ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION

ARKANSAS ECONOMIC ACCELERATION FOUNDATION (AEAF)

Throughout its successful lending history, Arkansas Capital saw an emerging need to promote and foster the development of innovation and entrepreneurship. We founded AEAF in 1999 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to give educators — from grade school through the university level — a no-cost opportunity to introduce entrepreneurship to youth and young adults; thereby creating a pipeline of entrepreneurs. We do this through hands-on, highly-incentivized business plan competitions modeled to the realities of entrepreneurship and real-world expectations in the lending community.
1,500
Arkansans have volunteered to judge the competitions
10,000
Students from 5th grade to college level involved to date
$1.91m
in prizes given to innovative and hard-working students

BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITIONS

We provide students of all ages the real-world experience of creating and owning a business with our statewide programs.

GOVERNORS CUP

TRI STATE COMPETITION

Y.E.S.

Y.E.S. 2.0

DONALD W. REYNOLDS GOVERNORS CUP

Founded in 2001, The Donald W. Reynolds Governors Cup – a collegiate business plan competition with one of the largest prize pools in the country – sends a message to students, educators, and the business community that the resources to succeed in business can be found in Arkansas.

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DONALD W. REYNOLDS TRI-STATE

In 2004, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation expanded, adding another competition in which the top Arkansas teams advance to the Tri-State Competition in Las Vegas, competing against winning teams from Nevada and Oklahoma for a share of $118,000.

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Y.E.S. FOR ARKANSAS (5th–8th GRADES)

Y.E.S. introduces students in grades 5–8 to entrepreneurship through project-based learning. Throughout the competition, students are given the opportunity to showcase creativity, intuition, problem-solving skills and innovation as they collaborate to think of a viable business idea.

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Y.E.S. FOR ARKANSAS 2.0 (9th–12th GRADES)

Y.E.S. 2.0 for high-schoolers is an online-only business plan competition that fosters the development of entrepreneurial thinking as students prepare to enter postsecondary institutions and/or the workforce. Thousands of students have participated and have been awarded more than $20,000 in cash prizes.

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OUR AFFILIATE COMPANIES