Early Bird School excels at SAGE competition
The Early Bird School at Taifa-Burkina in Accra took the first and second positions at the just-ended 2017 Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) competition.
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By this achievement, the school has qualified to represent Ghana at the SAGE World Cup in Ukraine in August this year.
The winning team, made up of members of the Early Bird School Junior Graphic Fan Club, joined other senior high school (SHS) students across the country to showcase their ideas and entrepreneurial skills.
The team participated in the Social Enterprise Business (SEB) and the Socially Responsible Business (SRB) categories.
Sharing their joy with the Junior Graphic, the leader of the SEB team, Miss Vanessa Tetteh-Ashong, said their group was the toughest because they were the only junior high school (JHS) that competed with SHSs, including St Augustine’s College, Ghana National College, Methodist Girls SHS, Mamfe and Mfantsipim School.
Miss Tetteh-Ashong said as the reigning champions for both the SEB and SRB categories since 2013, the school decided to leave no stone unturned in making a mark in the contest “so we did a good presentation on our project, dubbed ‘Savesense initiative’ – a student savings project which integrates with the banking system.”
Miss Tetteh-Ashong said the project involved a community service which they (students) undertook in two public schools: the Taifa Community School and the St Dominic School to bring together about 150 students.
She said her team presented the students with some reading materials and assisted those who had difficulties with reading. They also taught them beads-making.
‘’I’m glad we were able to achieve our goal because the product did not go waste. We sold the beads which yielded GH¢2,360, adding that, “we used the money to support the needy students among the team,’’ she remarked.
Master Blessing Addai Parku, the leader of the Socially Responsible Business team, which took the second position in that category, said their project, ‘Save Sense Mini-Bank’ which they undertook in the school, was to encourage their schoolmates to open an account with the bank.
He said their target group was the JHS students, stating that through the project, about 50 of them opened bank accounts with ECOBANK.
He explained further that collection of money was done every morning between 6:30a.m. and 7a.m. and the bulk of the money sent to the bank every Friday by their instructor, Mr Bennett Baah Jr.
He added that they made as much as GH¢2,510 as savings at ECOBANK when the project ended.
He said their teacher, Mr Baah Jr, prepared them adequately for the competition and added that he was happy they did not disappoint the school.