Celebrating its 5th anniversary, the Young Innovators Bazaar 2017 brought in university coaching teams to support secondary school students to enrich students’ learning experience. This year, students were encouraged to unleash their innovation, creativity and passion to prepare for their business. During the 4 months of preparation, students formed their own team, developed their business plan, conducted market research, prepared their budget plan before they could finally run their business in the bazaar. This “out-of-classroom” experience allowed students to apply what they had learned from textbooks and understand how business is run in the real market. A record breaking of over 1,000 students from 46 schools joined the bazaar this year with the support of 42 partners.
New Element: Coaching Support by University Students
For the first time, Project WeCan partnered with Global Business programme (GBUS) of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to form coaching teams. Together with the 20 WeCan scholars, the over 70 GBUS students had provided support to secondary students, including the production of a set of teaching materials for the Bazaar, facilitating secondary students’ understanding of different business concepts such as marketing, operation and sales. Both university and secondary school students enjoyed the unforgettable business venture!
We really learnt a lot from the teachers and the secondary students. With a positive attitude, the secondary school students in our team were willing to spend time to prepare meeting materials and get ready for the Bazaar, despite their heavy workload. The secondary school teachers also shared some tips with us in communicating and meeting with their students.
Year 2 university student from the GBUS of the HKUST
I hope I could help the secondary school students grow and become more confident and active, as we prepared for the Bazaar together.
Project WeCan Scholar
We are not business students and have no idea of how to run a business. We do not know much about sales, cost control, manpower and time allocation etc. We are grateful for the support and guidance of the GBUS volunteers. For example, we have different ideas on product choice. They suggested that we should bring in some new elements and consider functionality. We decided to sell rose petals soap which matches very well with the festive atmosphere and is very useful.
Student from HKWMA Chu Shek Lun Secondary School
Briefing Session
A briefing session was held on 31 October 2016 to enhance the students’ business and entrepreneurship skills, including devising their business plan, product design, sales and promotion. Professionals from LWK & Partners (HK) Limited, Standard Chartered, Midland Holdings Limited and Wharf supported as guest speakers and shared their practical experience and tips with students.
Over 200 types of products: integration of creativity and passion
The Bazaar 2017 encouraged students to integrate creativity and passion into their business plans and product design. With over 200 types of products, students adopted different strategies to attract customers. Each school had its “best product” with a special meaning. For example, inspired by Pokémon Go, students of Lok Sin Tong Yu Kan Hing Secondary School invented the Augmented Reality t-shirts; Caritas Fanling Chan Chun Ha Secondary School cooperated with a social enterprise and invited the visually impaired to make braille cookies, with a guide dog looking after their booth; students of The Yuen Yuen Institute MFBM Nei Ming Chan Lui Chung Tak Memorial College used laser saw to cut Acrylic crystal into various shapes for making different types of lamps.
The schools’ products are very special and unique this year. Product innovation is crucial to draw consumers’ attention.
Mr Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu, Project WeCan Committee Member
 
Concordia Lutheran School – North Point – 3D mini world paper model Retaining the feeling of old Hong Kong housing estates and street food, the paper model recorded the collective memory of Hong Kong people. It was also equipped with USB light to exhibit the beauty of Hong Kong night scene. |
Ko Lui Secondary School – Mocha soap Making hand-made soap by coffee grounds collected in school and reusing kitchen waste to promote zero coffee ground and environmental awareness.
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Ng Yuk Secondary School – Healthy Rice Repacking various types of healthy rice with different nutrition values into unique product. Gift sets were also available with blessing words for Chinese New Year.
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Diversified Events: Demonstration of Students’ Talents
During the 3 days of Bazaar, students not only ran their businesses, but also demonstrated their multi- talents through school performances. About 30 schools staged their performances, which included joint-school rope skipping, acapella, costume show by ethnic minority students, African drum, juggling and musical instrument play. Customers were fascinated by the amazing performances.
Awards for students’ participation
9 awards were presented to students based on their performances of business plan presentation, understanding of the theme, popularity, booth design, sales technique, and team spirit, with representatives of Project WeCan corporate and organization partners as judges. Please find the winner list HERE.
Start-up: Making Money and Earning Experience
The Bazaar allowed us to apply what we have learnt in school to the real world. We got to decide on the company name and products to be sold by shareholders’ poll.
Student from Lai Chack Middle School
We have learnt much from other schools’ booth decoration, themes, product design and marketing strategies in the Bazaar. This also gave us an opportunity to reflect on our own strength and weakness.
Student from PAOC Ka Chi Secondary School
In addition to learning how to sell the products, I also learnt how to help and support each other during the planning stage and the 3 days of Bazaar. Besides, I was really impressed when the customers recognised our efforts and creative ideas when they bought our products.
Student from Lok Sin Tong Wong Chung Ming Secondary School
The Bazaar has always been the testing ground for young entrepreneurs. During these 4 months of preparation, they experienced happiness and bitterness, and encountered different challenges throughout the whole process, from devising the business plan to running their booth. Students were required to write a learning report and summarise what they had achieved upon completion of the Bazaar. A Joint-school Sharing cum Award Presentation was held on the 24 April 2017 to conclude the whole programme. Students were invited to share their ups and downs, challenges and what they had gained at the Bazaar, followed by advice and tips offered by corporate representatives. A booklet was produced to capture important moments and students’ feedback on the Bazaar and is available for download HERE.
