CMU students showcase business projects
The Air Jamaica building was filled with unusual laughter and excitement three Thursdays ago as Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) Pre-university students showcased their business models. The presentation was a final assignment for the entrepreneurship course as a means of helping students get a better understanding of the course content.
“They are both year-one and year-two students,” lecturer Sheena Taylor informed the Jamaica Observer. “They were taught the modules and they’re now transferring their theory to the practical where they did the business plan. They did a product and they are now showcasing the product.”
As a part of the institution’s transition to acquiring university status, it rebranded the Career Advancement Programme to pre-university. This has also affected the duration of the programme, which is now one year instead of two. It means that year-one students also pitched their business ideas since they are the first cohort to complete the programme in one year.
They will move on to commence degree programmes at CMU.
“It is actually a competition. You will have winners from both years. You have first place, second place, and third place from both years. So you have six winners overall,” Taylor explained.
The products the students exhibited ranged from an electric water pump to knitted swimwear.
“They were the ones who actually did the project; they did it hands-on. I saw them myself making some of the products,” the teacher said.
Taylor told the Career & Education that the reason for the exhibition is to push the students into starting actual businesses.
“The idea was for them to do the presentation and start the business afterwards. They were given different business places or contact information that they could consult, for example, the Jamaica Business Development Corporation, and different business persons,” she said.
Also for the benefit of the students, Taylor invited entrepreneurs with local handmade businesses to judge the students’ business models and share business tips. Founding managing director of Bartley’s All in Wood Lacey-Ann Bartley was among them. She implored the youngsters to find their passion, learn it and study towards. She also advised them to seek out mentors to guide them on their business journey.
Career & Education spoke with a member of the year two winning group ‘Knittings and More’.
Group member Marilyn Myrie conceded that working together proved challenging, but noted that the result was worth it.
“I feel excited. I’m overwhelmed because we have been through a lot. Different personalities come together and you know that people with different personalities might clash. We fixed it, because our teacher Ms Taylor worked with us and taught us about teamwork. We followed the guide of our teacher and went through the process,” Myrie shared.
Among the groups other challenges was that it didn’t have any sponsors, which forced the group to finance the business themselves.
Principal of CMU’s Pre-university Jaron Whitely was exceptionally proud of his students and acknowledged that the project has matured them.
“I’ve seen the positive impact it has had on them. I’ve seen where they’re more settled. They are people who believe in themselves more, who work harder, and who are showing some skills that would make them a lot more employable when they leave the university,” he said.
While the course has ended, the students are encouraged to grow their businesses and make them official.
“If they come to CMU or even to me as the teacher, I will guide them as to who they’re to go to, the various relevant bodies or the different organisations that they can go to for support, so it’s not like they’re on their own. They can always come to me, they can always come to CMU and we’ll guide them as to what they are to do,” Taylor said.