Young business owners to get assistance with their ventures

Business students from the Parkinson Memorial Secondary School who have developed local products, will get a helping hand from local companies, in marketing and selling their handiwork.

As students of the school’s Business Department gathered at the Hilton Hotel for the “Parkinson’s Business Focus: Marketing Training Seminar” yesterday, Shannah Daisley, Coordinator and Business Teacher revealed that the students who have developed swimwear, body scrubs and beverages, already have interested company owners, who are willing to take their products for sale.

“We have made contact with several companies that are willing to work with the students, especially for the Soca Punch. We found that the Soca Punch was quite popular. There are three brands, we have the Soca Punch, the Citrus Punch and the Coconut Punch and we found that we had orders for 100 so far,” Daisley told The Barbados Advocate.

“The spinoff of is that after they have received their funds, they have the opportunity as business persons, to see what is needed in our school and then take those funds to help to get some of the things we may need. In fact, we are currently working with the funds made from last year’s [group]. They made in excess of $2 000 on the sugar scrubs, as we had relationships with hotels so they purchased the scrubs. So we made a profit and we were able to generate more products from the capital we gained,” Daisley further indicated.

She meanwhile noted that the students would benefit greatly from the current “Marketing Training” seminar, as they would learn how to use social media to spread the word about their businesses and also learn techniques for interacting with and engaging customers, in the business environment.