Entrepreneurship is one of the most important values one can retain, as it is the key to a strong economy and the foundation of a successful country. Entrepreneurship drives innovation, which allows for the creation of new, revolutionary businesses that boost economies and markets on a global scale. It is the driver of modern problem-solving skills, with entrepreneurs creating solutions to problems in society. Without entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, and other vital values would not exist, which would lead to global disaster. Therefore, spurring the growth of entrepreneurship is vital to not just our communities, but the world as a whole.

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A study from Millennial Branding shows that 72% of high school students have aims to start a business. Financial literacy is an extremely important factor of being an entrepreneur, as with little knowledge of how to manage money, it is extremely hard to earn and keep track of the money that flows in and out of a business. Therefore, financial literacy is a vital concept that Launch teaches to students. However, according to CNBC news, less than 25% of students in the US have access to finance-related education. Only 23 states require a personal finance course to graduate high school, less than half of the states in the US. However, in the ones that offer said courses but don’t mandate them to graduate, 1 in 10 students have access to such a course, and in minority-rich cities, the number doubles to 1 in 20. “A lot of schools that don’t feel like they have the resources to implement this course end up not doing it,” said Yanely Espinal, the educational outreach director of Next Gen Personal Finance. In the schools around Austin, although the high schools offer some entry-level courses, they do not mandate them, and the closest a middle school has come to a business course is Business Information Management, a course that teaches students how to use Microsoft Office, which has little to no relation to finance, management, marketing, or similar concepts. These trends in local and national communities are grave problems in our societies, as insufficient business knowledge hurts children in future classes, assignments, projects, and more activities important to their careers. These alarming trends and previous experiences in which the founder, Aryan, had insufficient business knowledge inspired the creation of Launch, dissolving this societal problem and allowing the next generation of entrepreneurs to flourish in their ventures.

 

Launch focuses on elementary schoolers because elementary school is where foundational concepts are taught and expected to be retained and developed throughout the rest of one's education. Very Well Family describes how kids explore the fundamentals like reading, writing, math, science, and social studies in elementary school years. Fundamentals of core subjects are taught at this level of schooling, and Launch argues that business concepts are, if not more, just as important as core concepts learned during entry-level years of schooling. Without business knowledge, there would be no creativity or innovation in global markets and economies, leading to vast economic challenges countries may not be able to overcome, and not teaching students concepts in the business field only risks that this outcome may occur one day.

 

Aryan created Launch as his DECA project in the Project Management: Career Development event, but due to its immense success, gaining the State Finalist title at DECA State CDC, Launch has influenced hundreds of individuals across Austin, which inspired him to pursue Launch as a non-profit organization. Launch is the catalyst to solve these problems, not only in Austin, but across the country.