TGA Launches Youth Based Tennis Franchise Company Nationwide

Franchises Offer Business Opportunities to Grow Tennis in Partnership with USTA

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 29, 2012

TGA, the company that is introducing golf to thousands of children nationwide through programs at schools and community based organizations, is set to do the same for tennis in partnership with the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

This month the innovative youth sports franchise company will begin awarding franchises for its newly minted TGA Premier Youth Tennis, modeled after its successful eight-year-old TGA Premier Junior Golf program that is now in more than 2,500 schools, reaching upwards of 177,000 students in 23 states.

As with the golf program, the youth tennis franchises will create business ownership opportunities for motivated self-starters who are passionate about tennis, and job opportunities within communities for people who enjoy working with children. At the same time these individuals will change the landscape of growing tennis.

“I’ve always believed the best way to grow youth participation in tennis and golf is to make them accessible by bringing the sports directly to the masses through programs that lay a foundation for future growth,” said Joshua Jacobs, TGA’s founder and CEO. “We are excited for the opportunity to introduce kids from all backgrounds to the fun, positive, character-building aspects of tennis while creating business ownership and job opportunities in the industry.”

The TGA/USTA partnership aligns with USTA’s youth initiative, 10 and Under Tennis, which is geared towards getting more kids to participate in tennis using modified equipment and courts tailored to a child’s size and age. Together they have developed curriculums for K - 3rd grade and 4th – 8th grade, enriching kids’ lives through physical fitness, health and nutrition, education, and character building.

Steve Tanner, chief operating officer of TGA Premier Golf and Tennis, who oversees separate tennis and golf franchises, along with joint tennis-golf franchises, said the blueprint for tennis franchises would be the same as golf.

“We are generating tremendous initial interest in tennis franchises across the country due to our strong pedigree of proving this model with golf and the unique opportunities our partnership with the USTA provides. We’re excited about offering geographical franchises and working with people who are entrepreneurial, passionate about tennis and interested in owning their own business that grows the sport.”

TGA is expected to attract tennis industry professionals, as well as business professionals to develop TGA tennis franchises. Some owners of golf franchises, who wanted to expand their existing business, have already begun snapping up the first tennis opportunities TGA made available.

“We are currently launching initial tennis franchises with 35% of our existing franchise owners around the country,” said Tanner. “This was the first step in deploying tennis and I think it speaks highly of the opportunity that so many TGA golf franchisees are investing in tennis. We anticipate many more franchises coming online in 2012.”

Jacobs and Tanner are optimistic on the potential for growth and success for the in school tennis model. They said tennis will adapt to a school setting very easily using the modified equipment developed by the USTA.

“We think it’s going to be huge,” Tanner said. “With the USTA’s 10 and Under equipment, and the ability to put down lines and put up nets anywhere, kids are able to experience playing tennis with each other on a school campus.”

“By combining the USTA’s terrific initiatives for teaching tennis to kids, together with our full service consistent enrichment programs, we are filling a gap in the player pathway and delivering tennis to a nationwide youth audience.”

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TGA Premier Youth Tennis (TGA) is a youth development program executed through a unique franchise opportunity for self-starters who enjoy working with children in a business venture that provides entry into youth sports, education, and the tennis industry. TGA introduces youth to tennis at elementary and middle schools, child care centers, and community based organizations, through a multi-level enrichment program before transitioning them to camps, clinics and leagues at local tennis facilities nationwide. TGA is a national supporting organization of the Afterschool Alliance and Lights on Afterschool and is a corporate advocate and national partner of the President’s Challenge on Physical Fitness, as well as the National Council of Youth Sports. For more information on TGA, visit http://www.playtga.com or follow @tgayouthtennis on Twitter.

