Evelyn Espinoza, 17, center, reacts as she is named winner of Merrill Lynch/NFTE… (Rene Macura / Strategies…)
When she was 8 years old, Evelyn Espinoza sold bubble gum and other candy door-to-door in her Los Angeles neighborhood to earn money.
By sixth grade, her mom was buying the enterprising 12-year-old toys at a wholesale mart to resell at school.
Now 17, Espinoza is still hard at work. Her latest business venture, Hippie's Candles, was named the winner last week of the Los Angeles regional business-plan competition, and a $1,750 prize, at the event sponsored by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and the Merrill Lynch Foundation.
"Entrepreneurship is excellent," said Espinoza, who is in the NFTE entrepreneur-training class at Soledad Enrichment Action Girls Academy, a charter school in downtown Los Angeles.
"Money rules the society," she said. "Everyone wants money, and it's only right to learn how to make it in a legit way and to be your own boss."
Second place and $1,250 went to Crenshaw High School students Autumn Taylor and Ariana Drummond, both 18, for their Groovy Smoothie business -- a revival of a concept created by a former student.
Taylor and Drummond, who sell smoothies at special events, recently whipped up 300 at a multicultural bazaar at the school, bringing $800 in revenue and a profit of $600. They've trained other students to take over the enterprise next school year when the two head to college.
"Going through this program has taught me a lot of things that I won't have to mess up on when I go through this in the future," said Taylor, who will major in business economics at UCLA and would like to work in the music industry before starting her own music company.
Drummond, who will major in public relations and business management at Hampton University in Virginia, values the networking she learned through the program, which included job shadowing at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and a field trip last week to Comcast Corp.
"My networking with the different mentors and people at Merrill Lynch and NFTE has taught me a basic understanding of getting to know individuals and learning how important relationships are in the business world," she said.
Monique Verduzco, 15, won third place and $750 for her business plan for an automotive care company called Magic Detailing Service. The student at Soledad Enrichment Action charter school in North Hills wants to study graphic arts in college.
The first- and second-place winners will head to New York in the fall to compete for a $10,000 prize with other young entrepreneurs from NFTE programs around the country. A pool of 20,000 young people participated in the regional competitions this year.
Last year, Torrance student Daniel Uribe won third place in the national competition after placing first in the Los Angeles regional match for his Lazer Bearings business plan. The venture sells high-performance, low-cost ceramic bearings for skateboards.
New York-based NFTE, which was started by an entrepreneur as a dropout prevention program, targets young people from low-income areas. The nonprofit provides curriculum and training to schools, after-school programs and organizations to teach business management, financial literacy, critical analysis and public speaking skills.
Merrill Lynch helped launch NFTE Greater Los Angeles in 2006 with a three-year grant.
"We're trying to help teach young people about investing in entrepreneurship, to help promote the importance of business knowledge and that sort of thing -- it's core to who we are as a company," said Garrett Gin, a Costa Mesa-based spokesman for Merrill Lynch & Co.'s western region and a regional NFTE judge.
Company employees volunteered to mentor Espinoza and other students in the Los Angeles program. The mentors served as financial advisors, helping the students run the numbers for their business plans, and worked with them to hone their presentations.
Locally, about 500 students competed in the high-school level business plan competition. Overall, there are 17 schools and one community organization using the NFTE curriculum in the Los Angeles area. About 2,000 local young people have participated since the program began.
Espinoza said she makes candles in the kitchen of her family's home using organic wax and various dyes and fragrances. The 11th-grader has learned to wait until she has an order "so I can make sure people pay for the supplies I use," she said.
Sounding like a seasoned business pro, she talked about "her basic unit," a six-inch pillar that sells for $17. Star shapes made of colored layers of wax and heart-shaped candles cost more.
Espinoza said she jotted down several ideas for her business, including making bird treats, before settling on candles. A friend helped teach her how to make them.
Espinoza would like to expand by making a catalog, adding to her candle selection and getting stores to buy her candles on consignment.
"I really see big things for this business," she said. " I'm just getting going."
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