By FAZLEENA AZIZ
fazleena@thestar.com.my
Photos by SAM THAM

ABOUT 500 Form Four students from 18 schools took part in the first Young Enterprise (YE) Achiever’s Sales Fair held at the Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur.

It was officiated by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Deputy Minister, Datuk Veerasingam Suppiah.

The students were from the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Young Enterprise Programme, an annual, nine-month community education programme established by the AMCHAM Malaysia that allows students to manage the full cycle of a business enterprise through hands-on opportunity.

Stalls were set up for the students to display their creatively designed and crafted products like photo frames, bookmarks, greeting cards and multi-purpose boxes.Veerasingam said that the programme created a platform for students to learn more about business.

“Skill based training will allow students to come up in their lives. It is about shaping a bright future for our next generation, who have a choice of not working for others instead opt for being their own boss,” he said.

“This also provides opportunity for personal development.”

AMCHAM president Vince Leusner said that the programme is all about introducing students to the real business environment.“I am sure that from the experience that these students have received, they will be able to apply it in the real world later,” he said.

“We have been doing this programme for the past 17 years and so far about 10,000 students have participated. It’s like getting an early start in business management, learning entrepreneur skills and working towards their goals.”

YE Programme Chairman and Piyush Gupta said that entrepreneurship was becoming an important facet in Malaysia’s future economic growth.

Yen Yon, 16 from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Bandar Utama said the programme provided various learning curves.

“I found that it was hard having a business, sometimes there are disagreements and conflicts. We have to learn to put everything aside and work together to achieve our target,” Yeng said.

“It was a good experience for us and we learned valuable lessons.”

She said that their products for the fair were made from recyclable items and what they found at home.

Students from Sekolah Dato’ Abdul Razak, Negeri Sembilan, showcased some nifty looking crafts made by them.

“We proved that if you put your mind to it anything is achievable,” said 16-year-old Muhammad Hanifa Hamzah.

He said that work was divided into sections and it took them about two weeks to come up with hand made plaster frames, candles with fragrance and greeting cards.

Six new awards are also up for grabs by participants in the Young Enterprise Achievements (YEA) awards.

They are for the Best Overall Awards, Best Teamwork Award, Best Customer Service Award, Best Decorated Stall Award, Best in Promotions Award, and Most Profitable Stall Award, all to be announced at the Young Enterprise Program Achiever’s Year End Showcase to be held in November.