High school students receive scholarships for their entrepreneurial efforts

High school students receive scholarships for their entrepreneurial efforts

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Young Entrepreneur Foundation has announced the winners of this year's Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, who will receive financial assistance to cover the cost of a campus-based or online degree program.

In partnership with Visa, the organizations will provide a $10,000 scholarship to the top honoree and four $5,000 awards to four runners-up. These budding small business owners were selected from more than 4,300 students who entered the contest this year.

Each candidate was asked to answer a short questionnaire that was used to profile their entrepreneurial activities. The winners were chosen based on their efforts to create a successful small business, standardized test scores, GPA and class rank.

Raghav Lal, head of global small business products for Visa, said that the scholarships are intended to honor budding college students "not only for their entrepreneurial achievements, but for the important contributions they are making to the economy."

Since its inception seven years ago, the scholarship program has provided approximately $2.3 million to 2,095 young entrepreneurs.

By Stefanie Hughes