7 Queens Students Win Young Entrepreneur Prizes

(L. to r.): Gail Harvey, AVP, Market Development, Bank of America, with competition winners Raphael Spiro, Shantol Henry, Qing "John" Yun Xie, Shamsul Hussein and Frasat Ahmad and Melissa Delaney-Del Valle, Citizens for NYC director of youth solutions.

A22-year-old founder of a nonprofit organization offering free cancer and cardiovascular screenings for immigrants, a 16-year-old web developer from Rego Park, a 15-year-old Forest Hills iPod case designer, a 15-year-old, also from Forest Hills, who founded a nonprofit to get books into the hands of the needy, a pair of 16-year-old publishers from Astoria, and a 16-year-old chocolatier from Jamaica are winners in the 2006 Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Awards Competition. The Queens finalists were among 20 winners citywide who displayed their products and services on May 18 at the Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Awards Exposition at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Queens residents took top honors in the individual category and in the category of CommunityBased/School-Based Business.

The annual Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Awards, administered by Citizens for NYC, recognizes and supports youth entrepreneurs, promotes youth innovation, and links youth-run ventures to the many business sectors of New York City. As a condition to the competition, each of the businesses must have an element of good citizenship. Five of the businesses are nonprofits, three are school-based businesses and the rest give back in some way to their New York City communities.

Ravneet Kaur, 22, originally from Queens, took the Grand Prize among the individual winners for founding the South Asian Community Health Project (SACH) to provide free cancer and cardiovascular screening for underserved, uninsured immigrants in all five boroughs through a partnership with NYU Medical School. Currently a student at Stanford University, Kaur started SACH following the tragic and sudden death of her aunt. She hopes to prevent the same tragedy from happening to others in her community. In addition to these health screenings, the nonprofit has translated educational materials about heart disease, diabetes and cancer into seven languages. To date, more than 3,000 people have received assistance from SACH, of whom 515 were diagnosed with disease before it was too late. As the contest's top prize winner, Kaur received a $2,500 college scholarship.

Qing "John" Yun Xie, 16, of Rego Park taught himself HTML from a book when he was 10 years old and hasn't stopped coding since. He opened his first business, which offers Linux-based web hosting solutions, when he was in the 8th grade. His company, Cirtex Corp., today serves more than 500 customers. Xie, who attends Bronx High School of Science, took First Prize in the overall competition, earning him a $1,500 grant.

Jane Xi Chen, 15, of Forest Hills, manufactures and sells iPod cases through her company iShell by JXC. Chen makes a variety of these iShell cases by hand, creating them based on the characteristics of a seashell-simplicity, beauty and durability. Chen, who also attends Bronx High School of Science, donates 7 percent of her annual income to the Lance Armstrong Foundations, which provides medical and emotional support to people with cancer.

Raphael Spiro, 15, of Forest Hills, is the founder of a student-run nonprofit venture, Bedsidebooks, which collects and donates used books and puts them into the hands of needy members of the community, including nursing homes, hospitals, shelters for battered women and wounded troops. He is also a student at Bronx High School of Science.

Glean Magazine, founded by Frasat Ahmad and Shamsul Hussein, both of Astoria and both 16 years old, won the Grand Prize in the category of Community-Based/School-Based Business. The publication is written and published by teens and educates teens about national and international news, sports and entertainment and enhances their SAT vocabulary. Glean Magazine is distributed to Ahmad's high school, Manhattan Center, and Hussein's school, Townsend Harris H.S. Glean

donates a percentage of its revenues to the Children's Aid Society.

The Candy Confection, founded by Shantol Henry, 16, from Jamaica, a nonprofit school-based enterprise, provides students at Business Magnet H.S. with handson business experience and took First Prize in the Community-Based/School-Based Business category. Students create, package and sell the candy. Henry recently conducted a large market research study that resulted in a positive impact on the Candy Confection bottom line. The company's revenues are used in part to subsidize student participation in state and national business competitions.

The grand prize winner received a college scholarship of $2,500, and the first-, secondand third-prize winners were awarded grants of $1,500, $750 and $500, respectively. Each of the remaining winners received a $150 grant, and an additional $150 to defray the costs of setting up their exhibits at the Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Exposition.

"Each of these kids is a testament to the power, potential and creativity of youth in today's marketplace. They are the future of New York City, and from what they have achieved at such a young age, not only through their business acumen but through their passion for their communities, I can say without a doubt, New York City's future is very bright," Peter H. Kostmayer, Citizens for NYC president, said. "This program could not have been possible without the support of Bank of America and its dedication to youth entrepreneurship and commitment to New York City's communities."

"Bank of America is proud to have helped found the Youth Entrepreneur Awards program and to have supported it over the past eight years as part of our overall effort to promote economic development and opportunity for today's youth," Alan Rappaport, Bank of America New York Market president, said. "Over 160 young people- America's next generation of business leaders-have benefited from the program since its inception and we are pleased to see them giving back to their communities in such an extraordinary way."

For more than 30 years, Citizens for NYC has been building stronger neighborhoods in every part of New York City. Through strategic grant making, this nonprofit organization funds nearly 300 projects in 111 neighborhoods including after-school programs, food pantries, community gardens, legal and tax referral services, neighborhood beautification, waterway and estuary revitalization and programs for new immigrants. For more information, visit www.citizensnyc.org or call 212-989-0909.