About MBD: Girl Edition

Created for middle- and high-school girls, MBD: Girl Edition is a multi-faceted program designed to empower girls to hone their business acumen. In each component, girls learn what it takes to start, manage, and grow a business while developing critical-thinking and relationship-building skills. Alongside girls their own ages, with adult mentors to guide them, girls explore real-world business scenarios in a supportive environment. They learn how to be resourceful and resilient­—lifelong traits that will serve them well as business owners or in future careers.

GIRLS HOLIDAY MARKETPLACE: In a marketplace setting, girls display and sell their products and services to event attendees, and community sponsors provide funding so no participation fee is charged. It's a great way for girls to learn the ins and outs of product packaging and presentation, booth preparation, pricing, and sales. Judges award a prize to the girl-owned business with the all-around strongest presentation.

ENTREPRENEUR WORKSHOPS: Free optional workshops at the Chattanooga Public Library and at the GPS Library ensure girls have the skills to be successful at the Holiday Marketplace. These three unique sessions cover branding, booth display, seller psychology, and more.

24HOUR GENERATOR: Teams of girls are formed from public and private schools across the region. They are presented with a problem a local business is experiencing and with the help of a mentor, collaborate on ideas to solve it. They spend 24 hours developing and testing solutions before making a final pitch as a team to a panel of judges for a cash prize. It is an intense but life-changing experience as girls broaden their networks, gain new skills, and see what's possible!

CHATTANOOGA AS TEXT COURSE: During CAT, an intensive three-week female entrepreneurship symposium, participants and their adult sponsors meet with local architects, historians, engineers, regional planners, social anthropologists, and professors to gain a better understanding of their community. At the conclusion of the course, each team delivers a public prospectus for a problem they observed to a panel of business and community leaders. GPS works in partnership with Girls Inc., Boys & Girls Club of Chattanooga, and the United Way—using its HUB for Social Innovation as home base.