Early Bird wins gold medal

The Early Bird School at Taifa-Burkina in Accra won a gold medal and  cash prize of $400 at the  just-ended Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurial (SGE) competition held in Abuja, Nigeria.

The winning team, made up of members of the school’s Junior Graphic Fan Club, joined other students from 16 countries across the world to showcase their business ideas, business networking and entrepreneurial skills.

Sharing their joy with the Junior Graphic, the leader of the team, Ms Sandra Obeng Appiah, said the competition was in two categories:  Social Enterprise Business (SEB), in which the SAGE team of the St Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, contested and the Social Responsible Business (SRB), which the Early Bird School contested.

She said their category which had countries like Nigeria, South Korea, China, Russia and Singapore competing was keenly contested, “but my team   presented an educational software we had developed, which we termed  ‘STEPLAS’ and a community service we undertook at Chosen Rehabilitation Centre at  Abofo, near Achimota in Accra.”

Asked what this software entailed, Ms Obeng Appiah said it was a compilation of approved text books on subjects such as Maths, English, Science and French from Upper Primary to JHS as well as business tips for young people.

She explained thus: “It is okay to carry your textbooks to study but I think this is the easiest way to study. You just slot your CD in a computer and everything is there for you to read.”

Ms Etornam Gbekle, a member of the team, said their teacher, Sir Bennett Baah Jnr, prepared them very well for the competition.

She said they were taken through how to make presentations and provide answers to questions that might come up after their presentation. “I think we made our country proud because this is our first appearance in the competition and we didn’t perform badly at all.”

The team had earlier competed at the national level with some senior high schools like the St Augustine’s College, PRESEC, Labone SHS and the Preset Pacesetters SHS and was the only junior high school among the group.

Story: Lydia Essel-Mensah
Junior Graphic/graphic.com.gh/Ghana