‘What’s The Red Key For?’

Teens may not know much about big business, but they sure know about cell phones. A Dutch firm is now sending high-schoolers into corporate settings to tutor technologically challenged workers. Both populations benefit, says Anita van der Stap, who created a company, Bellen doe je zo (translation: "this is how you call") to run the workshops.

The students are typically 15- and 16-year-olds from lower socioeconomic immigrant families. They study in an Amsterdam vocational program that prepares them for trade school or apprenticeships. Van der Stap, who runs entrepreneurship classes at the school, got the idea when a bank executive speaking to her students needed their help to answer a text message. She persuaded wireless firm KPN Telecom to underwrite workshops, recruited a dozen students and spent three months training them. The one-hour workshops use a funny quiz (Q: What's a booty call?), PowerPoint presentations and individual coaching to teach text messaging, photo-sharing and voice mail to lawyers, bankers, diamond traders and others who pay roughly $40 to attend. The students earn $15 per hour, and, more important, pick up business contacts and a confidence boost.

Van der Stap plans next to send the students into senior-living facilities. And she has already received a bonus. Claiming to be her own best customer, she now knows how to use her phone.

© 2008