"Venture Concept No.1"

Opportunity:

As a community college graduate, I had the opportunity to work with the community in Palm Beach County. Through this opportunity, I became acquainted with different leaders of organizations throughout the county. This experience allowed me to conclude the need for a financial literacy program in the county, and those who needed this service were minorities and young people. The lack of financial literacy among this population was staggering, and realizing this need in my community allowed me to find a interest in Business and pursuing a degree that would allow me to create a program intended to educate minorities and young people on financial literacy.

            College students and minorities are the least financially literate. Students graduate high school without the proper knowledge of personal finances. They were not given the proper resources to succeed in the real world. Also, low income minorities are facing the harshest time. They do not have an idea on how to properly succeed in the American economy. For example, the immigrant community has a distrust in the American Banking System, which leads them to save their money in their homes, instead of banks. Also, they do not properly save for retirement, and they do not consider the option of purchasing a home. This business venture will allow me to get closer to my community, as well as educate them on how to be successful in the American economy.

            People who lack the proper financial literacy suffer through every stage in their lives. Those who have a strong knowledge, are more likely to plan for retirement, and I want to be able to give my consumer a strong background on financial literacy. My business opportunity is a program that will teach financial literacy to minorities, college students (this will have a large focus on the younger population of students), and low-income families in Palm Beach County.

Innovation:

The venture will be called Florida Financial Literacy Program (FFLP) and it will be a non-profit venture. Unlike other ventures, FFLP will rely on government funding, if funding is not available, then we will partner with a non-profit in Palm Beach County to make the program a reality. Other funding from the program will consist of donations from the community.

            Currently, there is only two organizations in Palm Beach County that are similar the FFLP, but they are not serving the segment I am targeting which are minorities, specifically the Latino population and young people.

           

Venture Concept:

            FFLP will address the opportunity mentioned above. Those who lack financial literacy will be motivated to attend our workshops that will be conducted by the workers, as well as public speakers who will volunteer to give speeches in our workshops.

            Marketing our venture will be of great importance. The population that I will be serving are not big on advertising, but networking with other organizations that serve the population I am targeting will allow me to connect with that population and advertise the venture.

            Networking and word-of-mouth will be the main source of marketing in the beginning, and as the venture sets into the mind of the population, we will use local radio stations, newspapers and social media.

            Since there are two populations, they will be targeted differently, but in the beginning they will be targeted through networking with other organizations. In advertisement, the Latino population will be targeted through radio stations and newspapers. For the younger population, we will use social media.

            There will be a small set of workers, including myself. Through the funding, we will be able to hire four workers in the beginning, and volunteers will be welcomed to the program. The volunteers will aid in the workshops, as well as take care of the children of the attendees. The workers will be trained to do the financial literacy workshops, and to network with different organizations.  

Three Elements:

            My biggest resource will be the networking done with other organizations, specially those who work very closely with the segments I am targeting. This networking will allow my venture to grow and add new services for the community. One service that will be added will be tax preparations. Tax preparations will be intended to bring a revenue to the program as a form of donations. Lastly, in five years I would like to expand the venture to other communities that have a lack of access to financial literacy. Most importantly, the communities in the west of Palm Beach County, which are the farming communities.