Students today have countless innovative ideas and are filled with creativity. While this is fantastic, many of them have no outlet for this creativity.

Enter the Entrepreneurship Club, a group that supports and fosters the entrepreneurial spirit of students.

A few years ago, a group of Spring-Ford sophomores decided to create a club that could provide support for individuals lacking an innovation outlet.

The co-founders of the club (now in their senior year) are Geoff Bright, Gaurav Chawla, Aayod Kaul, Akshay Pai, Shlok Shah, and Ankush Somenhali. Personal finance teacher Robert Swier is the club’s advisor.

“The reason I wanted to create the Entrepreneurship Club was because I wanted to give students a hands-on experience of creating a start-up and develop knowledge and skills that will help with their careers,” said Shlok. “All of our founders put in great effort throughout several meetings to give students the best experience we possibly could. With COVID-19, we hit a minor setback, but we are proud of how our club has worked out along with our membership and participation.”

This year, members have split up into nine different teams in which they all form new companies, each with a different product or service. The companies are also assigned a leader out of the six co-founders who act as a mentor. The mentor provides assistance to the company through advising the company on business operations.

At the end of the school year the separate companies will meet with a group of judges who will decide a winner for the competition. The company that wins will then receive a reward for this.

However, this is not the end of the story. Here’s where it gets interesting.

After the competition ends, the companies are given a choice: either continue running their business or choose to end it. If they choose to stop running the business, then they can wait until next year (when the club starts back up again) to start a new business. If they choose to continue with the business, the club leaders will continue to provide help throughout the process. They will still provide mentoring help and provide potential business partners and customers.

The club isn’t only about starting a new business. While that is the main reason for the group, they also have a guest speaker collection with various business and entrepreneurial backgrounds. These inspirational figures give great advice for not only starting a business, but also for life and how you can build success in all aspects.

The guest speaker events are more than just an advice series, as they also function as a chance for students to build or improve their network. Some groups have contacted speakers and asked them for help in their businesses, whether that be funding, marketing, or many other forms of business help. This also assists them with the overall business plan and provides them with an outside viewpoint of their product/service.

The Entrepreneurship Club here at Spring-Ford is an excellent club. As a member, I really enjoy the time I spend at club meetings and with my team members for our business. In fact, my company — LoanLytics — provides people with the opportunity to rent outdoor activity items. This is a win-win for both parties, as the renter makes some easy money on the side, while the borrower pays for something they’ll only use once or twice, at a very low price.

For those who are creative thinkers and are passionate about their ideas, and wish to grow overall as individuals, the Entrepreneurship Club may be for you.