Teens who mind their businesses: competition spotlights girls who want an income of their own - An Income of Her Own, non-profit California organization, awards business plans created female teenagers interested in business ownership

Black Enterprise, April, 1994 by Renee E. Warren

Competition spotlights girls who want an income of their own.

Can't get your teenage daughter to mind her own business? Listen up.

An Income of Her Own (AIOHO), a Calif.-based, not-for-profit organization, has launched its second annual business plan competition for young women. Created by Joline Godfrey and Karen Schafer, AIOHO is dedicated to encouraging teenage girls to consider business ownership.

Young women between the ages of 13 and 19 from the U.S. and Canada are eligible for the competition. Each entrant must supply an adult consent form along with a business plan (not longer than 11 pages) describing her ideas for a new business. "The competition allows young women to clearly develop a business plan," says competition director Lynn Karlson. "We give them guidelines to follow, but the hard work is all their own."

While the competition is open to girls of all races and ethnic groups, of the 360 requests for applications to last year's competition, 20% came from teens who learned of the contest through be. AIOHO also worked with Sassy and Inc. magazines to publicize the program.

Jamila Hubbard, one of last year's winners, learned of the competition when her mother noticed an ad in be. Frustrated in her attempts to find stylish, well-fitting clothes, the 6'1" high school senior created a plan for ALIMAJ: All Things Great & Tall, a mail order company offering shoes and clothing for women taller than 5'9'. "It feels great that people really want to know what I have to say and that my ideas are important," says Hubbard, an 18-year-old honor-roll student at Irvington High in Fremont, Calif

This year's AIOHO competition deadline is October 3, 1994. Six winners are chosen and flown to Washington, D.C., to meet with women business owners and attend seminars exclusively for teen women who want to start their own ventures. Each winner will receive a business kit, consisting of books and an array of prizes from AIOHO sponsors, at the awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

"An Income of Her Own wants young women to know that opportunities are out there for them to grab," says Karlson. Hubbard is convinced. "If you have the chance to do it, then you should," she says.