It’s pretty easy for Amish Shah to point to the milestones that line the road to JA BizTown®.

The Elkhart entrepreneur remembers when his father, Satish, would drop him off at Junior Achievement on Saturdays. As his father worked across the street at AccraPac, Amish caught the business bug at JA. He made a device that could crush the cans that piled up at his father’s factory and soon was riding his bicycle and knocking on doors to collect more orders.

After graduating from college, someone asked Amish to teach for Junior Achievement, an organization that educates students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy. For five years, Amish taught in a seventh-grade classroom at North Side Middle School where he had been a student. “How cool is it that I did JA as a kid and now I’m a young adult and I’m teaching JA in this classroom with my previous teacher Mr. Toth,” he says.

As Amish was talking with students who were feeling the impact of the Great Recession on their families, he realized that he wanted these students to experience the thriving Elkhart that he had experienced when he was a youngster. He surveyed the programs available and saw a need for a vibrant environment where students could learn economics and how to contribute to the community in which they live.

“It was just stuck in my mind, asking what we can do. Somebody’s got to do something,” says Amish, founder and CEO of Kem Krest. “So, I just envisioned what if we build a center for youth entrepreneurship.”

He wasn’t sure how to do that but knew it needed a curriculum, programming, and structure. In 2013, he learned about a program called Lemonade Day, which encourages young people to sell lemonade to instill business skills. Before long, he launched the program in Elkhart with Jodi Spataro and Stephanie Patka Mahoney.

Teachers and parents helped young people get involved in Lemonade Day and learn economics by selling sweet and tangy products. Amish found the community support for those making and selling lemonade was remarkable. He wanted to do more, and Elkhart philanthropist and leader Craig Fulmer urged him on. Soon, Junior Achievement, which had ceased operating in Elkhart for a time, was up and running again. JA, fueled by Lemonade Day and the strong operating organization Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana based in Fort Wayne, was ready to grow.

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After several years of planning and coordination with a range of others, Amish was ready to build a JA BizTown in Elkhart, modeled after one in Fort Wayne. The miniature city, constructed inside a building, has storefronts representing actual businesses and organizations in the community. It took time for staff, funding and planning to come together, but JA BizTown opened in 2022.

“Somebody’s got to do something… so I jsut envisioned what if we build a center for youth entrepreneurship.”

Amish Shah, Founder and CEO of Kem Krest

Soon students were taking on roles as CEOs, accountants and bankers. They were producing goods and services and paying for them. They were doing hands-on economics in a setting modeled after their own community. There’s even a spot for young people to donate to nonprofits via the Community Foundation of Elkhart County.

Approximately 700 students came to JA BizTown as the school year was ending in the spring 2022. The program targeting fifth-graders and sixth-graders is part of the local ecosystem to teach entrepreneurship, financial well-being, and commitment to this community. The hope for the future is that people will point to their experiences participating in Junior Achievement and JA BizTown as milestones on their own professional journeys.

The Community Foundation has committed $750,000 to JA BizTown and given $500,000 so far. Junior Achievement continues to raise funds and the Community Foundation continues to support the fundraising efforts.

This story appeared in the 2022 Annual Report