Kids ran their business! Yes they did. Young Sarjanians filled the waiting area with stalls of items ranging from stationery and toys to fancy accessories and books. This two-day event, initiated by the Social Studies Department in cooperation with Students Discipline and Counselling Unit (SDCU), commenced on Tuesday, 10th July 2018. Aimed at exposing the students to a business mindset, creating income generating activities and practicing leadership, team management and collaboration, the said event brought the young ‘Sarjanians’ in high spirit as they creatively marketed their stuff to a long queue of buyers.
Prior to the fair, students submitted their proposals describing their business structures (group); business names and the intended goods to sell. All said items are to be sold from $0.50 to $3.00 only as customers are children, but still allowing a profit. From planning to execution, a great deal of teamwork, enthusiasm and creativity sparked among the young entrepreneurs, teachers, parents and administrators alike.
Due to heavy downpour on the second day of the fair, selling was called off and was re-scheduled to another date. The young businessmen showed expressions of disappointments but their enthusiasm has once again heightened when the selling resumed, ‘business as usual’. Additional items such as personally crafted photo frames, stickers of Korean Icons, organisers, wallets and purses enticed the buyers. Marketing strategies such as bargain prices, ‘buy 1 free 1’ and offering freebies made the second day a great success.
“Entrepreneurs are not ‘born’… they ‘become’ through the experiences of their lives.” This entrepreneurship project concept sums up the quote. After the two-day event, the most profitable students were not the most academically inclined ones, but those who applied their skills in their most creative and memorable way. From that short span of time, variety of learners sprang up. Average students showed potentials and great improvement in a different learning avenue. They found meaning in what they did and they made the best versions of themselves in terms of confidence and inner strength. After all, this is what the ‘Sarjana’ vision of ‘Total Education for All’ is all about.
To the young entrepreneurs, Congratulations on your new-found passion. Carry on, make that memorable experience a ticket to your life. Prove to everyone that success comes to those who try. And to the mentors, congratulations and keep up the good work. Continue to be instruments of the 21st Century Teaching and Learning. Continue to embark on the Student-Centered Learning and be the ultimate believers that learning is not only confined in the four walls of the classroom, but anytime and anywhere! And it really happened in the two-day Young Entrepreneurship Project!
