Sam Kirk left a position with the Southwestern Company to start Youth About Business with a simple mission in mind-providing people from underserved communities the opportunities to learn God's principles and apply them to business. Since that time thousands of young people from across the country have benefited from his business acumen and heart for kids.

“My journey to start Youth About Business was interesting because it really wasn't my choice. It was really a calling in my life to start a ministry. I spent 17 years with Southwestern, part of those as a door-to-door salesperson and then the last part of my career there as an executive sales manager. It was a challenge after 17 years of being in that environment to walk away from that. I was talking to my wife telling her that God has a new direction for our lives.

“At that point we had limited resources and we didn't really understand how we were going to fund the model. People ask me to this day, ‘Sam, why did you leave?’ Outside of the fact that it's my calling, we were also tired of losing our children. I'd watch in the news everyday and see so many of our young people making the wrong choices.”

Sam Kirk just wanted to give them a godly alternative. He wanted to show them that they could be successful with God’s standards, not just the world’s standards.

Youth About Business is a program to provide entrepreneurial training to young people. The program offers a mentoring program for students that gives them an opportunity to work with existing business owners. Older students have a chance to work in a training center where they learn the daily operations of how to make a company run. There is even a training component where students learn to buy and sell companies in partnership with major universities around the country.

“We're providing hope. We're providing a way for students to dream. We're teaching them that all things become possible if you'll only believe. Obviously we want them to be introduced to our Lord and Savior, we want them to understand who Christ is because that's important for them, because your life will be empty until you really understand that He is the core and the center of your life.

“It's a very God-centered environment. To this day we still have a faith walk. To this day we still rely on God for provision. We constantly rely on him to open the next door. And there are lots of opportunities ahead, but we clearly rely on Him. One of the value statements of our organization is that we are known by our love for one another. It's really a fun place for young people to grow up in because they walk away with a pretty broad understanding of how America works and it demystifies the whole career world for them and helps them understand the skill sets they'll need to compete in it. The end result of students participating in our program is a much more confident student. Students that are very goal oriented.”

One of the major sources of encouragement in his life came from Sam’s father, a pastor of 42 years, who reminded Sam that, "God was preparing you all along for the work that He'd have you to do.”

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