Although this is the first Empower Your Dreams competition being held completely online, Spencer Taggart, an entrepreneurship professor at BYU–Hawaii from Laie, said this year’s 157 teams makes up the largest group that has ever competed.
The competition looks different this year because it is organized through the Holokai curriculum, Taggart explained. Students can compete in three categories: art and humanities, math and science, or professional studies. This levels the playing field and allows students to learn from others in their same area of study, he said.
Taggart said the Empower Your Dreams competition is “all about looking to the future. It really is to help the students have the motivation, the experience, the opportunity and the drive to say, ‘I can have a business. I can start and build my own company, and I can do this.’”
He said he has been inspired by several students who competed in the past. “There have been countless success stories where people got the inspiration, motivation, connections and funding because of this competition.” One particular story he remembered was a student who participated in the event about nine years ago who went on to help over 5,000 Filipino migrant workers obtain safe jobs where they are treated fairly.
Jason Scott Earl, an entrepreneurship professor at BYUH from Park City, Utah, described a particularly touching story from about eight years ago. He said the judges struggled to choose a winner between two impressive finalists. One of the finalists, Vulain Yengo, was from the Congo, and the other, Ben Howell, was from England. In the end, he said the judges chose to award the first place prize to Howell.
Because the difference in the prize money for first and second place winners was substantial, Howell insisted he give the first place prize to Yengo. In the end, Yengo received the first place prize money. They both went on to run very successful businesses, he said.
Howell, who Earl met while serving his mission in England when he was seven years old, started a business called Akin Clothing, which helps school children in 30 countries have the uniforms they need.
Yengo went on to employ hundreds of people and run multiple companies, his first one being to help farmers with sugar beet growth.
“The experience struck me,” Earl said. “It doesn’t really matter who comes in what place, the most important thing is the confidence given to students and the chance to actually get started. Don’t wait until you graduate or go home. Start it now.”
He said when he thinks about stories such as this, he gets choked up. “BYUH literally changed their lives. It’s not the money that counts, it’s that people believe in them and they receive mentors and connections.”
Seeing student’s progress has been very humbling for him because it gives him a “glimpse of how Heavenly Father sees our lives,” he said.
Earl said he ultimately wants people to “stop thinking of business as this evil money-making empire. There is no better way to impact people for good. Think about what a socially responsible company can do as far as creating jobs and … providing a real product and service that’s valuable to people. It’s one of the best ways I know to make a good impact on the world.
“Students are doing it, making it work. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
This year marks the ten-year anniversary of the Empower Your Dreams competition, Earl said, who has been involved with the event for the past eight years.
Earl said in the past, the competition was mainly a way for students to meet with mentors. They would gather in the Cannon Activity Center, the students would practice presenting their business ideas with professionals, they would receive feedback and then would enjoy ice cream together.
The students are now expected to present a professional business presentation. Earl said students need to go through the “rigor” of developing a quality presentation, which includes their financial plan and the potential of their business idea. Ultimately, he said students should convey why they are the right person to start the particular venture.
Taggart said there are two main differences with the Empower Your Dreams competition this year. First, this is the first year where the competition is going to be held completely online. He said although he was worried not as many students would participate because of this, the 157 teams competing this year make it the largest group of participants the competition has ever seen.
According to Earl, although the event is virtual, students still have a great opportunity to connect with good mentors. One of the judges this year, he said, is a BYUH alumni who herself went on to become a successful business owner in the 80s and 90s and raised three of her sons to be billionaires. “[She] just loves the students at BYUH,” he said. Connecting with mentors is one of the most valuable parts of participating in the competition because their time is a treasure, Earl expressed.
Second, Taggart explained this is the first year the categories of the competition are organized by the Holokai: arts and humanities, math and science and professional studies. Earl said the advantage of this is it puts the students on equal footing and levels the playing field.
He said it is not uncommon for the best entrepreneurs to be students who are not business majors “because they usually have passion and knowledge for their course studies. So, we’re trying to take that and combine it with a business model that works. Bring your passion and discipline and turn it into something that could actually scale, feed your family and create jobs.” This is also a great opportunity for students to learn about business ideas from those in the same major as them.
Taggart said they also wanted to involve more students on campus. There may be evidence this goal is being accomplished because they do have the largest group of participants in history this year. “Regardless of what major, these competitions are for you. We hope people from different departments, teams and [with different] ideas get to win, which they will.” He said they want students to “be inspired and motivated to go start businesses.”
He said he wants this inspiration to come to students because he believes running your own business is “a wonderful way of life” because “opportunities are endless.” It doesn’t matter if a student is a mathematician or an English teacher, a personal trainer or an artist, he said if a student has a skillset and a passion, they can make a successful business out of it.
Earl said students who are exercise science majors are the “definition of owning a small business” because they have a great opportunity to build their own clientele and market and differentiate their services from others.
He also emphasized art and music majors now have a greater opportunity than before to publish their work. He said, “Know how to monetize that and take advantage of it.”
Earl urged students to look into starting their own business. “I know most people are risk averse. You have nothing to lose. It’s not like mortgaging your house, just be open to the idea and learn from people who have done it.” Prospective student business owners should be inspired from other success stories and realize if others can do it with few resources, they can at least try, he said.
When he was an engineering student, he said starting a business was the last thing on his mind. However, after he took one entrepreneurship class in college, he said his whole perspective changed and he realized he could be his own boss, hire good people and create his own dream job. “That’s what it’s all about,” Earl asserted.