Media Contacts:

TGA Premier Youth Tennis

Joshua Jacobs – Founder and CEO

(310) 333-0622

Joshua(at)playtga(dot)com

Kevin Frisch – Public Relations

(989) 614-0241

kevin(at)playtga(dot)com

Kevin Frisch

(989) 614-0241
Email Information

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TechnoServe and The MasterCard Foundation Partner to Connect Rural Youth to Valuable Entrepreneurship Opportunities

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA--(Marketwire -02/27/12)- TechnoServe and The MasterCard Foundation are partnering on an $11.5 million, four-year program to help rural young women and men in East Africa transition to economic independence. The Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE) program will deliver a comprehensive package of services such as skills training, business development and mentoring to young people ages 18 to 30 in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The program aims to equip 15,000 rural youth with the skills and knowledge to capitalize on economic opportunities and increase their incomes. As a result, the program plans to indirectly benefit more than 67,000 family members.

Youth unemployment is a major problem in the three target countries, especially in rural areas. Many young people see farming as a last resort, and formal employment is difficult to find. Growing numbers of rural youth are migrating to urban areas. Those who stay often lack the skills and knowledge to capitalize on the opportunities available to them.

"It's imperative that we focus on opportunities for youth in order to ensure a stable and prosperous future for the region," said TechnoServe President and CEO Bruce McNamer. "With the right support, young people can identify and capitalize on opportunities that will improve their livelihoods and strengthen rural industries."

STRYDE draws on TechnoServe's experience in both developing agricultural industries and promoting entrepreneurship. Agriculture in East Africa is a significant and growing sector of the economy and has the potential to create sustainable employment and income opportunities both on- and off-farm. Through this program, young people will learn about these opportunities and gain the market-ready skills to benefit from this demand.

Participants in this program will take part in a three-month training program to develop life, entrepreneurship and career skills, and they will receive an additional nine months of mentorship and counseling from a youth trainer. Participants also will gain practical business exposure through an experiential business exercise. Young women and men will have the opportunity to participate in program-sponsored business plan competitions and local job fairs featuring community businesses. The knowledge they gain from STRYDE will help them to identify the best economic opportunity for their skills and interests.

"Agriculture in East Africa is a significant and growing sector of the economy and has the potential to create sustainable employment especially for young people in rural communities," said Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. "This project will provide young people with skills and connect them to opportunities to participate in the economy."

This program aligns with The MasterCard Foundation's Youth Learning Strategy to promote employability skills and entrepreneurship for young people. The STRYDE program is The Foundation's first partnership in agriculture in East Africa.

About TechnoServe

TechnoServe empowers people in the developing world to build businesses that break the cycle of poverty. A growing enterprise generates jobs and creates other income opportunities for poor people, enabling them to improve their lives and secure a better future for their families. Since its founding in 1968, the U.S.-based nonprofit has helped to create or expand thousands of businesses, benefiting millions of people in more than 40 countries. The Financial Times has rated TechnoServe one of the top five NGOs for corporate partnerships. TechnoServe's corporate partners include Cargill, The Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, J.P. Morgan, Nestle-Nespresso, Olam International, Peet's Coffee & Tea and Unilever, among others. Charity Navigator has awarded its highest Four Star ranking to TechnoServe for five straight years. www.technoserve.org

About The MasterCard Foundation

The MasterCard Foundation advances microfinance and youth learning to promote financial inclusion and prosperity. Through collaboration with committed partners in 48 countries, The MasterCard Foundation is helping people living in poverty to access opportunities to learn and prosper. An independent, private foundation based in Toronto, Canada, the Foundation was established through the generosity of MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company's initial public offering in 2006. www.themastercardfdn.org

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Creating Opportunities for Youth, This Summer and Beyond - Whitehouse.gov (press release)

Michael Kempner, a member of the White House Council for Community Solutions, recently blogged about Summer Jobs+, the President’s push to partner with the private sector to create summer employment opportunities for more than 250,000 young Americans.  Michael rightly points out that a summer job means so much more than simply a paycheck – it provides “hope, [a] future, respect, and better lives for the nearly 7 million young people who…don’t attend school or have a job.”  His message challenges other business owners to consider the impact they could have in the life of a young person right now by offering them a chance at employment.

"Last week, President Obama kicked off of Summer Jobs+, the administration’s partnership with the private sector with the goal of creating 250,000 employment opportunities by this summer for our nation’s youth.

