MADICO MAKERS launches with eight operating student ventures

By Nathan Brooks

Eight Madison County High School students were already serving customers and generating revenue when the Madison County Chamber of Commerce launched MADICO MAKERS on Oct. 22. Chamber officials said the students were developing and operating their own businesses through the program.

That puts the initiative beyond a classroom exercise from its first session. The cohort’s ventures range from food-based businesses to auto detailing and other services, according to the Chamber. Their immediate assignment is equally concrete: students are expected to submit business plans for the businesses they are actively building within the next two weeks.

Who is guiding the eight entrepreneurs?

Madison County Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Jill Parham addressed the students during the launch meeting at the chamber’s office. The Oct. 22 session began with a presentation from Tripp Strickland, an entrepreneur born and raised in Madison County, and then turned to the prior local competition winner, according to the Chamber.

The Chamber said Grant Foster, last year’s local winner of its MADICO FLEX competition and the entrepreneur behind Grant’s Woodwork Designs, spoke with student entrepreneurs during the meeting. His appearance put a recent local competition winner in the room alongside students trying to build revenue-producing businesses. The Madison County Chamber of Commerce did not identify Strickland’s company or detail the advice either entrepreneur gave.

According to the Chamber, representatives from the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center led a business-plan workshop. The session focused on helping students take the next steps in growing their businesses. The workshop added structured planning guidance to a launch meeting already built around operating ventures and local examples.

What does this change for the eight students?

For the students, MADICO MAKERS connects three kinds of support: operating experience from local entrepreneurs, planning help from the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, and future access to Madison County residents. The first checkpoint arrives within two weeks, when students are expected to submit business plans for their active businesses, the Chamber said.

For local buyers, the coming months offer a direct way to encounter the cohort’s food, auto-detailing and service businesses. Over the coming months, the program will introduce the eight entrepreneurs to the Madison County community, according to the Chamber.

Residents are being encouraged to support the ventures and follow their progress. That gives students a route to public exposure and potential customers while making the new companies easier for local buyers to find.

A two-week plan, then a community rollout

The timetable has two clear stages:

• Within two weeks: students are expected to submit business plans for the businesses they are actively building, according to chamber officials.
• Over the coming months: the program will introduce the eight entrepreneurs to the Madison County community and encourage residents to support and follow their progress.

The operating activity is already underway. Chamber officials said students were serving customers and generating revenue before the formal business-plan deadline, rather than waiting for that paperwork to begin. The Madison County Chamber of Commerce did not disclose revenue totals, business names, funding arrangements or ownership terms, so the commercial scale of the eight ventures remains unclear.

That distinction matters for anyone judging the program on business performance: the evidence establishes customer activity, not the size or profitability of the companies. The initial roster includes eight students from Madison County High School. The Chamber says they are now operating businesses and expects their plans within two weeks before the community rollout. It did not say how the students were selected, how much assistance they will receive beyond the workshop, or whether the program provides capital. Those unanswered details will shape whether early sales become durable businesses.

For Madison County businesses and residents, the cohort offers a direct channel to eight high school entrepreneurs and a timetable for formalizing their plans. The next checkpoint is the business-plan submission within two weeks; the larger test is whether the Chamber’s planned community introductions produce sustained sales for the food, auto-detailing and service ventures.