For the second time in four years, the Estevan Comprehensive School’s (ECS) Entrepreneurship 30 class has won the Company of the Year Award from Junior Achievement of Saskatchewan.
The 28 students in Entrepreneurship 30 were tasked with creating and running their own business as part of the class. They chose a clothing company, Eminent Apparel, and sold the clothes in the weeks prior to Christmas.
The award was handed out on June 9 during the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame dinner.
“The award is for … everything,” said Entrepreneurship 30 teacher Josh LeBlanc. “It’s for company attendance, the ability to work together as a team and have strong sales. They have to make the product and develop the product, which is what the kids did.
“They designed it. They screen printed them. They did everything they needed to. And then overall, they just have to embody the spirit of junior achievement.”
Students learn about businesses, how to run and grow it, and then sell their merchandise.
When discussing Eminent Apparel’s achievements, Junior Achievement mentioned the strong sales, which eclipsed the $43,000 mark, and the volume of shirts, which exceeded the 1,700 mark.
LeBlanc noted they were confident before the banquet that they had a shot at Company of the Year, thanks to those sales.
“As long as I’ve done this job, it’s been about six years that I’ve taught entrepreneurship, and I’ve never heard of a company that’s had sales in Saskatchewan as strong as this,” said LeBlanc.
Eminent Apparel also took home the teamwork award, as LeBlanc noted they worked well together since the company was formed.
“They were at multiple locations on the same day, they had different inventory levels, they had individual sales as well as group sales,” said LeBlanc.
Their attendance was at the 80 per cent mark.
Individually, Madison Frehlick won the awards for top salesperson and for professional leadership, while Gintare Zigel won the human resources award.
LeBlanc said he still sees people wearing their Eminent Apparel shirts around town, and he added the customers were impressed with the quality of the merchandise.
The ECS entry will now be forwarded to Junior Achievement’s national competition, where a panel of judges will select the best student-run business in the country.
LeBlanc believes the success of Eminent Apparel and other student-operated businesses through the Entrepreneurship 30 class can be attributed to the dedication of the students.
“The kids … really buy into it,” said LeBlanc.
The staff, administrators and fellow students have backed the project, and Junior Achievement has always been there, too, as representatives of the organization will meet with the students to give advice and support whenever possible.
LeBlanc will also bring in guest speakers, so the students learn as much as possible about entrepreneurship.
“The community is an unreal supporter of this program,” said LeBlanc. “Regardless of whether we’d won an award or not, the amount that the community pours into the kids and how they support the kids with whatever product they choose is huge as well.”
The Entrepreneurship 30 class requires a lot of extra work, as LeBlanc estimates each student will spend 100 to 150 hours outside of class time to ensure the business is a success. They devote many hours during evenings and weekends.
“This one was a little bit easier on them, because they were able to accomplish a fair amount during the day as well,” said LeBlanc. “It’s not like they were limited in facility use, whereas they have been in the past.”
LeBlanc believes the class gives students the chance to run and own a business, and to find out if entrepreneurship is for them. And given the growing numbers of the class – they traditionally have 15 to 24 students – LeBlanc believes there is a growing number of students who are interested in entering the business world.
