The winner of the competition, Jessica Cervantes, 18, of Miami, won the judges over with her Popsy Cakes - cupcakes on an eatable stick - because they are as easy on the environment as they are on the taste buds. To sweeten the deal, she plans on donating 5 percent of her annual income to the Breast Cancer Foundation.

Miami teen, Jessica Cervantes, 18, was named the winner of Oppenheimer Funds/NFTE NationalYouth Entrepreneurship Challenge for her Popsy Cakes dessert. She will donate 5 person of the dessert's proceeds to breast cancer research.
photo credit: Katina Paron/CPL Media

Cevantes is just one of 35 teens from across the country who competed to win a $10,000 prize sponsored by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a non-profit organization that provides entrepreneurship education programs to young people.

The other semi-finalists, Rodney Walker, 18, from Chicago, and Amanda Loyola, 15, from New York, as well as the others that competed, spoke on how they wanted to give back to others by offering new opportunities or just looking out for the world they live in.

Walker, co-creator of Forever Life Music & Video Productions, says, "To be an ethical business leader it takes drive, it takes passion, it takes a lot of hard work and determination, and above all it takes belief." Walker also has plans for helping others with a love for music and video by one day offering scholarships and internships through his company.

Rodney Walker, 18, won 2nd place for his Forever Life Music & Video Productions business plan. He plans to offer scholarships and internships through his company.

Loyola has a more earth-friendly agenda with her product, EcoDog Treats. Her product is not only made of environmentally safe products, but the wrapping will also be made of recyclable material.

"I hope that through my business, which is ecologically friendly, I will be helping the environment," she says.

Diana Spencer, vice-president of NFTE, says that the competition helps teach kids how to become successful and conscious business leaders. "The kids learn to follow a plan, and they learn about ethics and being honest and forthright business people in everything they do," she says. "That's a critical lesson in business."

NFTE founder Steve Marioti told CPL that he is proud that his organization has provided young people with socially conscious business skills.

Naomi and Noemi Romero, twin 16-year-old co-competitors, have realized the amount of trust it takes to run their internet business, Cosfurs, an animal cosplay masks company. Cosplay, short for costume play, is an activity where people dress up in elaborate costumes to replicate fictional characters, like those in Japanese animation.

"My business is run entirely out of trust. I never meet any of my customers." says Noemi. "They send me measurements, I build it, and I send it off to them. It's all about trust."

Being trust-worthy ethical leaders is a strong element of the NFTE philosophy, especially when the youth see fewer adult role models in the business community surfacing during the recent economic downturn.

"I think that there's been enough information out there of people who have been unethical and who have paid for it," Spencer says. "I think that they'll probably be tempted but hopefully won't be unethical."

Ethical leadership is "all about trust," says NFTE competitors Naomi and Noemi Romero whose company, Cosfurs, makes animal masks for people interested in a type of costume play, known as cosplay.

Despite the current financial atmosphere, Walker has tried to remain positive about the economy. "I wouldn't focus too much of my attention on that because if I focus on the recession, I'm going to get the recession," he says. "But if I focus on making my business prosperous and making my business profitable, I'm going to get profit and make my business prosper."

Patricia Alper, owner of the Alper Portfolio Group and a competition attendee, says that the current economic situation may be a great asset for these young entrepreneurs. "I think the skills that these kids are learning hedge against a bad market," she says. "I think that this is where it's at for our future."

NFTE alumni Rahfeal Gordon, who started his businesses -- RahGor Motivations and RahGor Publishings, while homeless is thinking about the future, too. "Today is just for the moment," he says. "Tomorrow you might have a bigger place. You might have a bigger company. You might have more clients. You just have to look at it like tomorrow is always better."

Additional reporting by Anna Arena, 13; Tatyana Bellamy Walker, 12; and Kevin Chen, 10.