A group of Tofino and Ucluelet youth are putting their entrepreneurial skills to the test.
As members of the Junior Achievement of B.C. (JABC) Ucluelet Chapter, the students were tasked to develop and operate a small business over the course of a few months.
Together they founded a company called ‘Wild Coasters’, which produces and sells coasters made from a variety of abandoned trees.
The idea is to raise awareness about deforestation as well as strengthen the community by donating a portion of our sales to the food bank, explained Wild Coasters president Timothy Masso.
“The wood was collected from some local places like Kennedy Lake,” he said.
Wild Coasters VP Finance Will Fortune came up with the idea to make sets of coasters.
“Most of them are made of cedar. From a round, circular small branch found in several different places. We sand them and wax them so that they are water-resistant,” said Fortune.
Joseph Rotenburg at the Ucluelet Chamber of Commerce helps facilitate the JABC’s weekly meetings.
“The Company Program is a curriculum set-up by Junior Achievement. It’s a series of programming that helps young people work with mentors to build their own company,” said Rotenburg. “And this is their company, hard at work.”
Rotenburg went on to say that the program meets every Wednesday for 16 Wednesdays until the end of Feb. He hopes to start JABC up again in the next school year.
“Anyone can buy our finished products,” said Masso “They are $15 each and a portion of our money we plan on donating to the food bank.”
JABC is a registered charity that brings a wide range of financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship training course into elementary, middle school, and secondary school classrooms all over the province.
Anyone interested in learning more about Wild Coasters is encouraged to visit the company’s website: www.wildcoasters.ca.
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