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Girls Inc. of Orange County campers fearlessly jumped right into a “Shark Tank” Thursday at Santa Ana College.
Thankfully for the 8- to 10-year-old girls, these “sharks” didn’t bite. Instead, they offered the girls money for a piece of their proposed products as they got real-world insight as part of the Smart Ups summer entrpreneurship program.
Each group had to come up with a pitch, expense report, marketing plan and more for its product during the four-week camp, said Eileen Forbes-Hill, chief program officer for Girls Inc. of Orange County. The event also served as a business showcase, with poster board displays for each of the products assembled around the room.
“We really want to teach them how to build a business from the ground up,” Hill said. “You can’t just have a product; you have to be able to market and sell your product. You have to make sure that the cost of the product exceeds the expense of the product, and that it’s something that individuals would purchase. You look at other products that are on the market and ask, is it in a similar price range? If not, what makes your product worth more?”
A “Drinking Fun” business, dreamed up by nine campers, offers hydration with custom smart cups. Users could track their daily water intake through a companion app, earning points as they drink to redeem for kits.
It was up to the four sharks — real-world business executives using made-up job titles for the purpose of the “Shark Tank” event — to ask questions of group members.
“What if somebody puts something else besides water in the cup?” asked Sandra Felegy, senior vice president and director of small business banking at Comerica Bank. “Do they still earn points?”
One of the Smart Ups campers responded.
“If somebody puts Coke or Sprite or something like that in the cup, water will give you more points,” she said. “Something that’s not really healthy or has more sugar, it won’t give you that many points.”
Two of the sharks offered a theoretical $750,000 in exchange for for 10% ownership in the company, but that offer was trumped by Sam Tang, managing partner at TriGuard Management in Corona del Mar.
“How about $1 million for 10% of the company, but [$250,000] back to the community?” Tang said.
He added, when asked about his offer by event emcee Carrie Freitas, “I was just trying to beat the ladies over there.”
The offer was accepted after the girls huddled on stage, and they were able to shake the hand of their new investor.
The biggest monetary proposal was for a product called “Glow ‘n’ Hug Paradise,” glow-in-the-dark Sanrio “plushies” that gave off scents designed to help children feel safe at bedtime. Two of the sharks, Sarah Pattermann and Felegy, partnered to offer $3 million for 15% equity in the product, with $500,000 worth of product to go to children’s hospitals throughout California.
Felegy’s additional requirement was that her own children would get to help choose two of the new line of stuffed animals. The sharks’ ask was met with a quick agreement.
“That felt so exciting,” said 9-year-old Riley Eisenberg, a Tustin camper with the plushies business who will be going into the fourth grade. “I loved being on stage presenting my pitch … I only asked for $200,000, and my teammates thought that was too much.”
Marisa Monroy, 10, was another business partner on the “Glow ‘n’ Hug Paradise” product. This is her third year in the Smart Ups program, and she feels that the skills she is learning are valuable.
“When you think of a business owner, not a lot of people think of girls,” said Marisa, an incoming fifth-grader who lives in Norwalk.
A robot that delivers food through a bracelet, a squishy slime ball for sensory fun and a face mist paired with a book-shaped storage case were among the other businesses presented.
Girls Inc. of Orange County chief executive Lucy Santana said the Smart Ups entrepreneurship program is one of her favorites because it shows the girls how strong, smart and bold they really are. The organization has been running its business showcases for decades.
“They have learned to solve problems creatively, collaborate as a team and persevere through challenges,” Santana told attendees of Thursday’s event, including many parents. “Definitely, when you have a lot of 8-, 9-,10-year-olds, there’s a lot of challenges, but there’s also a lot of problem solving.
“They will take those skills onto their next school year, their life with siblings and other friends. Those are skills that we are really proud that they walk away with. It’s not just about learning about entrepreneurship, but it’s learning about how to just survive in life.”
Girls Inc. will be offering other summer camps as the season unfolds. Incoming first- through sixth-grade girls are invited to STEM camps at Irvine Valley College during the weeks of July 6 and July 13. A Space Quest camp costs $125, and scholarships are available.
There will also be a week-long camp at Cypress College from July 27-31, with mornings in the college’s volleyball camp and afternoons in Girls Inc.’s Anatomy Adventures Camp.
A free Summer Strong program for girls entering kindergarten through eighth grade will be offered in July at the Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living in Newport Beach. For older students, the Eureka! Summer Camp at Samueli Academy offers learning for middle schoolers.
A Girls Inc. Meet the Workforce program also will place 115 high school-aged students in externships at different companies in July.
Santana said there’s so far been an overwhelming amount of interest in the program.
“We ended up enrolling over 200 girls in the program, so we did not have enough placement. So what we did is we got creative,” she said. “My team worked with Santa Ana College and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a group of about 60 to 80 girls that we can’t place, but can we talk about creating an apprenticeship program where they can actually end up with a certificate of a skill that they’re learning?’”
For a full list of program offerings, visit girlsinc-oc.org.
