Steve Mariotti

He began his career as a treasury analyst for the Ford Motor Company. There, he introduced financial systems that saved more than $5 million a year through interest-expense reduction and improved cash management. He then founded an import-export company in New York City, eventually acting as sales representative and purchasing agent for 32 overseas firms.

In 1982, he made a dramatic career change and became a special education/business teacher in the New York City school system, volunteering in such troubled neighborhoods as Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and the Fort Apache section of the South Bronx. As a teacher, Mariotti had the insight and inspiration to bring entrepreneurial education to low-income youths. In 1987, he founded the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

NFTE has become a major force in promoting and teaching entrepreneurial literacy and basic business skills to at-risk and disadvantaged young people in this country and abroad. The organization has served more than 30,000 young people and trained more than 1,200 teachers and youth workers.

Mariotti has received numerous honors and awards for his work in the field of youth entrepreneurship and has co-authored 16 books, including The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting and Running a Business (Random House).

Education World talked with Mariotti about his unique approach to reaching young people through entrepreneurial education.