Millionaires in Training opens young eyes to entrepreneurship

Triangle Business Journal - by Chris Baysden

RALEIGH - As with many local entrepreneurs, Shelby Rittman is always looking to hone her business acumen. That's why the budding magazine publisher and editor signed up for a program that would help her cultivate her financial and networking skills.

There is, though, a major difference between Rittman and other local entrepreneurs: She's 14.

But don't let her age fool you. The eighth grader at Cary Christian School, who first started a quarterly magazine for young girls a couple of years ago, is more polished and professional than some businesspeople twice her age.

Part of that can be attributed to Millionaires in Training, a training and development program for kids 12 to 15 years old. Children in the program, which has chapters in Raleigh and Wendell, meet once a week for two hours over a 20-week period.

The goal at MiT, which graduated about 20 kids last semester, is simple: begin preparing the students for future roles in the business world. To that end, the sessions include training on business necessities ranging from accounting to writing a business plan to professional etiquette.

The kids learn how to behave in the boardroom, the proper way to shake hands, and even how to navigate the potential pitfalls of a power lunch. While the students predominantly have been minorities, the program is open to anyone.

Local entrepreneurs act as guest lecturers, and field trips typically consist of visits to nearby businesses. Kids sometimes form mock businesses of their own over the course of the semester. One group last year wanted to start a company that sold an innovative telescope, while another learned what it takes to buy and sell houses for quick profits.

"These children are so smart," says Matthew Moore, the executive director of MiT. "It's just amazing the ideas they come up with."

Rittman says she learned lessons that help with her magazine, which is called Girls on the Move 360. "It was a lot of fun," she says. "I learned how to manage my money better."

And there's something else that she took to heart, especially since she relies on an informal distribution system for her magazine: "You always have your product and your business card because you never know who you will run into."

Valerie Fields founded MiT in October 2004. The 35-year-old Fields, who owns a public relations and marketing firm called V.K. Fields & Co., was looking for a way to give back to the community, especially disadvantaged young women.

The program has grown over the years to include boys and more middle-class youngsters of both genders. It's still free, with grants, donations and corporate sponsorships picking up the tab, which works out to about $500 per child.

MiT is a program offered by a local nonprofit called Miracle Ministries Inc., which also was founded by Fields, an ordained minister. Fields says MIT is under the Miracle Ministries umbrella simply for organizational reasons, and there are no religious teachings as part of the entrepreneurial program.

MiT now is getting noticed outside the Triangle. Ephren Taylor, CEO of Franklin, Tenn.-based City Capital Corp., has signed on as the program's national spokesman and got the chance to sing its praises during a recent appearance on "The Montel Williams Show" on television.

Taylor says he loves the program because it helps expose kids to business skills at an early age. That can make a big difference, and he's living proof. Thanks to the right influences and opportunities, Taylor became a teenage entrepreneur and, at 25, is running a firm that makes investments in urban communities. He recently pledged $25,000 to the MIT program.