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‘Off the Wall’,-Running a mini-company…

During Transition Year, pupils had to think of ideas for a Mini We put a lot of hard work
Company. The students had to come together and turn all and dedication into our
their ideas for different products they could sell into reality. company. We stayed back
many days after school,
Our Mini Company decided to make and sell hand-finished
wooden name plaques and key holders as we are quite brought work home and
creative, and we wanted to make them for decorative but really got involved in the
also for practical use. We also thought we could make a lot of making and hand painting
money as there is a gap in the school market for such products! of the products. We also set a stall up in the school room
during our lunch breaks to get our company known and
My Mini Company and I put a lot of hard work into the set-up also to sell our products to the students.
of the enterprise. We first had to come up with a name for the
mini-company, and we thought ‘Off the Wall’ was catchy and One of the highlights for our Mini Company was entering
something people would remember. We also developed a craft fairs and competitions. The first Craft fair we entered
Logo and brand to reinforce the name recognition. We then was at the ‘Backyard’ in Cavan. This was a great experience
had to design our products. We designed the products on for our us as it was good marketing for to people learn
solid works, and we then used the schools wood machine about ‘Off the Wall’, and also because we got to sell some
to carve out the key holders and name plaques. Making our of our Christmas name plaques. We actually sold all of our
first product was quite a big deal for our Mini Company as products! This allowed us to learn how to bargain and
we saw our ideas start to shape into reality! improve our selling techniques.
We also entered the Cavan Student Enterprise awards,
which our we enjoyed. We were quite nervous as we had
to pitch our products and idea’s to the Judges. Although
we didn’t place anywhere we were glad we had been given
the chance to attend the awards. This allowed us to see the
competition we had and also we were glad to have come
so far.

Finally, setting up a Mini Company was such a great
experience for all of us! We got a first-hand insight into what
it might actually be like to run a proper company. We saw
the challenges that come with running a company but also
the advantages of running a company. Overall we really
enjoyed running our very own company ‘Off the Wall’ and
we are glad we had the opportunity to run a Mini Company.

Ian, Sam, Morgan, Steven, Katie & Emily By Emily McKeon.

Wristys

Wristys was a 1st year Mini Company set up in September
2011 by Tiwani Akinlabi, Victor Babatunde, Niall Walker,
Michael Nzewi and Andrew Hall. After lots of market
research and brainstorming we decided to make colourful
and fashionable wristbands for the teenage market. We got
this idea from noticing that lots of young people our age
wear accessories and wristbands.
We researched online and found a website that was suitable
to produce and deliver our products and then we went about
selling them. We mainly sold them to friends and family, in
school and a t a Christmas craft fair in Moyne hall Cavan.
In March we attended the Cavan Student Enterprise awards
and we entered the Junior section. We were interviewed at a
stand by judges and had to impress them with our business.
In the end we made lots of profit and sold lots of wristbands and
learned lots about running a business. It was a good experience.
Tiwani Akinlabi Tiwani, Niall, Andrew, Michael & Victor.

The Royal Times 2011-2012 45