INCubateredu: The Importance and Impact of Entrepreneurial Mindsets in Young Women

BY ZEHRA SAHIN

As summer begins, students around the country are selecting their courses for the upcoming school year. This past May, I had the opportunity to speak with Dana Jones, a local Texas INCubatoredu teacher, on the importance of taking business and entrepreneurship classes in high school. INCubatoredu is a two-year long business class that offers “an authentic entrepreneurship experience as [high school] students develop their own product or service startup.”

INCubatoredu logo. Uncharted Learning

Students have the opportunity to learn under the guidance of industry professionals respective to their product or service with weekly check-ins and guest speakers. Furthermore, several students have landed internships at the companies of their mentors, serving as a gateway into the business landscape. 

Gender wage gap 2023. Economic Policy Institute

Jones expressed how instrumental hand-on courses, such as INCubatoredu, are for the development of young women exploring their interests. She emphasized that “this class shows young girls that their crazy ideas or dreams are actually achievable.” 

In historically male-dominated industries such as business and computer science, women can oftentimes be underestimated by their male counterparts. Although workplace equality has made great progress in the last few decades, the gender gap in opportunities and pay is still evident in several industries.

With this, instilling an entrepreneurial mindset within the upcoming generation of businesswomen becomes ever so important. Through courses and teachers that encourage young girls to take that first step, this growing generation will have the potential to make transformative changes in these male-dominated industries.