Hub Staff

If you're a grade 10 to 12 high school student and are interested in learning about starting and running your own business, then the Adult Learning Centre might have just the thing. They're hosting a free 18 week Junior Achievement (JA) Company Program in Maple Square Mall, Port Elgin on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m.

JA Canada is a non-profit organization that was formed in 1955 and is the largest youth business education organization in Canada.

The program organized by Bruce Grey JA Program Coordinator, Dan Blenkinsop has five community volunteers who will act as mentors to the students. TD Branch Manager, Tim Edgar; The Main Event owner, Angela Albright; Miller Insurance's Ashley Warner and Daniel Egan; and retired businessman, Harry Renshaw.

“We're a non profit so I have to get fund development to afford these programs,” said Blenkinsop who added that OPG had been a major sponsor.

Blenkinsop explained that the students will work together to come up with an idea for a company, whether it be selling a product or a service, go through the steps to form that company and then have a weekly business meeting.

“The kids are in charge,” he said. “The first few weeks it's heavily led, the mentors are directing them. The kids are identifying strengths, they're pitching their ideas and the adults are helping them make appropriate choices.”

Blenkinsop went on to explain that the students will then elect among themselves a board of directors. “They're going to have a CEO, a VP of finance, VP of human resource, VP of product development, VP of marketing and sales,” he said. “It's one company operated by a dozen or so high school kids.”

Over the course of 18 weeks the students will incorporate their company, put together a business plan and raise capital by selling shares in the community. “Once they have raised their capital and they have money to afford to buy product or raw materials or whatever they have decided to make or whatever service they're going to provide, they go into production, they go into sales and after 18 weeks they'll dissolve the company and if the company's profitable they pay off dividends to their share holders.”

Blenkinsop added, “If they're on the board of directors they can add that on their resume. 'I was VP of finance for the XYZ company in Port Elgin'.”

Although the program is intended for grades 10 to 12, Blenkinsop said he is flexible and if someone from grade 9 would like to attend, they would be accepted.

Week 1 of the program was due to start on Wednesday, February 24 but because of bad weather there was a low turnout of students and so this week, Wednesday, March 2 will be the official start of the program and registration will remain open up until March break.

Students can register online by clicking here or on a Wednesday evening at the program itself.

Seventeen-year-old Vishwa Shah, one of the students who attended the program this past week said she really liked taking every opportunity to try something new, adding that she also works as a credit union teller. “That's where I realized that I was really into finance and business and stuff like that. So this is just one of the other things I want to do to increase my work experience,” said Shah.

Blenkinsop said that the program is designed to end before exams so students don't have to worry about it during exam time.