MIT Sloan Students Help Junior Achievement
Reprinted from News@MITSloan,
May 16, 2005
Two MIT Sloan students, Ruby Lam, LFM, '05, and Phong Le, MBA '05, helped the Junior Achievement Academy (JA) with their business plan project this spring. Acting as mentors, Ruby and Phong helped students from various local high schools build and develop their business plan for a company named Strictly Business, Inc. (S.B.I.) which designed and sold custom made t-shirts.
Working with 20-25 high school students to help set up the company was challenging and rewarding noted Ruby, who worked with Phong and four members of Technology Review to guide the members of S.B.I. The group helped coach the team by offering advice and tips to the team's leaders and then coached them through a few crisis situations such as when a member of the team quit. "A lot of the students had good business minds. I think there is a spark in some of them to become entrepreneurs. They just might start their own businesses one day," said Ruby.
S.B.I. developed their business plan and issued stock for $2 a share to friends and family members interested in purchasing it. They then sold custom made white t-shirts to customers and offered to put flags from various countries or graffiti on them. "The team sold the t-shirts in their respective schools and once they realized that they were in the red, they hustled and started selling the shirts on the streets and even around MIT Sloan," said Ruby, adding, "I think it was a good learning experience for them."
By offering a variety of design options to choose from, the t-shirts ranged in price from $15-$20. Throughout this session, students were able to build strong relationships among diverse team members and their mentors. S.B.I. made nearly $300 profit, returning over $4.50 (net $2.50) to their shareholders.
Ruby first learned about JA from an e-mail she received last fall. Phong was involved with JA when he was in high school. They each attended two to three hour weekly meetings to help the students set up their companies. Once things were under way, they acted as mentors for the team, helping them brainstorm ideas and then answering a myriad of questions about business and leadership that the students asked.
The JA Academy MIT site closed last Friday with a final Board of Directors meeting hosted at Sherin and Lodgen law firm. Students had the opportunity to meet with a guest speaker from the law firm, then presented their annual report. Afterward Junior Achievement gave out certificates to the students along with gifts.