NFTE Helps Kids Get Off the Streets and Into Business

In 1981, after spending several years after college working in international finance, Steve Mariotti began volunteering to teach business skills to under-privileged children on the weekends at a Manhattan community center.

"There were only a few children, and they didn't come regularly, but I did learn that they were intrigued by money," says Mariotti. "However, they did not understand how people create wealth, how to open a bank account, how to think about investments and how entrepreneurs with money can contribute to the needs of their communities and the people who live there."

About this time, Mariotti was mugged by a teenager for $10. "That led me to think, ‘Why would a kid mug me for $10 when he could sell me a product or a service for a lot more?’” he asks.

Consequently Mariotti gave up his corporate job and became a schoolteacher. "I told the school board that I wanted to teach in the most troubled school and work with the most difficult children," he says. "I began teaching a course—'How to Start and Manage Your Own Small Business for Young Entrepreneurs'—in a vocational high school."

His students were dropouts, children with emotional and behavioral problems, abused children, and those who could not be in mainstream schools because of their criminal records. Many had had a lot of pain and anguish in their lives, which they ended up taking out on others. And, Mariotti notes, many of these children go from the juvenile justice system to the criminal justice system at a significant financial burden to taxpayers.

Mariotti knew he wanted to create an organization that would help these students find themselves as business people. "I really believed that if there was such a program, there would be much less poverty," he notes. "Not only are these children learning the way the business world works, but they are also learning empathy for others.

"I truly am convinced that the younger children learn business skills, the better they will be at business. I believe that a good teacher can give any kid a mini-MBA in 100 hours."

To find the financing for what would become the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (originally the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship), Mariotti wrote letters to everyone on the Forbes 400 list. Ray Chambers--a philanthropist in New Jersey--agreed to meet with Mariotti, who arrived with a video he had made of the students in his class. "After the video, Chambers said 'Wow' and agreed to help me establish the program," says Mariotti.

Mariotti created textbooks and workbooks, and developed a 40-hour training program for teachers interested in participating in school-based NFTE programs. In some schools, students can begin participating in NFTE as young as 11 and continue the program throughout high school. Others begin as high school freshmen.

Since becoming official in 1987, NFTE has graduated 250,000 students, and this year alone will see 50,000 graduates. "Over the next 20 years, I hope to create a global movement in which every child living in poverty will learn how to start a business by time they are 17. I truly believe those who are exposed to what it takes to become an entrepreneur will have the skills to lift themselves out of poverty," says Mariotti. "NFTE can help them have a vision of a different life."

Mariotti’s point of view is echoed by Rodney Walker. “Steve really cares about young entrepreneurs and really inspires us to excel,” says Walker. “When I was in high school in Chicago, I saw how excited the students in the NFTE program were, and that led me to join.”

The business that Walker—now about to begin his sophomore year at Morehouse College in Atlanta—began is Forever Life, which produces videos of special occasions, such as weddings or graduations. “One client wanted me to videotape him as he proposed to his girlfriend,” says Walker. “I sat down with him and talked about any special effects he might want, the kind of music and other details. His fiancée was not aware that she was being videotaped, so it was a complete surprise when he gave her the edited version.

“Being part of NFTE has taught me to think outside the box about everything.”

Similarly, says Alayna Albertie, she was able to learn the skills to debut “Alayna’s Barking Biscuits.” Under the direction of NFTE teacher Sr. Joan Warner, Albertie learned negotiation skills, how to price her dog biscuits, marketing skills, the importance of shaking hands properly, and other business techniques.

“Pepper is my dog that I adopted from the SPCA, and she loves the biscuits—they’re organic, and very hearty and healthy,” says Albertie. “Once my business is really profitable, I’ll open a small shop. And when the shop is profitable, I’ll probably sell it.”

By Mary Medland