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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Entrepreneurial
boot camp for women
set for Oahu in JulyTomorrow's top women entrepreneurs may be nurtured July 14 to 22 at Camp Start-Up.
Licensed and localized by YWCA of Oahu, the financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills program was developed and initiated in 1994 by Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Independent Means Inc. Organizers have room for 20 to 25 14- to 19-year-old girls at the Y's Camp Kokokahi in Kaneohe.
San Francisco-based entrepreneur Christina Woo will serve as camp director. An MBA graduate of the Harvard Business School, Woo has done consulting work on Maui and Kauai and has family on Oahu. "So I'm familiar with the islands," she said.
"The camp format is dedicated toward empowering young women to be self-confident, to have the skill sets to start their own businesses," said Woo. "They leave the camps having written a business plan in collaboration with a team of five to six campers," make a presentation and offer a financial analysis at the end of the eight days.
They are encouraged to think about making their hobbies into something that will benefit them financially, said Woo.
"I'm in the process of starting an import business now because I love to shop and I love to travel and I will get to travel the world shopping," she said. "Do what you love, and the money will follow."
The camp is not all about sitting at a desk.
"The last thing these kids want is to be lectured in the summer," Woo said.
There will be swimming, kayaking, self-defense and yoga instruction, hikes, arts and crafts, and field trips to women-owned businesses.
The YWCA of Oahu toiled for three years to raise $50,000 to $60,000 to bring Camp Start-Up to Hawaii.
It's still cheaper than reinventing the wheel, said Cheryl Kauhane, chief executive officer of the Y.
"We get to regionalize it, but we don't have to start from scratch," Kauhane said.
The Y will integrate its other programs with Camp Start-Up, so for instance participants will choose career-wear from the Dress for Success "store" for their presentations.
People needn't worry about their daughters being locked up with infomercial-starring, book-and-tape-selling, rock star-wannabe-investment-gurus, Kauhane and Woo said.
"We don't benefit from selling any person's philosophies, books, games or investment advice," Kauhane said. "As a community service organization we have a wide network but we're not partisan to any one company or philosophy."
The association with the Y lends both credibility and comfort to Woo.
"We don't offer any financial advice and don't push a brokerage. I want (the girls) to have the skills needed to make decisions," she said.
The eight-day camp is not cheap. The $900 cost includes materials, instruction, field trips, transportation and meals.
"If we charged the full price of the program it would be $2,500," Kauhane said.
Much of the cost has been underwritten by grants, but the YWCA wants to promote diversity among the girls who attend, so scholarships are available. More scholarship sponsors are also being sought.
Camp and scholarship applications are available from YWCA of Oahu by calling 538-7061, Ext. 221 or via the Web at www.dollardiva.com.
Participants will be chosen based on answers to questions on the applications; some have been received from the mainland.
"I think that diversity is a good thing and I want to encourage it, but not at the expense of excluding Hawaii women," Woo said.
The deadline for camp and scholarship applications is May 31; applications for counseling positions are also available.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com