Written by: Ronia, Hari and Finn.
The children of 6th class A have been taking part in the Junior Entrepreneur Programme since January. The Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) is Ireland’s leading entrepreneurship skills programme. So, we started and began brainstorming ideas. We split up into three groups and created three different ideas. The ideas we came up with were a cap company called Kapz, a board game called Chaos Dimensions developed by The Yella Fellas and Big Boards, and a squishy company called Squish Melon.
After we finished making the prototypes, we met the Dragons (Tony, Aoife and Molly) so they could choose a product for our class to focus on. They asked us lots of questions about our products. Then they consulted with each other and selected one product. We then got the message that they chose Kapz. The whole class got behind the idea and we began to brainstorm what we needed to do to bring the idea to market.
KAPZ
Kapz is a cap company that creates caps that suit everyone’s style. Our product helps because we are entering the summer term and the UV rays are VERY dangerous – so we have designed hats that students and teachers can enjoy wearing to keep them safe from the UV rays on the yard. The reason our hats are so special is because they include all types of styles so everyone can feel special and seen.
The Production Process
The first thing we needed to do was come up with a survey. We visited every class in the school, showed them the prototypes we had made and asked them questions about what types of hats they would like to wear. From this, we discovered that people liked bucket hats as much as caps and that they preferred hats that were customised with patches and beads rather than with material. After we found out people’s preferences, we ordered all the resources we needed to make the caps. Once we received the package, we got straight to work designing the caps and bucket hats. We split into two teams: marketing and design/production.
The marketing team created posters, planned an idea for a promotional video and documented the process to share here on the school website. Finn and Liam planned the content of the video, Yasin filmed it and Senan edited it. Smera and Lilian created posters to be displayed around the school and Hari wrote this blog post.
Ronia, Carla, Emma, Jasmine and Lavinia were on the design team. They decided which style of patches / beads would match each hat. The patches cater for all sorts of interests: teddy bears, sports, food, animals, nature and space! Ronia led the production team; she got to work sewing the patches on to the hats and was assisted by Lavinia and Emma.
By then we were very tired, but we powered through and wrote this blog post and finished the production process and now we are ready to sell our products!
SPRING FAIR!!!
We will be selling our caps at the Spring Fair on Thursday, 23rd April. They will cost €5 each. Don’t miss out on getting yourself a unique cap for the summer!
