DREAMS IGNITE- NFTE to Hold its 33rd Regional Business Plan Competition for Youth Entrepreneurs — the Biggest High School Competition to Take Place in the DC Metro Area

Distinguished Panel of Business Leaders Judge as Enterprising Teens from DC, VA and MD Vie for Seed Capital Money to Start-Up Their Businesses and Ignite! Their Future

The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE DC Region), an organization which inspires young people to succeed in school and in life by seizing educational opportunities and starting their own businesses, will kick off its 33rd Regional business plan competition this week. Tonight 25 students will present and defend their original 25-page PowerPoint business plans before a panel of top business leaders (listed below) at NFTE supporter Jones Lang LaSalle. The top five finalists (ages 14 to 18) will be selected to advance to the Final competition on May 12, sponsored by SAP and Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, a law firm known for solving challenging business problems for many of the world''s largest companies.

The competition marks the culmination of NFTE''s 80-hour "mini MBA" program to teach students in low-income areas of DC, Maryland and Virginia the basics of entrepreneurship. The competition''s grand-prize winner will take home $1,500 and the chance to compete for $10,000 at the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York City on October 6, 2011. All of the winning students can use the financial awards to launch or expand their businesses or to further their educations.

"Here in the Greater Washington area, NFTE is now supporting teachers at 23 different schools and 50 classrooms in DC, MD and VA, reaching close to 950 students annually," explains Julie Silard Kantor, Executive Director of NFTE DC Region. "NFTE continues to receive high marks and gain momentum. Our middle school curriculum has just been released by Pearson Education, our grades 9-12 entrepreneurship curriculum was named the winning math curriculum by the Association for Educational Publishers'' Distinguished Achievement Award, and research conducted by Harvard and Brandeis universities have shown significant impact in engaging youth more in school and increasing their desire to go to college."

In addition, NFTE is receiving high praise for its novel approach to entrepreneurial education. US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan remarked: "Not everyone is going to want to work for big business, we need to have a systemic approach for teaching youth small business and entrepreneurship and NFTE has the best program in the country." Also respected New York Times columnist and best-selling author Thomas L. Friedman singled out NFTE for its good work and encouraged President Obama to use the NFTE program in high schools to inspire America''s youth, in his Op-Ed, "More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs."

"Sutherland is happy to be sponsoring the NFTE Regional Business Competition for the third year," says Sutherland Partner and Co-leader Corporate Group Cynthia Krus. "The business competition ignites the entrepreneurial spirit in everyone —the students, the teachers and the supporters. Students are learning they don''t need to just take a job, they can make a job. We are excited to be a part of spreading that spirit and seeing the American dream come alive in these students."

During the week''s competition events, NFTE teen entrepreneurs will present their business plans to these panels of successful entrepreneurs, senior business executives, and civic leaders from the region.

Regional Finals: May 12th 1:15pm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP

1. Pat Bakey, Senior Vice President and GM, SAP Strategic Industries

2. Linda Berdine, Founder, G&B Solutions Inc.

3. Courtney Clark Pastrick, President, Clark Charitable Foundation

4. Carlos Contreras, Engineer, Finance Manger, US Education Manager, Intel Corp.

5. Terri Copeland, PNC Bank

6. Eric Eichmann, COO, LivingSocial

7. Mike Faino, Private Investor

8. Robert Haft, Chairman, Ambient Healthcare

9. Michelle Lee, President & CEO, STG International, Inc.

10. Richard Rossi, Founder and Co-CEO, Envision EMI, LLC

11. Sudhakar Shenoy, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Information Management Consulting, Inc.,

12. David Trone, Owner & President, Total Wine & More

Regional Semifinals: May 10th 5:30pm Jones Lang LaSalle

1. Nick Austin, Foley & Lardner LLP

2. Megan Baer, Consumer Bankers Association

3. Tony Cappaert, Grassroots Business Fund

4. Connie Carter, Washington Fine Properties LLC

5. Tisa J.D. Clark, PMP, AMP, J.D. Clark Professional Services

6. Jane DeMarines, Council of State Community Development Agencies

7. Alka Dhillon, Technalink, Inc.

8. Tremond Hale, E*TRADE

9. Dr. Estelle-Marie Heussen, GlobalEyez LLC

10. Jessica Hibbert, Clark Construction Group LLC

11. Ken Hostetter, Wells Fargo

12. Eric Jeter, Cesar Chavez Public Charter School

13. John Kealey, Vivisimo

14. Sabrina Kidwai, ACTE

15. Cori Lathan, AnthroTronix

16. Keith Lemer, WellNet

17. Marissa Levin, Information Experts

18. Stephen Neal, K. Neal Holdings, Inc.

19. Richard Peet, Foley & Lardner LLP

20. Hong Pham, HSBC Bank USA

21. John Richardson, EagleBank

22. Brad Rozansky, The Rozansky Realty Group

23. Randy Segal, Hogan Lovells

24. Kavita Thakrar, Esq., SmartCEO Magazine

25. Sandeep Thakrar, Skada Capital

26. Lan Tran, Focal Point Consulting

27. Kevin Virostek, Ernst & Young

The final Regional Business Plan Competition and Awards Ceremony, open to the press, will take place Thursday, May 12, 2011 from 1:15-5:00pm at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP located at 1275 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC.

About NFTE

Too many young people today drop out of school and struggle to break the cycle of poverty. Since 1987, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) has been inspiring young people to pursue educational opportunities, start their own businesses, and succeed in life. By providing entrepreneurship education programs relevant to the real world, NFTE empowers students to own their educations in and out of the classroom and to find their own path to success. Hundreds of thousands of students have discovered opportunity all around them through entrepreneurship via thousands of certified educators worldwide. NFTE supports active programs in 18 states and 9 other countries through our network of program offices and licensed partners. Entrepreneurs are a powerful driver of economic growth and NFTE sows the seeds of innovation in students worldwide. For more information, visit www.nfte.com. Since 1994, NFTE DC Region has served more than 23,700 students.

For more information about the competition or about NFTE, contact Julie Kantor, Executive Director, NFTE, at 202-431-5016 or juliek@nfte.com or Kate Palmer, Director of Business Development, at 202 467-6383, kate.palmer@nfte.com. Members of the press are asked to RSVP to attend the event.

NFTE Semifinalists

Contacts:

Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)
Julie Kantor, 202-467-6383 or 202-215-6383
juliek@nfte.com