KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A group of middle school girls now have skills to help them become the next generation of business leaders, after attending the "CEO Camp for Young Women," held at the Webb School of Knoxville.
The camp was started just last year by Ann Baker Tolsma, who graduated from Webb School this year. She said her family has plenty of female entrepreneurs and she wanted to share the knowledge with other girls.
"For me, I've seen many instances in our community and in my family of how entrepreneurship can be such a catalyst for leadership and making a difference," she said. "And so we thought going with middle school girls, it's such a great age to teach them those leadership and critical thinking skills."
In a five-day camp, rising 6th through 8th grade girls from across East Tennessee participate in two projects. They learn the skills and knowledge needed to explore starting and running a company. The camp shows participants concepts in the ideation, planning, budgeting, creating, selling and scaling parts of running a business.
Campers work to create different solutions to a single business problem, and are encouraged to think creatively throughout the camp.
"They come up with a business that maybe one day they would think about starting, and then they present it to us," said Lee Belle Tolsma, Ann Baker's sister and a current sophomore at Webb School.
Friday was the final day of camp. The girls presented business plans in front of their peers.
"They came to our school and our director, she picked us out of seven people to come to this camp and we just both found it would be something fun to do, and we just decided that we were gonna do it," said Danielle Hill, a rising eighth grader.
Hill and Lariyah Clark pitched a dog treat business called "Canine Crunchies." They said they both have dogs which inspired their product line.
"We just felt like there was a need for more dog treats and even though we're not really making them, I just felt like that would be a great business," said Hill.
Campers also heard from women business leaders who shared the ins and outs of what they do.
"I've always wanted to be like an entrepreneur," said Clark. "Asking the questions from actual CEOs kind of helped me a little bit and give a clear view of what I would actually do, if I was to become an entrepreneur when I get older."
Ann Baker said it makes her feel good to empower these girls.
"An inkling towards entrepreneurship or, just, they can make such a difference," said Ann Baker. "Entrepreneurship can take so many forms. Just being a leader in your community and not being scared to start something and saying, 'Yes, I think it is super important.'"
Ann Baker said she hopes to continue the CEO camp for years to come. She's passing the leadership role to her sister Lee Belle.