During last Friday’s “Intro to Business”, Vish wanted to teach us that creativity is a key element to a successful business. To get our creative juices flowing, we were tasked to create a new and exciting product made out of some normal, mundane products that we could find in any household.
My group was given a wooden shoe shaper, a chained belt and a silk scarf.
We found that:
- wooden shoe shaper possesses the ability to expand and contract.
- the chained belt is hard and sturdy, and when one puts it together, it forms an armour
- the scarf is of a silky material that feels good to touch
We found that together, the elements of these three items would be perfect for creating a protective outfit for a football player.
Firstly, the “expand-contract” element of the shoe shaper forms the shoulder pads that would be able to expand when it detects a sudden impact, and contract when the player is running around to reduce the wind resistance, giving the player greater speed.
Next, the sturdy and protective element of the chain belt can be incorporated into the clothing material, so that the player will not be hurt easily on impact.
Finally, the silky and soft element of the scarf is used as the material for the jersey. It is for the utmost comfort of the football player.
After creating the product, we had to present the product and sell the product to “The Boss” in a 1 minute elevator presentation. We had to figure out how to sell our product and make it interesting in that small window of opportunity. Capturing the key selling points of our products and trying to convince “The Boss” that our product was profitable was definitely a challenge.
In conclusion, this short project has taught me that business is not all about route learning and knowing our textbooks. Business is about being able to apply what we’ve learnt in our classroom to the real world. We have to be creative to stand out, and be 100% confident about our products and sell it with great tenacity.
