Corporate Vision LaunchX: Empowering Youth Entrepreneurs to Engineer Enterprises Young people are the future, poised to play an instrumental role in shaping the world around us. Yet, many face challenges that traditional systems do not prepare them for, from rapid technological change to global crises and shifting professional landscapes. To empower them, we must offer them with ample opportunities to thrive – providing them with platforms that cultivate ambition, creativity, and resilience. LaunchX is an innovating programme blending innovation with education to allow young people to unlock their full potential and achieve their dreams. We spoke to Forest Richter, President of LaunchX, as the programme is named in the 2025 Corporate Excellence Awards. With a fully remote team dispersed throughout the world, LaunchX offers a robust and rigorous curriculum designed to help develop budding entrepreneurs. Laurie Stach founded the organisation in 2012, starting with the first Launch Summer Programme held in 2013 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2014, MIT invited Laurie and the Launch programme to become a part of the Martin Trust Centre for MIT Entrepreneurship, running for several years with the school’s resource support. 2016 to 2018 marked the beginning of LaunchX’s growth, as Laurie and the team decided to leave the Trust Centre and branch into additional universities. This expansion allowed the programme to meet the growing demand for high school entrepreneurship education, providing opportunities for growth and development to a broader base of young people. From 2018 and beyond, LaunchX grew in locations and students alike. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and lockdowns subsequently enforced in 2020, LaunchX moved its services online. The programme continued to grow, with record applications and student reviews despite the ongoing difficulties. This obstacle provided LaunchX with the opportunity to leverage the powerful resource of online learning and prompted the programme to continue the 2022 summer programme via its online platform. 2023 was a pivotal year for LaunchX, with the launch of the first Innovation Programme. Through this exciting new offering, students were able to partner with existing businesses and enterprises to solve real problems of the modern business landscape. That year, LaunchX offered four programmes throughout the summer – making 2023 the largest year of Launchies.
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