Stephanie Glover, owner of Furbaby Bestie Pet Care, promotes professional pet care services with her beloved dogs. [+] Walker on Duty T-shirt.
Stephanie Glover
Small businesses represent the American dream and hard work, empower people to earn a living, and generate more than $16.2 trillion in revenue in the United States. Unfortunately, many small businesses often find it difficult to acquire customers through social media and digital apps, with limited access to the tools and skills support they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. facing a battle.
Aarya Dhru and Veda Swaminathan, co-founders of the nonprofit I3 Foundation, drive creative solutions through their flagship initiative, I3 Competition (short for Imagine, Innovate, Inspire). As 16-year-old high school students, Duru and Swaminathan started the contest to connect small businesses that needed help strengthening their digital infrastructure with students who needed a place to showcase their digital talent.
I had a chance to talk to Mr. Dhru and Mr. Swaminathan about the success of the I3 competition. The I3 Competition has helped around 60 small and medium-sized businesses unlock the talent of more than 200 students over the past four years. Now 20 years old, they shared why they are so passionate about competition and tips on how small businesses can be used to support high school students.
connections with purpose
Swaminathan and Duru started the I3 Competition for the same reason many small business owners start their own businesses. “It was a solution to a problem we ourselves were facing.”
Arya Duru (left) and Veda Swaminath (right) recognized as youth leaders at the 5th Annual General Meeting [+] Riley’s Way Gala.
Photo courtesy of Riley’s Way
Swaminathan added, “At home, my mother is a business owner and often asked me for help with social media and webpages. And at school, I felt the pandemic had affected and strengthened my university resume.” My colleagues were complaining about the lack of opportunities to do things like that.I realized that if I have the digital skills to help mothers, I can also help other children. It felt like.”
Real work with real impact
Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, and the main goal of the I3 competition is to provide students with the opportunity to hone their skills in a real business environment.
“While there is a common misconception that high school students are limited to menial labor, the reality is that high school students bring valuable expertise in areas such as social media and technology. They know how to engage audiences and generate innovative ideas. They have developed the ability to recognize trends and develop strategies that resonate with today’s digital audiences. For owners, this means receiving unique, outside-the-box insights and creative solutions that will benefit them in the long term,” explains Dhru.
The contest is run in partnership with each company and a team of three to four high school students. Over the course of four months, high school students and small businesses work together to build a customized app, website, or social media marketing campaign for a small business. To ensure high-quality work products and additional intangible benefits for students, students are matched with mentors who are typically corporate and non-profit CEOs/Presidents, former entrepreneurs, or partners at Big4 consulting firms. will be done.
Mentors will share advice that will help you with your specific project, such as the best way to increase SEO for the website you’re building, as well as softer skills like how to improve your communication skills.
The main benefit is that “the mentor remains in the student’s network forever,” Swaminathan said.
Win-win collaboration
As part of the competition, student teams will compete for prizes of up to $2,000.
This year’s winning collaboration involved a team of four high school seniors who worked with Furbaby Bestie Pet Care, a Los Angeles-based technology company that matches pets in need with pet professionals. Students developed a “viral formula” for a social media campaign using Instagram Reels. As a result, things have changed for Furbaby, with 10 million post views, 60,000 profile views, and total video watch time increasing from 17 minutes to nearly 35,000 hours. And they did it all in just under four months.
Two of our team members have signed on as paid interns with Furbaby Bestie Pet Care.
Swaminathan and Duru added that even if the student team doesn’t win the $2,000 prize, it’s still a winner.
“Beyond the incredible feeling of doing something good for the community, students use their experiences as a way to increase their own growth opportunities. For example, each year , more than 60% of our team has received formal summer internship or job offers from business partners and competition judges, and our competition graduates have received formal summer internships and job offers from business partners and competition judges. , and went on to attend elite universities such as the University of Pennsylvania.”
“It’s not just about building a resume or gaining work experience,” Drue adds. “These businesses are very personal. They represent people’s lives and stories.”
How to start a collaboration
Interested small business owners can apply to be matched with a student team for a 2025 project. You can fill out a registration form on the I3 Competition website. Business owners must submit their chosen digital platform (either website creation, app development, or social media marketing) and provide a company profile.
Registration ends on December 18, 2024.
conclusion
The bottom line? High school students are often an untapped resource for supporting small businesses. Similarly, small businesses can provide high school students with opportunities to work on meaningful projects that have the potential to make a real impact and excite today’s youth.
