Some bright young minds came together to compete Thursday in Elkin to be crowned winner of the 2024 YES Surry competition that pits high school students against one another in a test that mixed business savvy with ingenuity.
Taking top prize in the competition was Cloe Marsh of North Surry High School and her business Balloons by Cloe.
YES (which stands for Youth Entrepreneurs Surry) Surry President Sue Brownfield said the program seeks to foster entrepreneurship so that these students may want to open small businesses at home in the Yadkin Valley. “Small businesses are the future of Surry County,” she said.
At the high school level, winners took home $500, and a custom-made trophy from Lazer Edge, second place was $250, and third place won $125 that Brownfield said they could use to grow their business. For the finals, the winner got an additional $2,000 with second place receiving $1,000 and third place $500.
Will Pfitzner, YES Surry vice president and owner of Lazer Edge, delivered the keynote address because as Brownfield said, “I am not a role model for young people, but Will is.”
Tomorrow’s leaders, today
He told the students that there is small business vacuum on the horizon. Seventy percent of business owners over the age of 50 plan to retire or close their business in the next decade. “Where do they go? Who is going to replace them?” he asked the students.
He said with the rapid improvements in technology, not least of which is the smartphone, “The barriers to entry into entrepreneurship have never been lower… And, we also have YES Surry to push our youth toward entrepreneurship.”
Pfitzner said the group is helping these future business leaders learn the nuts and bolts such as writing a business plan, or how to pitch their ideas, but something more, “learning how to fail forward” and see mistakes or miscues as opportunities for growth.
Before the awards were announced Makaela McGee of Elkin High had a selection from her business Makaela’s Baskets on display to show off the range of sizes and varying types of baskets she was ready to make.
Her business plan, she said, would be provided with details on the person to receive the basket and then would curate one to order based on that input. As a winner at the school level, she had used her winning to grow her business with a Cricut machine for personalization.
Mount Airy High’s Collin Hiatt had custom cutting boards on display while Lydia Childers of Millennium Charter Academy was tempting sweet tooths with her custom sugar cookies.
Lanie Fitzgerald of Surry Central High had rows of custom made hats on display. Marsh of North Surry High stood with one of her custom balloon arches while Lily Thomas from Surry Early College made a strong impression during her pitch. She secured the largest elevator pitch investment for her business Lillindoodle.
Winning ways
Marsh was the top winner for her business she started in 2021. In her presentation she asked for an investment of up to $3,000 to be used for a possible storefront or a billboard advertisement.
So-called elevator pitches were made to Mister Moneybags, again played by First Community Bank’s Peter Pequeno, who had questions. Marsh was ready with the answers including that she was factoring her own wage into the model, something he took note of.
In a real world lesson, she entered into a back and forth after the investor balked at her first offer of 5% of net profits, he said that was too low but countered with 10% which Marsh accepted.
Lanie Fitzgerald of Surry Central High School took second place for her business Cackling Crow where she makes and sells custom jewelry and hats in varying styles. She had a wide array of cowboy hats, earrings, and more that seemed ready to be on a shelf in a boutique any day now.
She is looking at going to college and her elevator pitch was for funding to get more supplies together to be able to take her business with her to school and continue.
Third place went to Childers who asked the age old can something taste good but look bad, or vice versa. Her solution was to open Lil Bit’s Cakes and Cookie and make custom cakes and cookies that taste just as good as they look.
Chamber Ups the Ante
When John Pynakker came to lead the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce, he said through discussion he found that the community wanted help with developing young business leaders, so he sought ways to make it happen. “Our job isn’t just to advertise for businesses, we’re also supposed to be helping young businesses and entrepreneurs grow,” he said.
The chamber started the Foothills Young Professionals group and has upped their involvement with YES Surry. He said chamber officials felt it was important to get behind the competition and he hopes the chamber’s involvement will grow.
He put his words into immediate action when he informed the three finalists, “We are going to give you a booth, a YES Surry booth, at Autumn Leaves Festival. That way you can sell your stuff and get your information out. I hope you can handle it; last year’s crowd was estimated at 300,000; wear comfortable shoes, bring sunscreen.”
“The other thing we decided, to get you one step closer to fulfilling your goals, is the chamber would like to award membership to all three of you. We have a lot of opportunities for you, and this will allow you to come to our events and establish relationships,” he said.
With membership comes its privileges, as they say, so Marsh, Fitzgerald, and Childers will have a chance to present their wares at the Women Empowering Women Conference in July where they will have vendors set up — but only chamber members may display. The crowd was surprised by the chamber memberships and table at ALF, so was Brownfield. “Autumn Leaves, that’s a big surprise, that’s awesome,” she said.
Brownfield also said that, on behalf of the Surry County Economic Development Partnership, Marsh is getting a table to show off her business at Biz Fest. Pynakker said it was the last table at the sold out event. All the competitors were also offered a business analysis at the Small Business Center at Surry Community College.
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