Huntington Sparks an Entrepreneurial Mindset in Tomorrow’s Leaders

Read Time: 4 Min

Inspired by the reality show Shark Tank®, Huntington’s Junior Shark Tank takes a real-world, hands-on approach to teaching students about entrepreneurship and starting their own business. A signature initiative of Huntington’s Business Entrepreneurship Strategies and Training (B.E.S.T.) program, it empowers students from under-resourced communities to develop the entrepreneurial mindset, skills, and confidence to dream big and improve their world.

Students raising their hands in classroom

Huntington colleagues and volunteers from the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing participated in our inaugural program at KIPP Columbus charter school. They guided fifth-grade students as they chose a business concept and worked in teams to create a company name, determine what they would sell, and how to sell it. The students learned how to calculate expense versus profit and practiced their pitch before confidently presenting to a panel of judges.

These students put a lot of hard work into the program, demonstrating tremendous growth in their critical thinking, creative problem-solving, teamwork, finance, and communication skills. Through this program, Huntington is sparking an entrepreneurial mindset among tomorrow’s leaders who will dream big, solve important problems, meet community needs, and improve their world.