More than two dozen top Northeast Florida high school students will take Jacksonville University’s week-long Florida Business Challenge beginning Sunday. The Challenge, modeled after the nationally award-winning Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week, will challenge the students to develop a business from its initial concept to viability.
Dr. Rody Borg, a JU professor of economics, will direct the Challenge. Borg says today’s economic climate dictates that top students be immersed in the inner workings of business.
“It is essential that young people learn how the free enterprise system functions and get exposure to very practical knowledge of how business functions,” said Borg.
The students will be challenged to manage a company they take over in a highly realistic computerized business simulation. They will develop and market a new product, including a complete marketing and advertising campaign to promote the product.
Students will start their creative juices flowing on the first evening at “Junk Night.” At this unique and intense event, students will build a product from scratch using donated “junk” – toss-away items donated to the program – and create a commercial to sell the product, all within 30 minutes.
Throughout the week, the student “companies” will compete inside the virtual economy. They will be judged on profitability, management skill, advertising, marketing and their ability to explain to “stockholders” their company financial reports.
The Florida Business Challenge was developed in consultation with officials of the Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week. Now in its 25th year, the Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week last year taught some 1,500 students about free enterprise and business.
The Florida Business Challenge has captured the attention of several Northeast Florida business leaders who have volunteered to share their expertise with the students; including former Prudential Insurance vice president Ernie Bono, U.S. Olympic swimming gold medalist and Jacksonville law professor Nancy Hogshead-Makar, marketing executive Jeffrey Hoffman of The Hoffman Agency, financial planner David Keel of Capitas Financial, project management expert Diana Alcorn, Fernandina Beach banker and Florida State Rep. Aaron Bean, and the dean of JU’s Davis College of Business, Dr. William Rhey, an expert is business ethics.