The Douglas-Coffee County Chamber of Commerce is helping expand one of Coffee County’s successful student entrepreneurship initiatives by bringing together local education partners to broaden participation in Georgia FLEX.
Beginning this school year, Citizens Christian Academy will join the Coffee County School System in participating in FLEX, creating new opportunities for students across the community to develop, launch and operate their own businesses while building leadership, financial, communication and entrepreneurial skills.
FLEX — the Foundational Leadership and Entrepreneurship Experience — is a statewide entrepreneurship program for high school students that immerses participants in the real-world process of starting and operating a business. Students create actual businesses, sell products and services, work with local mentors and business leaders, and advance through multiple rounds of competition culminating in a local winner who can compete at the state level.
The Coffee County School System has successfully offered FLEX to its students for many years, developing young entrepreneurs and connecting them with members of the local business community. Coffee County has also established a strong record of success at the Georgia FLEX State Competition, earning third place in 2024 and advancing even further with a second-place finish in 2026. Those results demonstrate both the talent of Coffee County’s student entrepreneurs and the strength of the local support system helping them develop their ideas.
The Chamber has supported local FLEX entrepreneurs through mentorship, business connections, ribbon cuttings and opportunities to introduce their businesses to the broader community. Building on that success, the Chamber worked with the Coffee County School System and Citizens Christian Academy to expand the program’s reach and move toward a more community-wide approach to student entrepreneurship.
“FLEX represents exactly the kind of connection we want to build between education, entrepreneurship and economic development. When we give young people the opportunity to actually start a business, interact with business leaders and see themselves as entrepreneurs, we’re not just teaching a class, we’re helping build the next generation of Coffee County businesses.” said Matt Seale, CEO of the Douglas-Coffee County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Authority.
The expansion is made possible through collaboration between the participating schools, with the Coffee County School System sharing the knowledge and experience it has gained through its successful implementation of FLEX to help Citizens Christian Academy launch the program.
Georgia FLEX places a particular emphasis on connecting schools with their local business communities. Business leaders can participate as mentors, workshop instructors, judges, investors and supporters of student companies. These community partnerships help strengthen entrepreneurship and workforce development while encouraging students to see opportunities for their futures within their own communities.
For the Chamber, expanding FLEX fits into a broader effort to strengthen Coffee County’s entrepreneurial pipeline and expose young people to the opportunities available through business ownership.
“Entrepreneurship is economic development,” Seale said. “Some of the businesses that will shape Coffee County twenty years from now may begin with a student who gets his or her first experience through FLEX. Our job as a Chamber is to connect those students with the people, resources and encouragement that can help turn an idea into an opportunity.”
Students participating in the local FLEX program will develop their businesses throughout the school year, culminating in local competition rounds and the opportunity for the local champion to advance to the Georgia FLEX State Competition.
Additional information about local FLEX events, student businesses and opportunities for businesses and community members to become involved will be announced throughout the school year.
