MERCER COUNTY TEEN EARNS NATIONAL RECOGNITION AT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION
July 1, 2026, Princeton, NJ – The Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce (PMRC) announced today that Reanna Bhuyan Patel earned second place honors at the Young Entrepreneur’s Academy (YEA) National Competition held in Frisco, Texas in June. Patel, a resident of West Windsor and rising sophomore at Princeton Day School, participated in the PMRC’s local YEA program during the 2025-2026 school year.
Hosted in partnership with The College of New Jersey, the Princeton Mercer Young Entrepreneurs Academy gave local high school students the opportunity to develop their own businesses with guidance from Chamber members who served as volunteer instructors and mentors. Over 30 weeks, students explored ideas, tested concepts, created business plans, and pitched their products to a panel of investors. Patel and her business, Mentora, won the local pitch competition, qualifying her to represent the Princeton Mercer program at the national competition.
Mentora is an app that connects 9-12th grade students and their projects with professors, mentors, and academic opportunities through one online platform using portfolios and algorithmic matching to bridge the gap between student innovation and real-world impact.
“I started Mentora through my passion for science and building real-world projects,” said Patel about the inspiration for her business. “Through my own engineering work and mentorship experiences…I saw how transformative guidance can be, but also how limited it is for so many. That shows me that the real gap isn’t talent – it’s access.”
Patel intends to continue developing Mentora. A pilot program is currently underway and a patent is pending. Mentora plans to grow by building partnerships with local institutions and schools to test and eventually launch the program and then scale it nationwide to build a pipeline for innovation.
“Mercer County has a strong culture of innovation,” said retiring Chamber President & CEO Hal English. “We were confident our YEA students would develop compelling new businesses, but Reanna Patel exceeded our expectations. We are proud of her achievement and grateful to the Chamber members who supported her along the way.”
“The Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber YEA program taught me that I could take a spark of an idea that mattered to me and grow it into a meaningful entrepreneurial endeavor,” said Patel. “Learning from local entrepreneurs and hearing their real-world experiences helped turn my dreams into reality!”
Reanna Patel will be recognized for her achievement at the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber’s July Membership Luncheon, and she will throw out the ceremonial First Pitch at an upcoming Trenton Thunder game.
Photo Captions:
Photo 1: Reanna Bhuyan Patel (left) came in second in the Young Entrepreneur’s Academy National Competition. Photo Credit: YEA National
Photo 2: Reanna Bhuyan Patel pitches her company, Mentora, to a panel of investors. Photo Credit: The Patel Family.
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The Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce is the premier regional business association in Central New Jersey. A non-profit membership association committed to driving economic development in our region, the Chamber has more than 1000 member organizations and over 16,000 individual contacts. Signature programs of the Chamber include the Central NJ Real Estate Forecast, the NJ Conference for Women, and the Trenton Economic Development Series. Chamber members range from Fortune 500s to Main Street sole-proprietors, and they include industries like healthcare and pharma; finance, IT, and professional services; manufacturing, retail, and tourism; and higher ed, non-profit, and more. More information about the Chamber can be found at www.princetonmercer.org