Farmington High School students involved in INCubator have partnered with multiple local non-profit organizations, including East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA), Southeast Economic Development Fund, Inc. (SEED$), and Big Door Coffeehouse, hoping to win Final Pitch.
INCubator is a Dual Credit class through Mineral Area College that juniors and seniors can enroll in. Different teams come up with different businesses, and throughout the year, they grow a platform for their business. Students decide what they want to do for their business, and some even continue the business after the school year is over.
Erica Dement, FHS INCubator instructor, teaches the students what it’s like to be a business owner.
“INCubator is an entrepreneurship program that is essentially a high school version of Shark Tank. Students learn about multiple business concepts about starting a small business and simultaneously create their own business with a team.” said Dement.
Dement gives more information about how long she’s been active in the program and how many students she has, as well as how long the program has been at FHS.
“This is my second year teaching the program. This year, I have 14 students in the program, but this is the 5th year that we have had INCubator at FHS, and we were one of the first schools in the state of Missouri to implement a program.”
For any future juniors or seniors, Dement provides information about the process of getting into INCubator.
“Typically, I would say like in the spring, I try to recruit any students interested in business, and the students get to determine if it’s a class they would like to pursue. I give preference to juniors and seniors. We offer it for Dual Credit.”
As the year goes on, the students gain more information about what goes into creating a business. Dement shares more details about how it’s going during the months of Feb-March for the INCubator students.
“INCubator is going really well! Students recently finished the ‘MVP Experimentation Phase’ of the program, in which they tested their business assumptions with their target markets. Most teams had a prototype that they developed to show, and they collected data from their target market about these prototypes to determine if they needed to pivot (completely change course) or iterate (make minor changes) before Final Pitch.”
As the students prepare for Final Pitch, Dement shares more on what the next step is for the INCubator Students.
“Students are currently in the legal unit, and we still have some more to go over in regards to financials, but ultimately, we are preparing for Final Pitch.”
Dement is excited and very proud of all four groups that are involved in INCubator this year.
“It is so neat to see students come in the first week, not really knowing what they might do, and then seeing them run with their ideas. Each business is doing something unique, and I think the judges will have a tough time deciding who to name as the ‘winner’ at Final Pitch.”
Dement provides information and details of when and where Final Pitch is and what it consists of.
“On May 1st, in the FHS Fieldhouse at 6 p.m., we will have a group of business leaders from our community who are pre-selected to serve as judges for this event. Each team pitches their final business idea to this group of community members, and they decide which team should be selected to win the final investment. These judges are looking for things such as unique concepts, marketing plans, solid financial plans, growth potential, etc..”
Comfort Kits is the first business model at FHS to become a Non-Profit. Four strong team members founded this business. These students include Emilee Gillam, the CEO; Bailea Bock, the COO; Brandon Arena, the CFO; and Noah Degonia, the CMO, provide more information about their business.
“Our INCubator Business is Comfort Kits; we strive to be a non-profit organization and give back to the community,” said Gillam. “Comfort Kits is a buy-one-give-one. We start by purchasing and packaging a car kit and selling them for a base price that also pays for the comfort kit, which is a 5-gallon bucket filled with essentials given to a homeless or impoverished member of our community. In the car kit, there are jumper cables, a first aid kit, essential sanitization wipes, etc.,” said Gillam.
Degonia shares how Comfort Kits is currently going including, mentions from their partnerships as well.
“Our business is going phenomenal. We are consistently getting involved with the community. We even have some partnerships with companies such as SEED$, EMAA, and Big Door Coffee House. We are looking to give back to the community as much as possible.”
Bock explains what is next down the line for Comfort Kits.
“Currently, we are doing a food drive to donate to our partners EMAA; our next mission is a fundraiser to help get some costs covered to build the kits, and hopefully start selling the kits soon.”
To engage with more students, Degonia shares more about the type of marketing that has been done to help out their business.
“We’re marketing on Instagram and have made several posts on that social media platform. We’ve created engagement “bait” posts. By this, I mean that we’ve created posts that were mainly trying to get people to tag other people and engage with our page.”
Financially, Arena tells us how the business plans to make money while being a Non-Profit.
“By selling our car kits, every single dollar we earn goes directly back to our business. As well as fundraising and grants,” said Arena.
Students collaborate and make sure that the business goes smoothly. Bock tells us more about her position.
“As the COO, I focus on day-to-day operations, make sure things stay organized, and connect with the CEO on decisions that need to be made.”
Comfort Kits hopes to continue their business after the school year ends to continue helping out the community as much as they can. More information to come on their Instagram @comfortkits_2024. Please support them on May 1st by contributing and showing up to INCubator Final Pitch in the Fieldhouse at 6 p.m..
