This article covers the sales day (November 3rd) for the 14 teams of elementary schoolchildren entering Junior Economy College in Tatsuno. Part 1 is here. On November 3rd at the city festival, all 14 teams sold their wares. All sold food, while some also sold crafts they had made. The sales day started very early. Due to hygiene rules, all food needed to be prepared that morning. The teams were split into two groups, each heading to a local elementary school at 6:30 am to prepare their food. They had 90 minutes. With limited preparation time, it was the teams that took time to plan and decide exactly who did what that were most efficient. The team that had the furthest to travel arrived flus
What I learned about business from 75 Japanese fifth- and sixth-graders Part I of a three-part serie
Late last year, the Young Entrepreneurs Group at my local chamber of commerce asked me to judge a 5-month business competition for elementary schoolchildren. Called Junior Economy College, it started in Fukushima Prefecture in 2009 and now takes place in 28 Japanese cities. It’s a great initiative, and for a mature market like Japan, with quite a rigid education system, it’s something that more cities should try. I learned so much from the children that I’ve divided this article into three. This post covers planning; the second article looks at the actual sales day; and the third deals with what happens afterwards. The goal for the 14 teams was to make a profit by selling products at the cit
