Grow Ellsworth County
ELLSWORTH- Following Grow Ellsworth County's second annual local Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, state qualifiers Thaddeus, Cruz, and Owen Donley of Donley Business Ventures, LLC and Layton Leiker of Leiker Lures competed at the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge at Kansas State University on Thursday, where both walked away with top accolades and prizes.
The Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge is a state sanctioned competition sponsored by the Kansas Masonic Foundation and Kansas Masons in partnership with Kansas State University and the Network Kansas Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (YEC) Series to promote entrepreneurship and small business development in Kansas.
The competition is for student-created, managed, and owned ventures. The local competition occurred on Feb. 20, where nine individuals and seven teams competed in four areas of business: executive summary, elevator pitch, trade show, and formal presentation.
Leiker, a student at Ellsworth Jr./Sr. High School, qualified for the competition by winning the local contest with his hand-crafted fishing lures.
Thaddeus, Cruz, and Owen Donley, reigning Ellsworth County champions in 2022, entered the wild card competition, where they qualified to compete at the state level with their lawn care and real estate development concept.
Both teams competed against more than 70 state-qualified entries. Teams were judged based on their executive summary, a series of mock board room panels, and a trade show. The results were:
Layton Leiker | Leiker Lures - First place Trade Show Winner ($1,000)
Thaddeuz, Cruz, and Owen Donley | Donley Business Ventures -Finalist Rating ($1,700)
Additional cash prizes were awarded.
Grow Ellsworth County serves as the lead agency to drive economic health and prosperity to Ellsworth County.
"YEC is amazing program that is creating entrepreneurs, future business owners, and leaders in our community. I was immensely proud of Layton, Thad, Cruz, and Owen, who represented Ellsworth County well and put in the work and effort. This community should be proud. Our future is bright," Stacie Schmidt, executive director for Grow Ellsworth County said.
"First of all, I am very glad that I was able to represent Ellsworth County in the statewide Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge," Leiker said. "Secondly, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me or my business in one way or another. From business mentors to family and friends, I have had as much encouragement and support as possible. Finally, I would like to specifically shout out Stacie for all the hard work she has done for the Ellsworth County Youth Entrepreneurship as a whole and specifically how much she has developed me in my business and countless other skills I have learned along the way. Thanks everyone for all the support."
This is anticipated to be an annual opportunity for all Ellsworth County students in grades 7-12, made possible through Grow Ellsworth County and Network Kansas.
All of the local YEC participant performances can be viewed at www.growellsworthcounty.com.