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.
