Why SAP hosted 70 high-schoolers at its Newtown Square HQ this month

SAP digital strategist Nick Robinson was telling the story of TechCrunch to a room full of 70 students from Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, Franklin Learning Center and Camden High School.
Back in 2006, he said, the world found out about YouTube’s acquisition through a little blog called TechCrunch. Four years later, TechCrunch was sold to AOL for a reported $25 million dollars.
The message? Anyone can start a business with an internet connection, relationships, data and hard work.
Robinson’s talk was part of an annual technology workshop organized by SAP and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), which I run locally. NFTE aims to teach entrepreneurship to students in low-income communities.
Held at SAP’s Newtown Square headquarters, the workshop was offered to students in NFTE classes at their schools. I worked with SAP VP of Delivery John Beaumont to assemble a team of SAP experts to share insights on the role of Big Data, the importance of the Internet of Things and the impact of social media.
Every year, SAP’s corporate responsibility arm donates to NFTE. Though SAP is one of many local NFTE supporters, like Actua, Safeguard Scientifics and human resources firm Conner Strong & Buckelew, SAP is one of the most involved: they’re the only local supporter that hosts a tech workshop for students and sends their employees to volunteer at NFTE’s annual business plan competition.