Nikolas Delis isn’t hesitant to describe his entrepreneurial plan — a system for automatically transporting cars to the closest available spot in a parking garage — as a potential billion-dollar business.
But it may be awhile until Nikolas can pursue his grand idea.
He’s a fourth grader at Orland Park’s Meadow Ridge School, so his company, Plentiful Parking, and ambitious plan, both created for an enrichment class, are essentially hypothetical.
But a panel of entrepreneurs — brought in to hear Nikolas and his classmates pitch their products and business plans as if they were seeking funding from investors — said they were impressed nonetheless.
“They’ve written a business and market plan. When we quiz them, they’re never stuck for an answer. It’s just a terrific thing,” said David Lebowitz, a mentor with The SCORE Association, a nonprofit that provides business mentoring.
That doesn’t mean that all their products are market-ready, but Lebowitz and the students’ teacher, Lauren Musielewicz, said the children are still learning to think like entrepreneurs.
The recent expo, where each student got to show off the business idea and prototype they developed, was part of an annual program for fourth graders in Meadow Ridge’s “Regionomics” enrichment course, which introduces students to economic concepts while they learn about regions of the U.S. in other classes, Musielewicz said.
“Because economics can be such a scary word, one of the major things I try to make sure they understand is that economics is really about decision making,” Musielewicz said. “I think it is surprising to people we start so young with economic concepts, but students rise to the challenge.”
After learning about profit and loss and supply and demand, it’s the kids’ turn to use what they learned to create a product and business plan, she said.
Several students’ products seemed to come from personal experience. Lily Faulds, 10, said she got the idea for the All-Season Snuggler, an adjustable-weight blanket, after wishing for covers that never left her too hot or too cold while she slept.
Camden McElligot, 10, wanted to be able to hold her iPod and listen to music while walking her dog without worrying about dropping keys or supplies for her dog. So she came up with the Collar Companion — a small, plastic carrying case that fits on a dog’s collar.
It’s the second year that students at the Orland District 135 school have had to pitch their product to a panel of entrepreneurs. Musielewicz said it’s modeled on the reality TV show “Shark Tank,” where aspiring entrepreneurs try to persuade a panel of investors to fund their businesses.
Meadow Ridge’s “sharks,” all volunteers from SCORE, were much less ferocious in their feedback and questions than those on the show.
“We’re all grandparents,” Lebowitz explained.
But last year, a student had an objection to the panelists initially selected because all four were men. Musielewicz asked Lebowitz if they could even out the gender ratio, and Lebowitz’s wife, Anita, also his business partner, volunteered.
They jointly owned a boutique bathroom accessories business for 28 years, and though he was involved, it was “really her baby,” he said.
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“I think it was a wonderful example for the girls to see,” Musielewicz said.
This year, some students said they didn’t know the gender-ratio issue had ever come up. Camden and Lily shrugged off the idea that there was anything unusual about being female founders of a successful business.
“It’s no different,” Camden said.
Twitter @laurenzumbach