Spice Kidz survive the Shark Tank A total of $6,600 in grants was awarded to students Wednesday evening, as participants from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties presented their business plans to a panel of local business leaders. The event, styled much like the “Shark Tank” TV show, included students ranging from sixth to 12th grades marketing their ideas to the panel. Randy Ramos, owner and CEO of Global Business Solutions Inc., said all the students involved were simply amazing. “Just the confidence that they have, the ability to make those presentations, their numbers — all of that — there are sixth-graders up there,” Ramos said. “It’s just phenomenal.” Each of the 12 start-up businesses presenting received grants from the panel, though only one could be chosen to move on to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy’s regional competition, which will be later this year in South Florida. The Greater Pensacola Chamber sponsors the local YEA! group. Gulf Breeze Middle School siblings, sixth-grader Eve Knight and seventh-grader Liam Knight, will continue in the competition with their winning business they call the Spice Kidz. Their business takes freshly ground seasonings for Indian curries and packages them together with recipes to make something they say is rarely cooked at home. Liam said he thought they would do well, but was quite surprised to find out they had received a $1,200 grant to grow their business. “I didn’t expect us to win at all,” Liam said. “I was expecting to get something, but I wasn’t expecting to get more than we asked.”
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:08:06 +0000