“Please try Pina colada , it is a natural coolant and good for health,” Ishank Nandhan, VIII Standard student of Jain Vidyalaya, tried best to market his product at the Food Bazaar organised by PSYEC - Incubation Centre and Rotary Club of Nextgen in connection with the World Food Day celebrations at the PSY Kids Garage school.
“It is a mocktail of pineapple and tender coconut and has a cooling effect on your body. It is a good alternative to aerated drinks and it also has no added preservatives,” he got excited on seeing a potential customer. The school students also had Paan Shots (prepared with betel leaves, milk, Gulkand) and Shickanji Juice (lemon, mint and sugar mix) to sell.
“It is a good opportunity for the school children to learn marketing skills,” said S.P.Varadharajan, Managing Director, PSY Group of Insitutions. The main objective of the event is to develop entrepreneurship skills among school children.
Apart from institutions of the host, five schools took part in the event. More than 50 food stalls were put up with healthy food items like millet based dishes and traditional sweets on sale. St. Michael’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School students sold wheat based food. “We helped our mothers in preparing the dishes. I went to the market to buy the vegetables,” says M. Muthupandiamal, IX Standard student.
“The idea to concentrate on entrepreneurship programme stemmed from our own experience. One of our first set of students, who struggled to read even the allotment letter issued by the Anna University (because it was written in English), has now become a successful entrepreneur in Denmark. He owns a chain of restaurants, there. It was an eye opener for us. Then we decided to create employers rather than employees,” said Varadharajan.
Visitors had to buy tokens in the denomination of Rs.25 to buy the products. The proceeds from the two day went to Nethaji Orphanage, Nagamalaipudukottai.
