Children exposed to business at primary school level

by Marlon Madden

Students of the St George Primary School are getting an early start to the world of entrepreneurship through a hands-on experience, and Agricultural Science Teacher Marsha Burke wants to see it spread across all primary schools on the island. In April of this year, Burke introduced the Minding Our Business Entrepreneurship Showcase at the rural learning institution, and based on the overwhelming interest from the students and support from parents, it was again held last Thursday.

With support from the Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union Ltd. and permission from the Ministry of Education, 20 students were each able to invest $200 into a business of their choice. While some of the students invested in snacks such as cookies, cupcakes and other baked products, which they made with the help of their parents, some of them invested in vegetables, fruits and a variety of herbs, while others offered natural juices, rabbits and hair accessories.

Burke told Today’s BUSINESS the entrepreneurship showcase was birthed from pure excitement among the children who did a proposal for their entrepreneurship project, which formed part of their agricultural science programme.

“So, they got really excited about it and I say ‘you know what, let’s not just end there with a project. Let us see if we can make this a reality’. So, I approached corporate Barbados to get the grants for them in the form of $200 each and we were successful,” recalled Burke.

She explained that the students were allowed to do their pricing so they were able to make a profit, from which they would then reinvest some in the business, save a little and donate some to a charity of their choice.

She said this was all important, since the aim of the overall exercise was to also help improve their financial literacy. “I can say that the programme continues to grow, so much so that from our first programme we have students that continue to do their business on weekends and have opened bank accounts and continue to save their money. So they are doing well,” said Burke, who indicated that 16 students took part in the first exercise.

“This is really good especially now because we want to instill in our children the importance of agriculture and growing their own food, as well as learning to work for yourself and own your own business, also to be mindful of the different challenges that might be involved but to persevere.

Our children focus on the three S’s with regards to money, which are spending some of your money, saving some of your money and sharing,” she explained. “I didn’t just want to introduce them to the topic and just leave it out. I think we need to instill in our children the importance of being able to budget and being knowledgeable of how we use our money,” she added.

Burke said she believes students should not be limited especially when they have a passion. Class 4 student Kaleb Layne was selling rabbits that he raised at home. He said the plan was to expand his rabbit farming to supply the market for pets and meat. Declaring that he had a busy day selling the approximately 13 rabbits he had on hand, Layne said he realised there was a market for his product. He also spoke about how he cares for the animals on his farm, which he shares with his father.

“When I was little, I always wanted to help my father give the animals feed [and] wash down the pens but he told me I was too small, but since I get bigger he let me mix the feed, I will wash down the pens and I will feed the pigs. When I am done feeding the pigs I deal with my rabbits,” said Layne.

“I take care of them by cleaning the pens, giving them water and feed, and most of the time I can’t make it my father and my brother deal with them,” he said. Samairah Howell is a class 1 student who was selling a variety of vegetables. Pointing to the various items as she disclosed the prices, she identified cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers. Reporting good sales, Howell said she helped to grow the vegetables and reap them.

The entrepreneurship initiative comes at a time when Government is seeking to find ways to lower the country’s food import bill and encourage people to grow more of what they eat to ensure food and nutrition security.

Burke said she believed one way to help deal with the issue of food security is to teach agricultural science in all schools from the nursery level “and then that will filter down into persons doing kitchen gardens and at home farming and then you can
cut down your food bill”.

She said she was hoping the entrepreneurship initiative at the St George Primary School can be replicated or provide motivation for other primary schools across the island. “We start from nursery all the way up to class 4, teaching our agricultural science here at St George. Once you get these children involved from young, they get a passion for the area and then there is no stopping them,” said Burke.

She said the hope was to improve the animal rearing aspect of the agricultural science programme and seedlings as well as increase the healthy food options for the entrepreneurship initiative. 

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.b