Five young women elected to spend their free time with Microsoft associates at Christiana Mall to learn how to run their own business.
Their experience paid off as they compete at Junior Achievement USA’s National Student Leadership Summit this month in Washington, D.C.
The teens came together, all from different high schools, to participate in the nearly 100-year-old JA Company Program, which has been revamped for 21st Century learners. In The NEW JA Company Program offers online, web-based content that replaced paper and pencil ledgers of days gone by. The corporate structure of JA companies now uses the Lean Start-Up Methodology approach.
The team, like many of their millennial peers, seek to “do good,” in the community as they positively impact the bottom line of their JA Company, Dare2BU (D2BU). According to the D2BU annual report they “founded and managed a social awareness company that promotes positivity, self-love, and diversity.”
Their social awareness brand, which was marketed through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, resulted in the sale of 65 custom t-shirts emblazoned with D2BU. The icon and conversation starter is donned by customers who want to make a statement of positivity, diversity and being comfortable in one’s skin, a JA release stated.
The students each led different functions of the company, but all pitched in wherever and whenever necessary. Brianna took on the role of President, Jabreya was in charge of Supply Chain, Victoria headed Marketing, Sierra led Sales, and Kelly was in charge of Finance.
The company was “bootstrap-funded,” with $276.50 from spare change brought in from all five team members, as well as, $49 in donations from friends and family.
Upon liquidation, all five were reimbursed their initial investment, while withholding their profit share until the final company meeting, where decisions will be made about how to distribute the $529.30 in profit.
The money can be used to pay a dividend to the teammates and friends/family, can be invested in a new JA Company Program to continue the social awareness brand next school year, and/or it can be donated to a charitable cause.
Christiana Mall Microsoft Store Community Development Specialist Nick Christine enjoys partnering with Junior Achievement on the JA Company Program and JA Job Shadow.
Christine says, “We are so proud of…these young women and all they have accomplished.”
Junior Achievement of Delaware president Rob Eppes, an award-winning JA Company PProgram alumfrom Newark High School), says reconnecting JA Companies to the mall environment brings back terrific memories of trade fairs where high schoolers in JA would peddle their wares.
“It was a highly competitive situation, not only between the JA Companies, but also among individual sales people in each company, to see who could sell the most product,” recalls Eppes. “But it was also a lot of fun!”
The Christiana Mall Management team met with Eppes and JA’s Student Enterprise Manager Ryan Venderlic to approve the project and discuss ways to promote the opportunity to other mall stores and children of mall employees.
In addition to competing at the JA National Student Leadership Summit, D2BU has been selected as a model social enterprise to be featured on the learning platform as an example for thousands of other would-be teen entrepreneurs who will participate in The New JA Company Program over the next several years
