trust myself throughout the process."
Iorio’s mother, Catrina, says Arianna “has always been innovative and driven,” and YEA! “gave her the opportunity to turn an idea into a real business concept while building confidence, public speaking skills, and professionalism.” Watching the investor presentations was especially rewarding, she says.
Loewenguth’s mother, Erica, says, “My favorite moments were when the students and sometimes parents had the opportunity to hear firsthand stories from business owners and entrepreneurs. Learning about both the successes and challenges involved in building a sustainable business is invaluable.”
Confidence Beyond YEA!
Andrew Smolowyk, a 2025 Fairport High School graduate now attending the Golisano Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship, credits YEA! with helping shape his future. He entered the program as a high school junior who didn’t consider himself particularly entrepreneurial.
“I had a lot of aspiration but not a plan,” he says. That changed with YEA! when he identified a deficiency in baseball training equipment. Inspired by golf technology, he created Sweet Spot, a batting sleeve that fits over a baseball bat and identifies the exact point of ball contact, giving players immediate feedback.
The innovation earned Smolowyk third place at the 2025 YEA! National Competition, and the experience helped him discover a path forward, as he admits, “I wouldn't even have known about Golisano if it hadn't been for YEA!”
Today, while focusing primarily on his studies and helping revive his father’s Snap Alert mouse trap alert business, Smolowyk plans to continue developing Sweet Spot and feels confident in his future. The greatest lessons he learned through the YEA! program were: “Put yourself out there, learn new things, find what’s best for you, and get out of your comfort zone. That's how you grow.”
Long-Term Perspectives and Life Lessons
Geneseo native Eric Meyer, one of the program's early graduates, transformed his passion for filmmaking into the successful Spotlight Video Productions in YEA! And the experience inspired his entrepreneurial spirit through the 20 years since then, as he’s built several successful businesses through his career, including McLean Meyer, his current international real estate development and hospitality firm.
He says YEA! was “the most life-changing program [he] ever participated in,” and it gave him “the confidence, courage, and tools to believe in [him]self and pursue [his] dreams.”
When he returned to speak at YEA!’s 2026 national competition, Meyer shared lessons from failed startups, rejections, layoffs, and other setbacks. He credits YEA! with teaching him resilience. “YEA! taught me to take risks, trust myself, and persevere through challenges from a young age,” Meyer says. “Failure is okay if you learn from it and grow from it. The best road to success is making your own way rather than following the crowd."
That message resonates with Jagel as she reflects on more than 20 years of helping students launch businesses and discover their potential. "It's all about leadership, ownership, potential, and promise," she says. "I created this to be fun and empowering."
For Rochester-area students and thousands more across the country, YEA! continues to demonstrate that entrepreneurship is about more than profits. By connecting young people with mentors and real-world opportunities, the program helps them build confidence, solve problems, and pursue their ambitions.
Rochester is Ripe with Opportunities for Young Entrepreneurs
Rochester-area colleges and universities offer opportunities that expose younger students to innovation, business concepts, and entrepreneurship, providing students with early experiences on college campuses while introducing them to creative problem-solving, leadership development, and entrepreneurial thinking. These experiences can help students envision future educational and career pathways while building skills that are valuable in a variety of professions.
Together, organizations such as YEA!, Biz Kid$, Prosper Rochester, and the Young Entrepreneur Marketplace help local youth explore entrepreneurship in meaningful ways. Whether students become business owners or pursue other careers, the lessons learned through entrepreneurship—initiative, creativity and innovation, resilience, communication, and leadership—can serve them well throughout their lives.
Building Future CEOs
Biz Kid$, offered through the City of Rochester's Department of Recreation and Human Services, helps Rochester youth explore entrepreneurship through hands-on experiences that help them learn business fundamentals while developing leadership and teamwork skills. Biz Kid$ Camp participants engage in activities focused on idea creation, budgeting, branding, pricing, sales, and business decision-making. The program is offered through camp sessions serving youth ages 10–18. Participants are encouraged to think creatively, develop business concepts, and build confidence as future entrepreneurs. Biz Kid$ helps youth develop skills including leadership, social communication, creativity, public speaking, professionalism, and graphic design through entrepreneurship-focused programming.
Entrepreneurship With Community Impact
For some Rochester youth, entrepreneurship also serves as a vehicle for personal growth and community engagement. Prosper Rochester operates WellVentions, a job-readiness and career-exposure program that combines social-emotional learning with business training. Through the program, youth develop products and help manage a business presence at the Rochester Public Market. Participants gain experience in product development, marketing, customer interaction, and sales.
Prosper Rochester reports that youth participants have sold more than $125,000 in products through the WellVentions program over the past decade, with proceeds supporting training, student stipends, and additional product development. The organization's website also notes that more than $200,000 from product sales has been reinvested in training opportunities and program growth, reflecting the continued expansion of the initiative.
The organization describes its mission as helping youth develop both workplace readiness and life skills while providing meaningful opportunities to apply those lessons in real-world settings.
A Marketplace for Young Entrepreneurs
Learning business skills is one thing; finding customers is another. The Young Entrepreneur Marketplace was created to give young business owners an opportunity to showcase and sell their products. According to founder Matthew Wagstaff, the idea emerged after years of mentoring young people and observing that many entrepreneurship programs taught business concepts but offered limited opportunities for students to apply those lessons in a marketplace setting.
Inspired by a similar youth event in Buffalo, Wagstaff launched the marketplace in Rochester in 2019. The organization hosts events featuring vendors who are 18 years old or younger, creating an environment where young entrepreneurs can gain experience interacting with customers and presenting their products to the public.
For participating youth, these events provide opportunities to practice communication, marketing, customer service, and sales skills while receiving feedback from real customers.
Learning Opportunities Beyond High School
Entrepreneurship education does not stop with youth-specific programs. Rochester-area colleges and universities also offer opportunities that expose younger students to innovation, business concepts, and entrepreneurship.
Programs hosted by local institutions often provide students with early experiences on college campuses while introducing them to creative problem-solving, leadership development, and entrepreneurial thinking. These experiences can help students envision future educational and career pathways while building skills that are valuable in a variety of professions.
Together, organizations such as YEA!, Biz Kid$, Prosper Rochester, and the Young Entrepreneur Marketplace help local youth explore entrepreneurship in meaningful ways. Whether students become business owners or pursue other careers, the lessons learned through entrepreneurship—initiative, creativity, resilience, communication, and leadership—can serve them well throughout their lives.
“It's a virtuous circle. Students are energized and enthusiastic, and then the adults begin to see opportunities and become excited, too."