Students excel at Business, thanks to community support

One thing sets the Southwest Minnesota CEO program apart from others across the country — community support.
As the 2020-21 CEO class opens their group business venture, “Souper” Supper, this weekend, the students will have already reached half of their fundraising goal of $15,000 through business sponsorships.
Other members who follow the Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship model only raise a fraction of that amount as a class.
The difference?
Community support.
This year’s class of 14 students from Hills, Pipestone, Edgerton and Luverne is venturing outside the familiar confines of the city of Luverne, where the past two class businesses have been conducted.
This year the group found suitable areas for their drive-up soup and cinnamon roll meal in Pipestone on Saturday and in Beaver Creek on Sunday, Jan. 31. (Read the story elsewhere in this edition.)
No matter where the students set up their fundraisers, the public should make the drive.
For the past five months, these future entrepreneurs have visited local business owners and operators learning about how to successfully operate a business.
They learned about taxes, bookkeeping, engaging with the public and developing lifelong skills for any future career.
Each of the students in this year’s class is working with a mentor. These mentors have taken these students under their wings and are instrumental in giving their mentees the boost they need to present a business this spring in the CEO Showcase.
Since the first CEO class began in 2018, several of these students have taken business ideas cultivated over the nine-month school year and continue to operate that business three years later.
These students are the future of our business community.
Let’s show them support by attending their initial foray into business by buying tickets and driving to their “Souper” Supper.