Meeting the President was ‘Mind-Blowing,’ New Bedford 18-year-old says
SCOTT
New Bedford Standard-Times
Ayesha Aleem
Boston University Washington News Service
Oct. 20, 2009
WASHINGTON – At 18, Scott Paiva has already placed third in a national business competition and has had a personal meeting with the president. The graduate of New Bedford High School developed a business plan for a tax preparation service that caters to student clients.
Currently a freshman at Suffolk University in Boston, Paiva placed third in the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge 2009 sponsored by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and Oppenheimer Funds.
The top three winners were given a tour of the White House and then met with the president in the Oval Office, Paiva said..
”When we heard him say, ‘Come on in, guys,’ that’s when I knew this was really happening,” he said. The meeting lasted only about five minutes but was still “mind-blowing” for the teenager.
“He looks just like he does on TV,” Paiva said about the president. “Really tall.”
The entrepreneurship competition, which is open to high school students across the country who complete the semester or year-long program run by the foundation, allows students to refine a business plan with help from professionals. Contestants must clear a series of qualifying rounds before the final competition in New York City. This year’s judges included Bobbi Brown, founder and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, and Steven Brill, co-founder and CEO of Journalism Online.
Paiva won $2,500 for Express Tax Service, which he created. He originally took the entrepreneurship class as an elective at New Bedford High School. “Something to fill the slot,” Paiva said. But as he progressed through the competition, he was able to develop his product from a school project to a real-life business plan, he said.
“In the very beginning, it was still a tax preparation service for everyone,” he said. Paiva later identified his target group as students. This idea came from the large number of students in the Boston area and the fact that H&R Block, a popular tax preparation company, does not specifically cater to students, Paiva said.
Growing up in a finance-focused family played a big role in his success, Paiva said.P His family owns Paiva Financial Services in New Bedford. He called his father, Carlos, his “role model.”
He also attributes his success to Ken Gouveia, who taught the high school entrepreneurship class.
“I knew from the first week that he would do well,” Gouveia said about Paiva.
The competition is a “culmination of work students do in classrooms through the year,” said Clare McCully, executive director of the foundation’s New England program. “It’s a continuing, learning process.”
The competition, which has taken place since 1987, has unearthed business plans for catering businesses, babysitting services and cupcake businesses, she said. A 2009 New England finalist developed a prescription-delivery system for seniors in collaboration with Walgreens, McCully said.
The 2009 competition saw 24,000 nationwide entries from which 28 finalists were selected.
“Every year I see a great improvement in the business plans,” she said. “This year I was bowled over.”
McCully said she looked forward to seeing what Scott does in his life. “I told his father Scott was someone I would trust my taxes with,” she said. “All of this couldn’t have happened to a nicer young man.”
Since his victory, Paiva said he has received a wave of messages. “From extended family, people I don’t talk to much, people I don’t know,” he said. “It’s really overwhelming. Really exciting.”
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