Harrow collects major award
Harrow International School has been named Asia Pacific Junior Achievement Company of the Year 2015 after beating a host of international teams with its outstanding student business Boucase.
Junior Achievement Worldwide’s annual regional competition was held in Bangkok recently.
It was the second year in a row that a Harrow team won the top gong at the event after placing second in the category in 2013.
A team from the international programme at Kasetsart University’s Laboratory School snatched second prize in the Asia Pacific Junior Achievement Company of the Year category.
Boucase also collected the peer-voted Young Entrepreneurs’ Choice Award.
Boucase pitched their product, a multi-functional waterproof standing pencil case made from environmentally friendly materials, to a panel of judges at an event that featured teams from throughout the Asia Pacific.
Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organisation dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programmes.
Junior Achievement programmes help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, as well as how to create jobs which make their communities more robust and apply entrepreneurial thinking in the workplace.
The Bangkok event, organised by the Junior Achievement Thailand (JAT), attracted contestants from many nations including Indonesia, Singapore, China, Korea, Japan, the United States, and Turkmenistan. The teams comprised students from Grade 9 to Grade 12.
JAT, a registered charitable organisation, aims to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in the global economy.
Boucase chief executive Chanad Ladavalya Na Ayutthaya presented the company’s vision and products at the event.
“Our vision is to have our products seen as an icon for a personal organisation,” he said. “Additionally, we aim to prove the economical feasibility and functional calibre of eco-textiles in the ever-growing environmentally concerned customer base.”
Chanad said the team conducted market research and found that people wanted pencil cases that were easy to carry.
Boucase’s product boasts an interesting blend of simplicity, elegance and innovation. It comes in a range of appealing colours and is made from a waterproof, eco-friendly fabric that is recycled from plastic bottles.
Boucase is available in two sizes. The small pencil case costs Bt149 and the big one Bt249.
“We now sell our products at Gateway Ekamai, Chamchuri Square and our own school,” Chanad said.
