Junior Achievement Teaches Moncton Area Students Business Leadership Skills
MONCTON – Sixteen-year-old Tyler Travis carried himself with confidence as he prepared to MC Junior Achievement New Brunswick‘s (JANB) Futures Unlimited Banquet on Wednesday night. Little did he know that in a few hours, he would be named CEO of the Year at the banquet.
Travis led a team of 22 students from various high schools in the Greater Moncton region to run Dough on Demand, which also won Company of the Year. The students built the company that sold cookie mix in mason jars under an 18-week JANB afterschool program. At the end of the program, the students have to liquidate their business.
In an interview with Huddle before the announcement, the Riverview High School student said he learned about leadership in his third year doing the program.
“The responsibility [as CEO] is surprising. You know, you have 20-some kids, you have to get everybody to bring material in. Everybody has to be producing. You don’t want anybody to be on their phone because you wanna make sure everybody’s working for the money they’re making,” he said.
Dough on Demand sold more than $5,000 worth of products and made a $2,000 profit. It broke even in the eighth week of the program. The profit they made became bonuses for the team, with some donated to a JANB fund aimed at helping turn around future student enterprises that need funding.
Allison Orr, a Riverview High School student who was set to present at the event, also took away leadership skills. As CEO of Beyond the Kitchen, which sold books containing recipes of family favourites from around the world, this is the 15-year-old’s second time in the program.
“I’ve learnt that being a leader doesn’t always mean making decisions for your group. It means listening to your group and taking their input and really letting them come to the answer on their own,” she said.
Orr’s team of 13 students produced and sold more than 400 books, priced at $10 each. The students went door-to-door and sold online. Sponsors helped fund the company’s operation.
Both Orr and Travis became shareholders of their companies along with their team members. Each of their teams was given a schedule to follow for each of the 18 weeks. They also worked with mentors from various private organizations.
“My mentor this year was amazing. I probably never would’ve been able to deal with all the stress without her,” Orr said.
“Linda Higgins [accountant at Maritime Doors and Windows], she’s truly astonishing the way she teaches us. Our CFO was working overtime and they were going to Starbucks every Saturday to work on the spreadsheets and a lot of things. So advisors really helped,” Travis said.
Through this experience, they also learned how to manage finances.
“I didn’t know how to write a cheque until last year, I didn’t know how to have a bank account, stuff like that,” Orr said.
“Financial literacy is vital because the day that you step out of your parents’ house and you have to face the world, you at least have to have a common sense of how the world runs,” Travis said.
The program is free and open to high school students that are interested in learning about business. JANB recruits participants every September. Haley Bungay, an alumnus of the program who is now a regional manager for JANB, said the program helped her gain confidence when she was a teenager.
I was a pretty quiet kid,” she said. “But I think I’ve gained the confidence to be able to hold my own in a room full of business people and I made a lot of friends and that’s what got me here today, so I made a pretty good career out of it.”
“The world of work has changed a lot,” said JANB CEO Connie Woodside. “A lot of people are doing individual things. They do contract work. Even if it’s not entrepreneurship per se, they still have to know how to market themselves, they still have to know how to pay their bills and budget.”
So what’s next for Travis and Orr?
Travis wants to study business and engineering and plans to incorporate the two in a career. Orr hasn’t decided whether she wants to study business or law, but entrepreneurship is an option.
JANB is a non-profit organization that’s part of a national network. The event was attended by members of the government and private sector.
Bill Whalen, CEO of marketing firm Hawk, was the keynote speaker for the Moncton event.