At 6-foot-3 and 346 pounds, former Memphis Tigers football star Dontari Poe is very clearly built for his profession as a defensive lineman with the Carolina Panthers. That’s the thing about playing in the NFL, it takes a certain level of physical gifts.

Poe has another profession — as an entrepreneur — in which the most successful people come in all sizes. But, as Poe has become well aware of himself, adequate knowledge and resources are required for success in the business world. That’s why he’s stepping in to the help Memphis youth who may be interested in following his lesser-known career path.

The Memphis community is one of the few things Poe is arguably more passionate about than both football and entrepreneurship. That’s why he’s making a habit of taking a week in June to bring all three of those things together.

Poe hosted his second-annual Founder’s Camp at the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship on the UofM campus this summer. The three-day camp allows middle school and high school students to gain hands-on experience with the entrepreneurial process. It’s part of ongoing efforts by the Poe Man’s Dream Foundation to provide under-served students better opportunities to succeed.

“Memphis is a gold mine,” Poe said. “The city has a lot of people with a lot of good ideas that never get heard. That starts as a young kid when you have so many ideas brewing. They can turn out good or bad, but regardless we want to give them a platform and the tools to push it into the right direction and get their ideas out there to the world.”

The same week as the Founder’s Camp, Poe hosted his fourth-annual football camp free of charge at Wooddale High School. Poe is a 2008 graduate of Wooddale, where he took up football for the first time as a freshman.

“The (Founder’s Camp) has the same purpose as the football camp,” Poe said. “You go to a football camp to learn the skills of the game and have fun with it. This is no different. You come here as an entrepreneur trying to learn little tidbits and keys to success for kids who want to do it. Beyond that, it’s largely about just having fun with it.”

The Founder’s Camp builds up to a pitch contest on the final day in which students work with current business leaders to develop a presentation pitching real-life products. The winners of the contest are awarded scholarship funds.

In 2018, Christian Alaizia Williams and Jordan Isaiah Jones claimed that award. The local teenagers teamed up to successfully pitch Please Assist Me, a home-assistant app designed to help with everyday chores.

The camp is hardly about what’s being pitched, though. Rather, the focus is on developing the camper’s ability to learn, prepare and pitch an idea in front of a group.

“This camp opened up so many opportunities for me and my future,” Williams said. “I took this experience and built on it by talking with people and putting myself out there.”

Jones added, “This was the opportunity of a lifetime. It opened my eyes to what my true passions are and what I can do in the future.”

While Poe is best known for his football accolades — a 2012 first-round draft pick and a two-time Pro Bowl selection — he’s also quickly carving out a successful career as an entrepreneur and investor. He’s primarily made investments in real estate and technology, and is always on the lookout for the next potentially great idea. His entrepreneurial efforts earned him a place on Forbes’ 2019 30 Under 30 list in the sports category.

“I first had that entrepreneurial mindset when I was much younger,” Poe said. “But, like I said, being in Memphis a lot of it went unheard until I got to the NFL. There were some things that had been brewing for a while that I wanted to get into. I was just fortunate to be given the platform to make it happen. Now, I want to do what I can to help kids coming up in the same place I was be heard as well.”

For information on Poe’s future camps, visit poemansdream.com.