Young Enterpreneurs Vend for Others

This endeavor started with a group of students who wanted to do something to help those in desperate need of basic necessities in life. The hungry, the homeless, the uneducated and those who seek God in their lives were what we were thinking of when we were planning this endeavor. We also thought that this would be a good opportunity to practice our entrepreneurial skills.

Thankfully, our school has a project called Bigay Puso. Here, we donate our spare money which will go to a non-profit organization called Gawad Kalinga. Gawad Kalinga builds houses for the homeless and supports them in acquiring the basic necessities of life. The Bigay Puso project seemed to be the perfect solution in helping our less fortunate brothers and sisters. It was both accessible and benefited a group that seriously takes on the challenge of helping the poor. 

Our group met to discuss what further steps to take on. We all had agreed that our beneficiary will be Bigay Puso. We then discussed how we would raise enough money for our class to build one house worth Php 75,000, considered a small sum by many but to us; it was a great challenge to undertake. We agreed on selling accessories of ethnic design. We had the idea of selling cheap accessories which would both help and attract the consumer and at the same time, earn a considerable amount of money for the less fortunate.

We then asked our Assistant Headmaster to lend us some space in a 3-day bazaar at our annual school fair since this was the most accessible and affordable place for us.  After a few anxious days, he replied to us saying that he approved our work.

The 3-day bazaar was a great experience for us. We tried different marketing techniques. We tried asking people directly in front of us to buy our products. We even borrowed a costume and asked one of us to wear it. We ran out of stock at the end of the 3-day bazaar. This only proves that all of these marketing techniques proved useful in attracting customers.
There were also different kinds of customers we encountered. Some just ignored our stall but most looked at our merchandise curiously. Most of the time, they bought something or just donated. We also had a teacher who bought 40 pieces of necklaces. She said she was going to give it to her students. Without these customers, we wouldn’t have profit.

After the end of the bazaar, we earned more or less Php 11,000. We figured out that the success of this project should not go to waste. One of our group members had a resort in which we could sell our merchandise. We quickly agreed and went to his resort. Although there were not many people there, we still earned Php 4,000.

We searched for more places to sell and we found two affordable and accessible bazaars to sell in. We plan to sell this December. We project that if we earn Php 4,000 a day, we would get Php 20,000.  Though Php 35,000 may seem far from our class’ target, this would help boost up our donations.

Overall, these experiences brought happiness to each and every one of us. We experienced helping others and at the same time, practice what we learned in our school. We hope that through this, others will start to realize the situation of those who are suffering and do something about it.

It truly is a great experience when you know you are helping somebody.