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One of the best resources a SAGE team is its Business Advisory Board. A SAGE team can learn a great deal by seeking advice and expertise of real-world entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Successful business people admire SAGE teams for completing ventures linking entrepreneurship and community service. When they learn about a team’s mission and goals, most of leaders will enthusiastically share their expertise, their time and sometimes their financial resources.
SAGE’s Judging Criterion #8 – SAGE judges look beyond the financial resources, however, to determine how well judging criterion eight was met. One of SAGE’s judging criteria reads:
In their activities, how effective were the students in utilizing a Business Advisory Board (each team should have at least three active BAB members, at least two of whom come from the private sector)?
In seeking our BAB members, SAGE teams are encouraged to visit the Chamber of Commerce and pick up a membership list, or visit their web site. Then, they should invite all prospective BAB members to a welcome reception at the school or at a local restaurant. It would also be advisable for a SAGE team to make a presentation to prospective BAB members about its goals and objectives.
By explicitly linking high school SAGE teams to the business community, via criterion #8, we are building in a new incentive for high schools to reach out to the business community for assistance, and for the business community to reach out to the high schools to help youth become successful.
Business leaders and entrepreneurs can serve on a SAGE team’s BAB, but they can also participate in a second way. For each SAGE tournament we recruit these individuals to serve as judges and panelists to help us select teams that will advance to the next round. Also, SAGE returns the judging sheets to the SAGE teachers, thereby giving them feedback to help them improve next year.