I was there with fellow member of the White House Council for Community Solutions, musician Jon Bon Jovi, to do a tweet-up about the importance of connecting young people with mentorship, teaching soft and hard skills, and providing employment this summer and beyond.

A summer job means hope, future, respect, and better lives for the nearly 7 million young people who, right now in the United States, don’t attend school or have a job.  Several of these young people were on hand at the event to share their stories, and what they said was exactly in line with what Jon Bon Jovi and I heard on our listening tour this past summer. Young people want jobs…they want opportunity. They are optimistic, they want to be seen as the hope for the future, not a burden to be dealt with.  But they don’t often know how to find the programs and help they need, or they have a past that gets in the way of their future.

Think back on your own summer jobs when you were young  – whether it was mowing lawns, caring for neighbor’s children, interning in local government, or flipping burgers – those jobs taught us discipline, work ethic, time management, budgeting – life skills that made us better employees and in some cases, eventually, employers.

But the recession has driven youth unemployment up to unprecedented levels. Only 25 percent of teens were employed this summer.  Where are young people learning these important skills?

The answer is, they aren’t. And it’s a dangerous trend for the future prosperity of our country. A “disconnected” youth will make about $400,000 less than their working, educated peers over a lifetime, along with other implications.

There are things we can do to put all young people on the right track. It might be difficult to think about summer jobs in the middle of winter, but those of us who run our own companies should be thinking about it now and planning ahead. If all the small and medium businesses provided just one internship or opportunity to one disadvantaged youth this summer we could change millions of lives.

Why wait? Provide one or two opportunities this winter. Something to think about…

To learn more visit www.dol.gov/summerjobs."

 Paul Monteiro is an Associate Director at the White House Office of Public Engagement.

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Youth business group launched - New Zimbabwe.com

A NEW business organisation was launched Friday to help young entrepreneurs take advantage of emerging opportunities as the country steps-up implementation of its indigenisation and economic empowerment programme.

Promoters of the Zimbabwe Youth Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZYCCI) said they were looking to facilitate youth participation in the indigenisation of the country’s economy as well as provide a platform for youths to influence policy making.

“Over the past three years, the Zimbabwean economic architecture has changed immensely, with increased recognition of youths as key to both the present and future economic development processes,” ZYCCI inaugural chair, Brian Sedze said in a statement.

“The Zimbabwe Youth Chamber of Industry and Commerce is tailored to provide a networking platform for the economic and social well being of the youth, anchored on best standards of governance.”

Zimbabwe is pushing a controversial indigenisation programme under which foreign companies are now required by law to ensure locals control at least 50 percent of their operations.

Critics say the policy would scare-away foreign investment desperately needed in an economy battling to recover from a decade-long recession.

However, the government insists the programme will help economically empower the country’s historically marginalised black majority.

In his New Year message, Empowerment Minister Savior Kasukuwere said the programme was also aimed at opening up new opportunities for young and emerging entrepreneurs as well as ensure they form “the foundation of our indigenised economy”.

“2012 shall see us prioritize the capacity building of our youths, ensuring that they are endowed with the necessary entrepreneurial and business management skills to guarantee their successful economic empowerment,” Kasukuwere said.

“In this regard a Youth Development Fund has to date made no less than US$40 million available to young entrepreneurs, which funds have been placed under transparent co-management between the Ministry and reputable financial institutions such as Stanbic
Bank, CBZ and CABS.”

Sedze said ZYCCI would provide a platform for youths to take advantage of such government facilities and others made available by private companies as well as influence policy making.

“We have recognized that there is need to champion sustainable economic participation and empowerment of the youth, including increasing advocacy for the inclusion of the youth agenda in the formulation of government policy- specifically related to enabling full participation in industry and commerce,” he said.

ZYCCI would also push the representation of the youth in boards, trusts and policy organs, Sedze added.

“ZYCCI will soon forge alliances and partnerships with other chambers confederations to advocate for policies & practices that encourage full employment of both the human capital and other resources within the country for the benefit of the indigenous Zimbabweans,” he said.

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