Girl School What makes a young woman want to own a business? A little education will help.

Since the Internet era unfolded, you've heard a lot about 19-, 20- or 21-year-old males plunging into the excitement of piloting start-ups. But did you ever wonder why you weren't reading about the female equivalents of Marc Andreessen and Jerry Yang? Aren't young women interested in entrepreneurship?

Absolutely yes, says Joline Godfrey, CEO of Independent Means Inc., a company that operates summer camps introducing girls ages 13 to 19 to business ownership and investing. "Girls are flocking to this stuff; once they get access to the information, we see they're hungry for it," says Godfrey, who started in 1996 with a single location. This year, she expects to run 12 camps in North America plus several in Australia.

Independent Means isn't the only game in town. You can find a whole laundry list of organizations offering entrepreneurial training to girls, including women's colleges like Seton Hill College and Carlow College in Pennsylvania, Columbia College in South Carolina and Midway College in Kentucky. There's also Mother and Daughter Entrepreneurs-In Teams, sponsored by the Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation, for 13- and 14-year-old girls and their moms. The federal government has even gotten into the act: The Office of Women's Business Ownership has a Web site-www.discoverbusiness.com-to introduce girls to entrepreneurship. (For a listing of other entrepreneurship programs for girls, visit www.entrepreneur.com/colleges.)

But what's interesting about all these programs is that the majority target pre-college girls, and while, in general, there aren't a lot of people under 22 starting companies, those who do tend to be males.

Amy Liu, a 2001 graduate of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, is one exception. At 20, she and three friends launched a company called OrangeSorbet.com. "It's a local [online] marketplace that started as a way to allow students to buy and sell used textbooks," says Liu, now 21.

Liu credits her studies as a business major with awakening her zest for entrepreneurship. "During my junior year, some students from Versity.com, who started their company as Michigan undergrads, came to my class to discuss their Web site, which offers free lecture notes online, and how they got $11 million in venture capital," Liu recalls. "After that, I realized [entrepreneurship] was something I wanted to do, and I jumped right in and did it."

But few women follow Liu's path. "You don't see young women leaving school to start companies as often as men. Young women often feel they need to master things before they undertake them, while young men just do it," says Allyn Morrow, associate professor and director of the MBA program at Chatham College in Pittsburgh.

That doesn't mean female college students aren't interested in entrepreneurship. Business program directors at colleges nationwide show women are actively studying and preparing for business ownership. And Ken Morse, managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, applauds the decision not to rush into business while still in school.

Morse sees the next generation of women entrepreneurs coming into their own in the next decade. "We're building a strong base, and that doesn't happen overnight," he says. "We're filling the pipeline, and we're doing it the old-fashioned way-with hard work, patience and a long attention span."

Entrepreneurial Education For Girls

A growing number of programs and resources empower girls toenvision themselves as entrepreneurs. Take a look at a sampling ofwhat's available:

Camp Entrepreneur, held eachJune at the University of North Florida, is a one-week day camp forgirls ages 14 to 17 that teaches entrepreneurship by exposing girlsto business plan writing and presenting; a mocktail party, wherethey learn to network; an etiquette luncheon and business fashionshow; and introductions to professional women who serve as mentors.To apply, call Mollie Lawerence at (904) 620-2470 or visit www.unf.edu/coba/cee.

The Center for WomenEntrepreneurs at Columbia College in South Carolinaoperates a one-week summer camp each July to help high schoolsophomores and juniors understand the ins and outs of operating acompany. Participants create and present a business plan to a panelof real lenders. For information, call Vicki Brown or Susan Davis(803) 786-3108, or visit www.nawbomadison.org.

Girls and Young Women Entrepreneurs: True StoriesAbout Starting and Running a Business Plus How You Can Do ItYourself by Frances A. Karnes, Suzanne M. Beanand Elizabeth Verdick (Free Spirit Publishing), offers successstories, words of inspiration and a how-to section.

Girls' Biz, a programoperated from September to June in conjunction with the Madison,Wisconsin, chapter of the National Association of Women BusinessOwners, targets girls in sixth through eighth grades. Participantslearn how to function as a team, jointly develop a businessconcept, present it and then receive real capital to implementtheir ideas. For information, call (608) 273-1600.

The Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women(GROW), along with West Michigan Girl Scouts, runs aone-week program in July for girls in seventh through ninth grades.Students develop a business idea, take field trips to visit womenentrepreneurs and conclude the program with a presentation of theirbusiness plans. For details, call Paula Brush at (616)458-3404.

How To be a Teenage Millionaireby Art Beroff & T.R. Adams (Entrepreneur press) is afact-filled starter's guide that shows 13- to 17-year-olds howthey can turn their hobbies, skills and interests intoprofit-making ventures.

Independent Means targets girlsages 14 to 19 with two-week summer camps running from June toAugust that introduce the concepts of entrepreneurship (CampStartup) and investing (Summer $tock). The company also operatesthe "Business Plan Competition," in which five girls win$2,500 each for their plans. The deadline to submit entries forthat competition is August 15. For details about the contest or thecamps, call (805) 965-0475 or visit www.independentmeans.com.

Mother and Daughter Entrepreneurs in-Teams(MADE-IT), created in 1995 by the Ewing Marion KauffmanFoundation, teams seventh-grade girls with their mothers for atwo-year program that includes business training, mentoring andmore. It's currently operating in Kansas City, Kansas;Binghamton, New York; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts; Smithtown, NewYork; and Sioux City, Iowa. Teams compete within each city; onewinning team from each city attends a one-week residential camp inJune in Kansas City, Missouri, and a national business competitionwhere they're eligible for awards and cash prizes. Once thebusinesses are up and running, teams receive continuous mentoringand guidance from program organizers. For details, call Carol Allenat (816) 932-1158.

Women's Business Center inWashington, DC, has started the Young Women'sBusiness Club, an after-school program for girls ages 14 to 18 thatteaches participants about businesses and helps them start onebefore the end of the semester. The program was launched inconjunction with the National Foundation for TrainingEntrepreneurs. For details, call (202) 785-4922.

Women's Enterprise Centre ofManitoba in Canada offers a number of programs,including the Mind Your Own Business Contest awarding $500 each tothe five best business plans submitted by girls ages 15 to 18. Formore information, call (800) 203-2343 within Manitoba, (204)988-1860 outside, or visit the organization's Web site.

Women's Enterprise Institute at MidwayCollege in Kentucky targets girls ages 13 to 17 with a one-weekresidential summer camp program-Enterprising Girls-thatexplores entrepreneurial ideas. Girls develop a business idea,learn about teamwork and meet successful women business owners. Forinformation, call (859) 846-5800.

Contact Sources

• Chatham College, (412) 365-1820, www.chatham.edu
• Independent Means Inc., (800) 350-1886, www.independentmeans.com
• MIT Entrepreneurship Center, http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu