Each year, the Satya Bharti Schools from different states participate in the ‘School Enterprise Challenge’ which is an international business programme for schools run by the educational charity ‘Teach A Man To Fish’. This international award promotes entrepreneurial spirit in children from a young age. These awards encourage and inspire students to nurture the qualities of a leader and an entrepreneur so that the children develop life skills that would help them on a long run.
With a focus on ideation, exploration and implementation, this story started in the month of September 2019 with 35 students (20 girls and 15 boys) of the Satya Bharti School, Umarpura, Punjab . The children had ideated a business plan under the topic ‘Plants’, which was concerned with saving the environment.
To enhance the aesthetic values and prevent deforestation, the students worked on the idea to grow and sell plants. The students and teachers planned to grow flowerbeds from seeds at the backside of the school and sell them to the community members at low cost on special occasions and events. All the 35 students were divided into different departments like supervising, budgeting, marketing, financing, etc. The students worked on the flowerbed in the art & craft period on rotation basis. The initial investment of the seeds and planters rounded off to about Rs. 100, and as per the financial planning and budgeting, the final sales would fetch the earnings of about Rs. 1,600. It was decided that the surplus amount would be invested in purchasing stationery items for the underprivileged students.
The result of the competition was announced in the first week of June 2020; the Satya Bharti School, Umarpura, Punjab, bagged the ‘Best Business Plan in India’ Award along with a prize money of USD 400. The information was shared with the students, their parents and community members through WhatsApp and phone calls. The students were ecstatic on finding out that their hard work had paid off. The parents and community members also appreciated their efforts and felt proud of them.
This article is contributed by Mr. Sukhjinder Singh who is working with Bharti Foundation as a Cluster Coordinator in Punjab.
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Rubalpreet kaur June 22, 2020 at 11:33 am
It is very good for inspiration for students and good efforts made by students.