2023 thinBIG! Finalists – slider revolution banner background

Upcycle Enterprise Field Trip photo 2022

Upcycle: Enterprise

Thinkfest (1240 × 434 px)

Thinkfest ON-DEMAND

What’s Your Entrepreneurship Story

Eco stories collage2

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Stories

Frequently Asked Questions

10 year celebration banner background

Our Impact Our Programs

VYEF Year Round Programs

NEO HS Microgrant Program image

NEO High School Microgrant Program

All high school students in Northeast Ohio can submit their plans or ideas for an opportunity to gain grant funding to start or expand on their businesses!

Learn More

Thinkfest ON-DEMAND

Thinkfest ON-DEMAND

Thinkfest ON-DEMAND is an interactive lesson designed to inspire high school students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and to recognize, develop and pitch business ideas. Tutorials are available for educators.

Learn More

Upcycle Enterprise Field Trip photo 2022

Upcycle: Enterprise

Upcycle: Enterprise allows students to explore social entrepreneurship through creative lessons, hands-on prototyping and an opportunity to pitch ideas. Schools can select to participate in a field trip to Upcycle Parts Shop. The two-hour field trip + innovation session focuses on creativity, innovation, developing quick design from upcycled materials, and student report-backs and pitches on prototypes.

Learn More

VYEF Skill Building Workshop Day

Entrepreneurial organizations will set up skill-building sessions to train student groups throughout the day. Students will have the opportunity to enhance skill sets in multiple areas of entrepreneurship, network with like-minded students from different schools, and make connections with various stakeholders in the community. Workshop sessions will include design, pitching, leadership, small business information, and many more topics.

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Stories

Our website features articles on local entrepreneurs to help guide students through their entrepreneurial journey. We recently interviewed Zöe Nechvatal, Noah Allen and Sam Honkomp. They won the grand prize in the Innovation track of the 2023 thinkBIG! Challenge with their company, Mendz, creating a new prototype for casting broken bones.
Other articles spotlight local leaders like Jessica Dragar from Young Entrepreneur Institute, and local entrepreneur Nicole McGee from Upcycle Parts Shop.

Our Learning Center features curated listings of business networks, resources, templates and entrepreneurial stories for young entrepreneurs and educators.

Learning Center

thinkBIG! Challenge & Summit

The ThinkBIG! Challenge is an online business plan competition open to all high school students in Northeast Ohio. The online competition takes place over a period of months and culminates with the ThinkBIG! Summit, a day-long conference featuring presentations by national and local entrepreneurs.

The Veale Youth Entrepreneurship Forum

The Veale Youth Entrepreneurship Forum (VYEF) was established in 2012 to take high school students beyond the classroom and into the real world of entrepreneurship. Through a collaborative network of educators, business leaders and collegiate-level resources, VYEF offers programs and experiences that allow students to think creatively and analytically, recognize business opportunities, take initiative, solve problems, persist through failure, communicate persuasively, and develop an entrepreneurial mindset.