Photo courtesy of the Brad (left) and Lacey Hanchak (right)
INCubatoredu was introduced in 2017, and was the first entrepreneurship pathway course offered for high school students in Naperville Community Unit School District 203. Last year Naperville 203 purchased an additional curriculum, mxINCedu, an entrepreneurship elective available for eighth grade students.
INCubatoredu is available for sophomores, juniors and seniors at both Naperville Central and Naperville North High Schools. Each student who completes INCubatoredu can continue on the entrepreneurial pathway by taking ACCELeratoredu.
Throughout the course, students get hands-on experience in entrepreneurship by identifying a problem to solve. From there, they create their own product or service to address the problem. With mentorship from real-world business leaders, students navigate the process of building a business from the ground up.
Each student team’s hard work culminates at INCubatoredu Pitch Night, a public Shark Tank style event where selected teams pitch their entrepreneurial ideas for a chance to win additional funding that takes their projects to the next level.
For the past three years Lisa Sachdev has been an INCubatoredu mentor at Naperville North High School. With her experience in marketing in the legal industry and now for the Edward Foundation, she is able to offer a variety of experience in the business world for her current team, Easy Solutions.
“I learned about INCubatoredu because my son was in both the INCubatoredu and ACCELeratoredu classes,” Sachdev shared. “Business has always been something that we talk about as a family, and our son really loved the INCubatoredu and ACCELeratoredu classes. I thought it was really interesting, so I’m like, yeah, why not? Let’s give that a whirl.”
This year, Sachdev is working with a team called Easy Solutions. They originally began as a company called Easy Strap, selling a strap with grommets that allowed users to hold multiple items hands-free on their person. However, they recently decided to pivot into a service based company.
Brad and Lacey Hanchak have been INCubatoredu mentors at Naperville Central High School for the last two years, and the only mentors to work in a pair. Lacey owns her own business as an interior designer, with a background in graphic design and marketing. Brad has worked in the medical industry for the past 22 years with Johnson & Johnson, doing everything from training sales representatives to going into surgery with doctors.
After Brad received an email calling for INCubatoredu mentors, he shared it with Lacey.
“I thought this is kind of a great opportunity to help,” Lacey said. “I could probably help kids with my background, but I was not comfortable doing it unless Brad did it with me because he brings a whole host of other skills, so I felt like doing it together would be a good thing.”
“We’re kind of a one-package deal,” Brad joked. “We position it as a creative and business duo.”
As mentors, Sachdev and the Hanchaks guide their teams through the ups and downs of building a business from the ground up. INCubatoredu requires students to build a minimum viable product (MVP) to present at Pitch Night. Mentors help their students do many things, including contacting manufacturers, getting proper licensing and developing marketing campaigns. However, Sachdev and the Hanchaks don’t necessarily tell their students what to do.
“I may surprise [my team] in that I’m not going to give them the answers,” Sachdev explained. “I ask questions to help them work their way through their issues, but I don’t say, okay, you guys should just do X. I think that’s part of the education, learning how to work your way through that.”
“They really have a strong point of view, whether you agree with it or not,” Lacey added. “I just have to give them the knowledge I have and let them run with it.”
Being a mentor has given Sachdev and the Hanchaks the opportunity to meet and be inspired by a new generation of entrepreneurs and leaders.
“It always inspires me with the young adults we’re leading out into the world,” Sachdev said. “These people are innovative and they’re really fun to work with, it fills me with hope.”
“These kids are so talented,” Brad shared. “I’ve been surprised with how much they actually already know about business and everything else!”
Being an INCubator mentor is an incredibly rewarding experience for Sachdev. She has enjoyed her time so much that she’s even recruited more mentors for the program.
“I have a friend I recruited this year who is really loving the experience,” Sachdev shared. “I always tell potential mentors when I’m trying to recruit that you get so much out of this program. You have so much respect for future generations.”
Students benefit greatly from these opportunities, which are only possible through the help of the Naperville 203 community. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, you can learn more by contacting NEF at nef@naperville203.org.
