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FIRST YEAR MINI COMPANIES

CHARMS
Our Mini Company ‘Charms’ was a semi successful
company which ran from around October to the Junior
CAKEWORLD Mini Company Competition ran by the Cavan Local
Enterprise office in early March. During this time frame
In 1st year we started a Mini Company called Cakeworld. we made and sold jewellery for a cheap but fair price and
We decided from the start that we would like to had a whole lot of fun making and selling it.
concentrate our efforts on baking as this was an interest
we had in common. We produced buns, tray bakes, cakes We also learned a lot about how to set up a company,
etc. and received many compliments on our produce. marketing and how be successful from the two
Enterprise teachers Mrs Argue and Mr Robertson. Some
We got lots of help and support from Mr. Robertson’s of our products were plait bracelets, knitted bracelets
and Ms. Argue. and bead bracelets which were one of our most popular
We sold our products every fortnight on a Thursday at products as we sold the most of them. We aimed our
break time. We made a total of €198 Euro at the end of products at both boys and girls so could maximise our
the term. We took surveys around the school on what selling opportunities by using boy and girl colours to
the students would like to buy. make our wide range of jewellery.
We as a company had the opportunity to participate as
The people on our team were Shazeya Ahamed and a company at our school Christmas craft fair were the
Whitney Izogie. Later Zarah Peeters joined our group and majority of our selling happened and we made the most
took up a marketing role. Our inspiration was baking money (to be more exact, 54% of our sales were made
stars such as Rachel Allen. Our aim was to provide tasty at school more than half of that was profit). The average
and lovely looking products for our customers. We chose price of one of our bracelets was 75c with our most
to bake because our school does not have a canteen expensive ones being €1.50 and our cheapest being
so we decided to bake for students so they could have only 50c.
a sweet treat at break time. We also sold goods at the Despite our low price we were not low on quality or
Backyard Christmas craft fair in Moyne hall where we customer service and would always be open to making
were very successful. a new bracelet for a customer if their one broke and they
We entered the Cavan Enterprise Awards in the spring. had a legitimate reason for the fault.
We did lots of hard work on the business report and our On the 2nd March 2018 we travelled to the Slieve Russell
display. We tried our best but unfortunately on the day hotel in Ballyconnell to compete in the junior section
we didn’t win. We had a fantastic day out at the Slieve of the Cavan Student Enterprise awards. We had to be
Russell Hotel. It was fun and interesting to see other there to set up our company from 8.30am. We were
Mini Company’s compete from other schools. My advice interviewed by judges on the nature & running of our
would be to start up a Mini Company in first year as it business. While we did not win on the day, we learned
is a good way to learn entrepreneurship and earn some a lot from the experience and had a lovely lunch and a
motivational talk from a guest speaker on the day.
money.
By Saoirse McGlynn

16 The Royal Times 2017-2018