Nancy Xiao

Nancy Xiao is a 16-year-old high school student. She's also a budding entrepreneur who wants to study international business and marketing in college, and perhaps, one day start her own business. Thanks to a new program introduced last fall by the Seattle chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the Inglemoor High School student may be well on her way to creating that first venture.

Xiao is one of 18 high school students from around the region participating in TiE's new entrepreneurial training program, an effort that's designed to get high school students supercharged about starting new businesses.

"Since a young age, I've always been very business-oriented, working with my parents' company, and also involved with school business programs and clubs," said Xiao, who leads her school's Future Business Leaders of America club. "What intrigued me the most about (the program) was the opportunities it would lend, and I was excited to pursue an idea of my own, and bring it to a competitive setting."

The TiE program started last October, with students meeting on Saturday's to discuss topics such finance, accounting, law and team building. It will conclude this Spring when the students -- broken into teams -- participate in a business plan competition where $10,000 in scholarship money is on the line.

Xiao, whose parents run an import/export business, said she's been impressed by the quality of the speakers and instructors.

They have included some of Seattle's better known entrepreneurs and service providers, including angel investor Geoff Entress, attorney Craig Sherman and entrepreneurs Shirish Nadkarni, Raghav Kher and Chris Dishman.

Now, the students have broken into small teams with a goal of writing a business plan and getting their new businesses off the ground. Xiao's team is currently focusing efforts on selling flavored teas in which a portion of the proceeds will be donated to clean water efforts throughout the world.

The tea bottles will be made from sustainable materials, with each variety of tea highlighting a country on the bottle. If a customer purchased the "Sri Lanka tea" -- for example -- it would feature flavors from that country with a portion of the proceeds going to schools and villages there.

Other teams also are currently kicking around ideas. Atul Pai, a 10th grader at the International Community School, is working with three other students on a business to create cheap ACT/SAT preparation classes. So far, he's been thrilled with the classes and the hands-on training.

"Most importantly, I think this program has given us a good overall look at running a business, which is something that most schools don't teach," the 15-year-old said.

Members of Seattle's startup community also are offering their support, serving as advisers to the individual teams as they gear up for the final business plan competition.

Precision Polling co-founder Gaurav Oberoi, who previously sold Seattle startup Bill Monk to Obopay, is currently serving as a mentor to a team working on a new hardware device.

Oberoi -- who also runs the Seattle Tech Startups group -- said he's been impressed with the knowledge of the students. In his first meeting, students asked for his advice on how they should incorporate their business. (He advised a C Corp., since there's a chance the team might eventually need to raise venture capital).

"I think it is a great idea," said Oberoi of the program. "When I was younger, I wish I had exposure to entrepreneurs."