As the chief executive officer of the Ross Dulan Group in New Jersey, Brenda Ross-Dulan consults with corporate leaders to help them enhance their professional skills. Until 2017 a California-based banker, Brenda Ross-Dulan served as a director of the Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL).

Founded in 1921 and shortly thereafter merged with the National Urban League, LAUL has worked since the 1960s to improve educational and employment opportunities for Los Angeles’ inner-city residents. The agency sponsors summer training in entrepreneurial thinking for students age 13 to 18 in a program known as Biz Camp.

Together with American Airlines and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Biz Camp helps students research unmet needs in their neighborhoods. They then devise a business plan to meet those needs.

Meeting on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Biz Campers visit local businesses, talk with community leaders, learn to ask tough questions, and make public speeches. The plans they develop often lead to actual sales of products or services.

The event culminates in a cash award for the best plan that will enable the winner to build his or her own business.