JA Mascareignes Social Media Challenge

The first edition of the JA Mascareignes Social Media Challenge was held on the 26th July 2018 where 17 students who took part in this 2 hour event. The participants used Facebook to communicate and google slides to create an awareness campaign on finance management.

The main objective for the participants was to create a presentation on a Financial Literacy theme. The themes were:

Saver power: How do young people save money?

Ebay, all the way: Young people and online purchases?

Smart Phone: How young people manage spending on phone packages (network)?

Trendy and savvy: How do young people manage money while staying trendy?

Eating out will eat you out: How do young people tackle the cost(s) of eating at fast foods?

The participants were divided into group chats on Facebook, where they discussed the way forward. They then used Google Slides to create their awareness campaign. They came up with several good ideas on how young people could better manage their personal finances. One example is “making sure that we don’t waste money on clothing that we don’t need by going through our wardrobes regularly and ensuring that we are using at least 70% of its content”.

The idea behind the Social Media Challenge was to make use of Facebook, which is popular among the youth, as a platform for them to get together, discuss about important themes of Financial Literacy and to produce a collective work.

JA Mini Company Trade Fair 2018

Junior Achievement Mascareignes held JA Mini Company Trade Fair 2018, on Saturday 14th July, at Plaisance Shopping Village, Rose Belle. The 2018 edition saw the participation of 13 JA Companies coming from 9 Secondary Schools. The trade fair was an opportunity for each team to showcase its project to the customers of the Mall, while working on their communication and selling skills.

The JA Mini Company Program is a hands-on program where students of secondary schools, aged 15 to 19, learn about entrepreneurship by starting and running a business. They need to raise the capital needed for their project, through the sales of shares, and they make a product or service which they then market and sell to the general public.

The JA Mini Company Trade Fair is an important component of the JA Mini Company program. The challenge for the participants is to convince people, who they have never previously met, about their product or service. The trade fair helps them to develop their communication and sales skills.

For the JA Mini Company Program 2018, teams had to come up with a product or service idea which addressed a national or local social or environmental need. The students displayed a lot of innovation and creativity with a wide range of products and services, which proved to be very popular among the customers of Plaisance Shopping Village.

The students also had the visit of the Honourable Stephane Toussaint, Minister of Youth and Sports, who visited all the stands and motivated them the participants to continue in their business ventures.

The 13 JA Companies will now have to submit their final report of activities. Five companies will be shortlisted for the final during which they will have to make a PowerPoint Presentation in front of a jury. The JA Mini Company 2018 final will be held on the 31st of August 2018.

Junior Achievement Mascareignes would like to thank the management team of Plaisance Shopping Village for having graciously hosted the JA Mini Company Trade Fair 2018.