2016 E CITY finalists present to crowd at Ernst & Young

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E CITY Young Entrepreneur of the Year Kyndra Collins introduces herself to the judges.

On May 16, 2016 E CITY students from seven local schools in Cleveland, East Cleveland, and Painesville, competed for title of Y.O.U.'s E CITY Young Entrepreneur of the Year at Ernst & Young. Throughout the day, students showcased their business ideas with PowerPoint presentations and product demonstrations, and answered tough questions from the judges.

In the evening, the top six business ideas were presented to a full room of sponsors, volunteers, and business leaders from the community.  The exciting event ended as Kyndra Collins, CEO of Motion, was awarded the top honor of Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Both Kyndra and Kaitlynn Boykin, CEO of Snoodle, will compete in the NFTE Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York City in October.

A special thanks to our judges, Beau Daane from Fairmount Santrol, Marcus Harris from Starbucks, and Erich Holmes from Ernst & Young, as well as our evening's speaker Jeffrey Malbasa, CFO of Spero-Smith Investment Advisors. We would also like to thank our program and event sponsors: Americhem, Burton D. Morgan, Business of Good Foundation, Dollar Bank, Dominion East Ohio, Edwin D. Northrup II Fund, Ernst & Young, Federal Process Corporation, Harvard Business Club of NEO, KeyBank, The Lubrizol Corporation, PNC, Robert Half OfficeTeam, United Black Fund, and The Veale Foundation.