12 Year Old Children Make Classroom Sales Of €220,000 With JEP
The Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) has launched its 2019 recruitment programme, inviting primary schools across the island to participate in its entrepreneurship programme. The programme centres around primary schoolchildren in 5th and 6th class learning about entrepreneurship and launching classroom businesses. The businesses range from clocks to games to books and solutions for everyday problems.
JEP) has given more than 50,000 primary school pupils on the island of Ireland the opportunity to experience practical, real-life business learning as part of their formative education, since it was founded in 2010.
€220,000 sales in 2018
In 2018 the 12,000 children across 480 classes whom each invested a few euros each in their businesses achieved sales of €220,000 and net profit of €140,000. The funds belong to the children and the use of those funds is set by the children themselves. It’s usually a combination of returning investment and profit to the children, charitable contributions and class treats.
Pupils at St Patrick’s Primary School, Augher, Tyrone pictured with Bird Feeder Project, which was created as part of their Junior Entrepreneur Programme project. The project achieved sales of £420 and a net profit of £350. Photo: Jerry Kennelly/JEP
Learning about the real world
“JEP gives children an extra chance to learn about the real world before they’ve got to make decisions about what to study in second level. It gives children the opportunity to do something for themselves, to invest their money and get back profit they’ve made themselves. Along the way they learn the importance of entrepreneurs in their community and find out what they’re good at” explained Jerry Kennelly Chairman of JEP and founder of Tweak.com which underwrites the JEP programme.
Nurturing creativity, independence and problem solving
Running over a 12 to 16 week period during the school year, JEP nurtures creativity, independence and problem-solving among pupils of all abilities, with every aspect of the Programme seamlessly blending into the primary school curriculum.
Mentoring by local entrepreneurs
Local entrepreneurs are invited to visit the JEP classrooms and tell the story of their business. Children reflect on this experience and document it as part of their project. Every child produces a business idea and Entrepreneurs are invited to participate in a Dragons session where they are helped with selecting one final idea for the class to pursue.
Start a real business in the classroom
Under their teacher’s guidance, children discover their strengths as individuals and as part of a team. Together, they’ll choose, invest in and produce their own product or service from scratch, all the way to making it available for sale at a school-hosted JEP Showcase Day – and enjoying the profits at the end.
Participate in JEP’s All Ireland Showcase Day at the RDS
Classes who participate in JEP will get a chance to showcase their classroom business at the spectacular JEP All Ireland Showcase Day at RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin on May 20th 2019.
Class sign up for JEP 2019 is open now to primary schools 5th & 6th class in the republic and P6 P7 in Northern Ireland and is open until Friday September 28th 2018. Parents should speak to their teachers to discuss participation in the programme or learn more at www.juniorentrepreneur.ie
RTE Nationwide’s special programme on JEP is available on the RTE player https://bit.ly/2Cs0POH
