Our First Workshop on Introduction To Entrepreneurship
Global Youngpreneurs held their first virtual Introduction to Entrepreneurship workshop for our youth between the ages of 11 to 15. In a rapidly changing world, we recognize that the most important skills are logical and creative thinking abilities, and soft skills and these remain overlooked in our regular education system. WZCC Toronto Chapter worked with Global Youngpreneurs to help develop this entrepreneurial mindset in our youth. Our first session (out of the two-part series) focused on developing a “business” through experiential learning. The participants were given an activity and tasked with creating a product/service, along with the name of the company, the logo and the slogan. Explanation of an entrepreneur, giving examples of different products and services and also real-world logos and slogans helped to make the concept of the activity clearer. Right from Royal Bank of Canada, to Nike, the participants were made to understand how the logos and slogans of such companies corresponded to the product or service they offered. In return, the young participants came up with ideas such as a coffee-flavored soft drinks, to a dog walking service for the elderly, with slogans such as “Too good to be true” and “Fancy footwork for four-legged friends.” The second activity was a small team building survival challenge and each team was “stranded” in a particular situation (on an island/on the moon) and each team had to pick few items which would help them survive. This activity successfully tested not only their ability to work in teams – including listening skills, reasoning skills, and co-operation, but also logical and creative problem solving. Next they worked on building of entrepreneurial traits such as leadership, team work, delegation of work, and promotion. Participants were asked to come up with ideas for running a food or drink stall while working in teams, thus inculcating aspects of soft skills. Each team came up with an idea for their own food stall, the location, how to sell their product, and also the tasks that each team member would perform. Attentiveness, enthusiasm, excitement and participation was maintained throughout and we couldn’t be more happier with the result. Every participant was pushed to think on their feet, explore their potential, and most importantly, learn and have fun!
