The purpose of this approximately one-year program is to teach business and leadership fundamentals by allowing teams of youngsters (ages 8-11, 12-17) to conceive, plan, and run their own Internet-based businesses.

This concept will allow students to experience the realities of planning and implementing marketing, advertising, production, financing, customer service, and growth strategies using the Internet. The key to successfully implementing the program is providing a controlled, protected environment where program participants can interact with real customers. That environment is best provided through partnering with an existing Web site that has an established audience.

KnowledgeBase, Inc., owns and maintains just such a search engine and directory of African-related Web sites called The Universal Black Pages (The UBP). Produced since June 1994, The UBP is visited by over 7000 patrons monthly who browse Web sites devoted to art, entertainment, business, sports, etc. KnowledgeBase will allow participating students to use The UBP's existing audience to perform market studies/customer surveys, post product advertisements, accept orders, etc. Correspondence can be handled electronically by setting up free email accounts through services like Hotmail.

Children will attend a two-week camp where they will receive instruction in computer/Internet and business fundamentals. After the camp concludes, they will be organized into groups that meet weekly (after school or on the weekends) to develop business plans and conduct market research under the supervision of an adult advisor. Each team then runs their business during
the week, and attends periodic meetings with their advisors to talk about the progress of their businesses.

The program requires the following elements: