Serious business - Students learn the world of business through competition

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

SPALDINGS, Clarendon:

IT IS CLASS time at Knox College, but some students are selling hot dogs, ice cream, and sweets, among other things, under a tree.

This has been happening during school hours since October with the blessings of the school. In fact, on the day a Gleaner team visited, Milicent Mahabare, head of the business department, was with the students.

She explained that these were business students competing in the Junior Achievement Company Competition, which sees some 30 schools across Jamaica vying for top honours.

"The entire thing is giving them practical experience in what we do in business. They learn how to set up a business, how to make sure that it's profitable, how to liquidate it, and we start from capitalisation to liquidation," Mahabare explained.

The competition, endorsed by the Ministry of Education, sees all the schools given start-up capital of $15,000 for the competition, which will run until February. Students holding corresponding executive positions - such as production manager, financial manager, and human resource manager in a real company - staff the company.

The inventory is displayed on a table at a 'booth' manned by students on a shift system. Shajoe Lake, a worker in the Marketing Department explains his role in the business: "I go to all my classes, but we are open during lunchtime and break time when we try to capture all the business."

Marketing strategy

With sixth-formers and juniors going on break at the same time, the sixth-formers can tend to the business, and when they return to classes, students from the fourth and fifth forms take charge during their lunch and break time. This way, there are always students on duty, supervised by a teacher. And they are treating this class assignment as serious business.

One could not help but marvel at their marketing strategy for the hot dog line. The Bruno is a frankfurter served with ketchup and mustard; the Chihuahua is served with grated cheese, mustard, and ketchup; while a Poodle goes with relish, mustard, ketchup, and grated cheese. Boxed juice, ice cream, chocolate, and sweets are also on offer.

The children are getting practical experience that will, hopefully, serve them well in the future, and Mahabare is confident they are doing an excellent job.

"We're doing pretty well. We'll be a profitable company," she declared confidently, though not disclosing any trade secrets.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com