The above quote speaks to the collaboration that has been established between the Citi Foundation and Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). Through activating the entrepreneurial mindset in young people and building their knowledge about business startups, our efforts are affecting young people and empowering them to become self-sufficient for a lifetime. It’s amazing to see the progress of youth in just a few months as they begin to approach the world’s challenges and opportunities with an innovator’s eye.

For instance, we just hosted our tenth annual National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge. The top 40 student finalists from across the United States (of 20,000 youth reached last school year) competed for cash and prizes to help advance their business and education. These top regional winners from across the nation pitched their business ideas ranging from new apps, games, and medical equipment, to custom clothing, healthy snacks, and entertainment.

Many of the students felt like they had the right stuff to become an entrepreneur, but didn’t really know how to begin.

For example, Crystal Sanchez – the winner of the national challenge – was devastated when she got a call over a year ago from her best friend who was raped during her first year of college.  In that moment, Crystal became committed to protecting other women from sexual assault.

So when Crystal was a 12th grader taking a NFTE course at the Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale, CA, she developed her award-winning business plan for Guardian Locket, a security signal disguised as a necklace.  Through a click of a button, the cellular chip embedded in the locket sends an alert to local authorities and emergency contacts that the wearer is being attacked.

Today Crystal attends the University of California at Irvine, and is preparing to launch her business in the spring, thanks to the $25,000 prize package she was just awarded at the NFTE national competition.

Additionally, both runners up at the National Competition also developed business ideas during their NFTE classes that also stemmed from personal passions. For instance, Urbana Anam and Jannatul Rowshan from Queens, NY, created their business, Urbanalifa Hijabs, selling customizable hijabs, based on their desire to empower other Muslim women who wear Hijabs to feel stylish while maintaining their religious modesty.

Kenneth Huertas of Downey, CA, created an eco-friendly business –  A Touch of Eco, an environmentally-friendly auto detailing service and mobile app – because of his concerns about the environment.

And we couldn’t be more grateful to the Citi Foundation. As lead presenter for our National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, and NFTE’s largest equity investor, the Citi Foundation has made it possible for NFTE to serve 1,500 youth this year, and we look forward to serving 2,500 additional youth with Citi Foundation’s support by June 2016.

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NFTE is an international nonprofit that empowers youth to tackle challenges as tenacious innovators and global citizens. Through our project-based curriculum, we put youth in control of their futures. Through the Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress initiative, including NFTE and the Citi Foundation’s Make Your Job program, we have made a tremendous impact on the lives of youth by imparting the entrepreneurial skills necessary for the innovation economy. In addition to the thousands of young people who benefited from entrepreneurship education in school and online, the Make Your Job partnership also seeded actual businesses.

Shawn Osborne is the CEO of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education to young people from under-resourced communities.