A sleeping bag with arms and legs; an innovative electric mixer; an ultra-secure household safe. These were just a few of the inventions Mme. Howe’s Grade 3 and Mme. Kennedy’s Grade 9 students came up with when their entrepreneurial minds were put to work for a unit on advertising.
But for Jasper’s French immersion students, coming up with the inventions and creating prototypes was just the first step. The real test came when they had to pitch their inventions to local businessmen in a presentation mimicking the popular television reality show Dragon’s Den.
Guy Boisvert and Yves Marchand were the guest Dragons, and Jan. 20 they heard pitches from several groups of students, each containing members of both the Grade 3 and 9 classes.
Each presentation took about 10 minutes, during which the groups gave their pitches and showed off prototypes of their products. The Dragons then asked them questions about the product, and decided how to invest their play money in the company.
For homework, students had prepared answers to several questions about their products, but the Dragon’s didn’t let them off too easily.
“I’m happy to just talk with the kids, but my partner here is putting pressure on them,” Boisvert said during a break between presentations.
“I’ve got questions. They have [answers to] their questions already, but I go right to the point with them,” Marchand said. “If I can see they are answering their questions, I will go off script a little bit.”
He pointed out that there are many aspects to owning a business that the students aren’t aware of—for example, students weren’t aware of all the specifics surrounding patents—and he is in a good position to education them.
“What’s the difference between owning 49 per cent or 51 per cent of a company? They don’t know,” he said. “What if I buy 49 per cent [of their company] instead of 51? Then they still own a majority of the company.
“It’s very advanced for the kids: it’s great for them.”
Maia McGugan, who’s group pitched a sleeping bag with arms and legs called the Snuck n’ Tuck, said presenting to the Dragons was a kind of intimidating.
“Just trying to figure out all the money and the calculating was hard too, but it was fun,” she said.
“And it’s really nerve-racking going up there, because [the Dragons] actually change around the questions. I memorized the right questions, and then they change it all up,” added fellow entrepreneur Sophie Koleman.
McGugan admitted that the grilling from the Dragons made her carefully consider what she was asking for her product. She had originally asked for an $8,000 investment, but after a negotiation her group accepted $10,000, but had to give up 49 per sent of their company to the Dragons.
“I got more, but then they got more of my company,” she said.
She said the main thing she took away from the project was how stressful it would be to own her own company.
Koleman agreed.
“Owning a company would be really hard to figure out, and I’d probably fail,” she joked.
Trevor Nichols
[email protected]
