Mark Cuban may be used to hearing ideas from young entrepreneurs on ABC's Shark Tank, but now he's bringing the ideas to Tampa Bay.
Cuban, a longtime entrepreneur, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Junior Achievement alumnus, has teamed up with Junior Achievement Tampa Bay to bring "Why Entrepreneurship Now," a virtual event to encourage teenagers to consider entrepreneurship.
"Mark Cuban really believes it's critical in this time (during the coronavirus pandemic) and that small businesses will fuel the economy the most," Scott Price, chair elect of JA Tampa Bay's board of directors, said. "They want teens to not think they're coming into an economy that's not full of opportunities, but that entrepreneurship can led us out of that."
Cuban will be on a panel for the young participants to ask any questions focused on entrepreneurship. He'll be joining Brian Hamilton on the panel, who is a national entrepreneur educator and founder of the Brian Hamilton Foundation and Inmates to Entrepreneurs.
Hamilton originally reached out to Junior Achievement USA to host the event, who in turn asked alumus Cuban to join the panel. The Tampa Bay event will be held on Wednesday, May 27 from 3-4 p.m. on Microsoft Teams.
"The conversation is not focused on brand new entrepreneurs, or recent college grads," Price said. "It will be very youth-focused, with concepts and ideas very relative to teens."
Junior Achievement Tampa Bay has teamed up with several startups in the last year to continue encouraging entrepreneurship throughout the region. In November, the nonprofit teamed up with innovation hub Embarc Collective to bring an entrepreneurship lab for teens. It is intended to educate and encourage middle and high school students within the region about entrepreneurship and innovation.
Junior Achievement also partnered with BlockSpaces to teach teens about blockchain and is working with several technology companies, including ReliaQuest and A-LIGN for its initiative to increase student success.
"All the talk has been on the shutdown and recovery," Price said. "It's our job to talk to teens and show them the long-term implication for coming out of the economy and providing the hope and skills to be able to do so."
