One of the school’s teams was named Company of the Year and Best Trade Booth, and will be going on to represent Singapore at the Asia Pacific level of the competition.
In an amazing feat, Nexus International School (Singapore)’s learners won not just one, but two awards in the recent JA Company of the Year competition!
The entrepreneurship competition saw Nexus’ Team Greentopia clinch both first place for Company of the Year and Best Trade Booth; while its second team OjO won the judges’ praise for its team chemistry and innovative product.
What does it take to be the Singapore JA Company of the Year?
Is the Company of the Year the one that rakes in the highest profit? Or is it the one with the most exciting product or service? It seems that both factors are taken into account, and more.
According to the Junior Achievement Singapore website, the competition required participants to build and manage a company, with judges evaluating its performance throughout a 12-week period. Profit and company offerings aside, they also assessed how well each team understood their company’s performance and how it was run.
Nexus’ Greentopia and OjO showcased creative products. With a beautifully designed card game, Greentopia used a gamification approach to teach the public about sustainability and real-world environmental changes. On the other hand, OjO tackled a common issue – prolonged screen exposure – with an eye care kit, complete with a heating and cooling eye mask, blue light glasses, and customisable scents for that extra touch of luxe.
Now here’s where Greentopia stood out – the company sold over 300 units of its card game, earning it a whooping $5,000 in profit! And if that’s not impressive enough, the company wow-ed judges with an eye-catching booth display and convincing sales pitch during the competition’s trade fair. The team of Nexus learners also continued to shine at the judging panel interview, where they demonstrated their entrepreneurial knowledge and learnings.
Nexus has a legacy of teaching children about entrepreneurship
“Entrepreneurship is more than financial success,” Nexus’ Director of Digital Learning and Entrepreneurship Shoiab Raza said. “It is the vehicle we use for delivering these skills as we approach learning with intent and purpose.”
Nexus has always been known for its focus on fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, going as far as to incorporate it into the school curriculum – and with good cause. The school believes that this mindset helps children develop soft skills that are crucial, not just to make their university applications stand out, but to be future-ready and thrive in the job markets of tomorrow.
As the team members in Greentopia and OjO had come to learn during the competition duration, running a business involved many soft skills. Creativity, problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking are required when they do ideation, product development, marketing, sales, and even liquidation. Greentopia’s President Danyil shared his learnings, “Creating a great product was only part of our story. Just like the game taught players the importance of collaboration, we learnt the same through this process as well.”
The next step for Greentopia: Tokyo and further collaborations
The great news is that Greentopia will be representing Singapore at the competition’s Asia Pacific level! The team will be heading to Tokyo, where it’s held, on a well-deserved all-expenses-paid trip. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping to hear good news from the team.
We’ve also heard that the team donated a portion of its profits to OrcaNation, a company that teaches children about sustainability (with a focus on ocean literacy) through immersive and engaging experiences – quite similar to Greentopia. What’s more exciting is that the Greentopia card game will be used as part of OrcaNation’s outreach efforts, and both companies are discussing a future collaboration in the form of a digital role-playing game focused on sustainability too. Now, this we can’t wait to see!
Your child can thrive in a school that teaches entrepreneurship too
Want to see how Nexus nurtures entrepreneurial skills in its learners? Book a school tour to see for yourselves if the school is a good fit for your child. Who knows, they may be part of the school’s next JA Company of the Year winner.
This post is in partnership with Nexus International School (Singapore).
