Rusea's High pair take top prize in Hanover SDC youth business challenge

Two Rusea's High School students in Hanover have claimed first place in a Social Development Commission (SDC) Youth Entrepreneur Programme competition, pocketing $90,000 for a cupcake venture they built over 12 weeks.

Cattleya Dixon and schoolmate Racine Small launched RK Sweet Treats, selling cakes in a cup, after entering the contest with little formal business training. Dixon, a science student, said she knew almost nothing about running a firm when they began, though she had done basic business studies in grade eight.

"When we started the business, school work, it started to pile," Dixon told TVJ News. "It's because we had the business, so we had to sell during lunch time and then sometimes have to go into a little bit of the class time in the lunch time, but we made it work and we're doing well in school and as you can see, we did well in the business."

The Hanover-only challenge pushed secondary students to turn ideas into micro-enterprises. Each team received $10,000 in seed money plus coaching in financial literacy, financial management and business-plan writing. Dixon said the experience taught her how to keep customers satisfied and generate profit, and she and Small are weighing growth for RK Sweet Treats.

Second place went to Kenjia Dinham of Rusea's High for Crumbs and Get It. Nazara Turner of Merlene Ottey High School took third with a snack-wheel enterprise.

Dinham said juggling classes and trading was hard but worthwhile. "Everybody really we come here with ideas and we are leave with experience and that's something that no one can take away from us," she said. She also reported turning the $10,000 seed grant into $152,000 in sales.

SDC executive director Omar Frith said the Hanover results show why the agency wants to take the programme to other parishes with Infinity Cooperative Credit Union. He noted that most entrants are third-form, or grade nine, students who develop businesses under mentorship, compete on those enterprises, and earn awards for the quality of what they build.

"We're extremely proud of team Hanover for this very enterprising initiative, the Youth Entrepreneurship Program," Frith said, highlighting the focus on high-school youth creating and running their own firms.