28 November 2007

20 students of the Diploma in Computer Studies programme were challenged to hold a mini food fair at SEGi College Penang as a coursework of the Business Organisation module.

“The whole idea of conducting a mini food fair is to test the students’ knowledge in a way a person does business as an individual and in a partnership. This project provides valuable experience for the students as they plan for a business from conception to the end,” explain Jeffrey Goh, Principal of SEGi College Penang.

Prompted by their lecturer, Ms. Mong Sit Yin, the 20 students were divided into two groups, each given a separate task with the same goal in mind.

The task given to one group was to act as a business that produces its own products and selling the products for profit. The other task was to act as an agent, buying products from suppliers and reselling them for profit.

“Although the businesses conducted were in the frame of being a sole trader, we emphasized a lot on the students working together as a team. To create a healthy competition, the students were allowed to keep the profits of the sale to be shared amongst themselves,” explained Goh.

The teams got busy dividing themselves into different job functions doing their own marketing and promotion, handling their own accounting and finance, purchase of raw materials, production and sales.

Team A, producing the food and beverage themselves, business plan was to sell home-made sushi, fried nuggets, fried chicken and cordial drinks. The team worked to prepare the food and beverage themselves.

Team B themselves sourced for delicious food at the cheapest price possible to give them a better profit margin when resold at the mini food fair. The team sold pandan cakes, chicken pies and jellies at their stall.

“I’m glad to see that the teams put a lot of thought and effort in this project. They hung up posters all over the college and told friends and lecturers about the mini food bazaar that drew the crowd to their stall to purchase their wares. They showed good time management, organisation and management of a business project,” praised Goh.

“I am also pleased that all the other students and lecturers came and supported their efforts of the mini food bazaar. The food were all good, so it’s no surprise that everything sold off within 2 hours,” added Goh.