Alliance with the Entrepreneur Association at UCLA Anderson

For the past three years, Project ECHO has collaborated with the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management to host the Project ECHO High School Business Plan Competition.  This annual Business Plan Competition is for high school students in the Greater Los Angeles area who are studying business, following a career-technical education path or writing business plans for student-operated businesses.

In 2007, Project ECHO partnered with UCLA Anderson’s Entrepreneur Association (EA) to offer its first-ever mentor program. As a result, the Business Plan Competition was an even greater success.  Fifteen teams participated in the day-long competition with each team of high school students presenting in front of a panel of judges selected from the local business community, Anderson alumni community and current Anderson MBA candidates.  The day produced worthwhile experiences for students, Anderson mentors, teachers, parents and volunteers.

The Entrepreneur Association (EA) is the largest student organization at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.  The EA offers its 500+ members a wide range of extracurricular activities, which provide mentoring relationships as well as experiential learning.  EA helped organize the Project ECHO event and provided judges for the competition. Since 2007, the partnership has included:

Carissa Phelps, 2006-07 EA/Project ECHO Owner-Manager, states “The partnership with Project ECHO just makes sense.  EA can help match Anderson MBA students with opportunities to teach business principles and mentor teams of students as they write business plans for the competition.”
 
According to Chip Goodman, Co-Founder of Project ECHO “This is an ideal partnership.  Project ECHO becomes the link between high schools and a pool of eager MBA students anxious to help.”

UCLA Anderson School of Management is a global leader in management education, research and service. UCLA Anderson is perennially ranked among the top-tier business schools in the world. UCLA Anderson provides management education to more than 1,400 students enrolled in full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs, as well as academic master's and doctoral programs.