Kids sharpen entrepreneurial skills at ‘Sunday Bazaar’

Children at a Pindi school become entrepreneurs for a day.

RAWALPINDI: Children from grades two through four got their first lesson in entrepreneurship on Sunday at a community school in Rawalpindi.

The children — all students of the Child Development Centre in Satellite Town — effectively ran a Sunday Bazaar selling groceries and other items. The centre is a homeschooling project run by the Community Development Council (CDC), a Rawalpindi-based welfare organisation.

The children were given seed money of Rs300, said Meera’n Raja, president of the CDC. Raja said the activity was designed to inculcate entrepreneurship skills in the children.

“It will help them understand the concept of investments and savings,” she said. “It will also give them a sense of how their parents are managing the family’s finances.”

Armed with the start-up capital, the children visited the vegetable market in Sector I-10, Islamabad, with their teachers and parents. There, the young boys and girls bought fruits, vegetables, dry fruit and other things they could sell at their very own Sunday Bazaar.

During the purchasing process, teachers and parents informed children on how to looking for the best prices, bargaining and wholesale purchasing. Some of the parents also chipped in and invested in their children’s businesses.

On the roof of the centre’s three-storey building, the children set up their tiny shops, imitating street vendors who sell their wares from the footpath. They decorated their booths with handmade posters advertising the products as well as rate cards for their potential customers.

Confident nine-year-old Wahajuddin said his shop had been busy during the day and he had sold several bags of tomatoes.

“The best part is the cash I am handling,” he said, counting the money he had collected from the sale of tomatoes.

At a stall which sold radishes, Tahniyat Absar, a housewife, was helping her nine-year-old son Hannan, who was dressed as a fruit vendor, complete with an artificial moustache and dhoti.

Absar said the children had learnt important lessons about economics from the entrepreneurial activity.

“The children have learnt about the concept of profit and loss,” she said. “They could have read about it in a book, but this form of practical learning is more effective.” Absar added that the children’s enthusiasm was evident in the way they had responded to the event.

“They even came up with their own marketing slogans,” she said.

Right across from Absar’s stall, seven-year-old Jasmine Ayub was inviting people with a fruit vendor’s cry of, “Saib lay lo! Saib lay lo!” (apples for sale!)

“Apples are healthy for you,” she said, explaining her marketing strategy.

CDC President Raja said the centre focuses on community-based learning, with children being taught ways to give back to the community. “As part of this Sunday Bazaar, the students will donate 10% of their earnings to charity,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2012.