SOME 180 student entrepreneurs from six rural high schools will showcase a variety of innovative products and services offered by their schoolbased businesses at the second staging of the Young Entrepreneurs ‘I am the Change’ Business Expo and Competition at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge, The University of the West Indies Mona Campus, on Thursday, May 30.

The students are participants in the Young Entrepreneurs ‘I am the Change’ initiative, which is a component of the Centres of Excellence schools transformation programme, managed by the Mutual Building Societies Foundation (MBSF). The entrepreneurship initiative has been implemented in partnership with Digicel Foundation and is managed by the Kimala Bennett-led, The Business Lab.

Mile Gully High of Manchester will be seeking to retain the Best Business Trophy for their Mile Gully’s Pride: Fruits and Accessories operation, but will face formidable challenges from their counterparts in the Centres of Excellence programme: McGrath High in St Catherine; Porus High in Manchester; Godfrey Stewart High in Westmoreland; Green Pond High in St James; and Seaforth in St Thomas.

“The businesses established by students a year and half ago remain viable operations that address specific needs in the six schools,” Kimala Bennett, managing director of The Business Lab, explained. She noted the variety in the six operations, which range from a revolving locker service for storing students’ items, to a student newspaper and food establishments.

Pointing to the continued economic challenges facing the country, Bennett noted that the students demonstrated excellent skills over the past year, “diversifying their operations to adapt to the trends and changes in the market”.

“The route which the students took during the past year enhanced their business skills, as they conducted continued product and market research, just as real business operators should, to ensure the survivability of their businesses.”

In addition to their business products and services, the expo will give the students an opportunity to showcase mobile applications, which they conceptualised a year ago. The ‘apps’ are all designed to solve problems in the schools and communities of the students and will be pitched to a team of business and tech entrepreneurs.

Ingrid Riley, principal of ConnectiMass will be the guest speaker at the event.