4-H Entrepreneurship projects – Part 2

Janice Zerbe<rajzerj@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension -

Intermediate entrepreneurship 4-H projects and judging.

This is the second of three Michigan State University Extension articles that focus on 4-H entrepreneurship projects with suggestions for judging and evaluation. Part one focused on the beginner youth/project; this article focuses on the intermediate youth/project and the third will focus on advanced youth/project. An intermediate project might be appropriate for a 4-H member that has one to two years of experience and is ready to dive deeper into entrepreneurship.

Intermediate members/projects

This project focuses on the concept to prototype part of entrepreneurship. The 4-H member would create a display with an accompanying report of approximately two typed pages; plus an additional two pages of highlights from the material presented in the “basic” class. Either a prototype model or illustration of the product or a description of the service would be included. The National 4-H Curriculum entitled BE THE “e” would be a great resource for this project.

Judging criteria

For this project, youth will build on information presented in the “basic” class to now identify a specific product or service that will respond to the opportunity. Youth will need to identify how their product or service responds to the opportunity and how it differs from other products or services already on the market. The following criteria may be used to judge or evaluate the project:

1. Has the youth identified a specific business idea that responds to the opportunity?

2. Is the business idea clearly defined?

3. Has the youth discussed how his or her product is unique?

4. Has the youth given the product a name? Does the business have a name?

5. Has the youth included all of the material required in the “beginning” class?

Michigan 4-H Youth Development also has many other resources for entrepreneurship. To see young people in action that are working their way through entrepreneurship projects, you may also wish to explore the Generation E Institute and their upcoming Showcase in May 2013.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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