1/13/14

Reflection
Today instead of class I had an ENACTUS project.  Basically we ran a day camp called Jumpstart Innovation.  The camp was on based on the idea of entrepreneurship and teaching middle school students about starting up their own business.  We first, went to tour Jolly Time Popcorn.  There we saw how Jolly Time ran their facility. We saw the manufacturing process of how they cleaned, separated, popped, and packaged the popcorn.  We also saw how they stored, the packaged popcorn.  I also learned a few things about Jolly Time, one, that this is their only production facility in the US, two that around 15% of the corn they receive from the farmers won't work for the popcorn so it has to be sent elsewhere, and three that they are constantly developing new products.

After we toured Jolly Time we went to tour the Hamilton Hy Vee.  There we got to see how a retail store operates.  We saw the backroom where bulk orders for resale are taken and stored.  We saw how Hy Vee stores their cold and frozen products.  We also saw how the store was set up to make the day to day operations more efficient.

After lunch we discussed the different parts of a business.  We talked about the manger, the marketing, sales, and finance parts of a business.  Then, with the middle school students we had to design, make, market, and sell a product.  The only requirements for this were the product had to be made with the popcorn from Jolly Time, and made for under $10 which we received from Hy Vee.

Looking back at the day it was a good way for the middle school students to get a taste of entrepreneurship.  With making and selling their own product they were able to  get the a chance to see what it was like to run their own business.  I would saw it was a great camp, and that I would be willing to help with it again in the future.