The winner of this year’s National Secondary School Entrepreneurship Competition (NSSEC) will be announced today at the closing ceremony held at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA).
It is the moment all of the teams are looking forward to.
At this point last year, Scarborough Secondary was at the top of the table hoping to claim the title as NSSEC’s inaugural champion. However, a revival in the final week of the competition by Presentation Chaguanas and Corpus Christi caused those two teams to leapfrog Scarborough Secondary.
It was a surprise to almost everyone in NSSEC as Scarborough Secondary had been at the top of the table for the majority of the competition. The school eventually placed third overall and won the Shell Dolphin Division.
This year, the team representing Scarborough Secondary knows they have “huge shoes to fill.” They have a few similarities to last year’s team. They have chosen the same team name as their predecessors, Blue Marlin Technology, which is a nod to the school’s mascot the blue marlin fish. Out of 15 possible groups, Scarborough Secondary will again be competing in the Shell Dolphin Division and teacher Crystal Celestine will again be the team’s advisor.
Celestine said her competitive nature helped push the Scarborough Secondary team last year. She is hoping that it will also help this year.
“I am competitive by nature, so winning was always the goal. I was so proud of what the team last year was able to accomplish. We were the underdogs, at least it felt like that when we were called amongst the popular schools, but we were determined to make our mark and we did. It was awesome,” Celestine said.
De Shanel Alleyne, Blue Marlin Technology’s Chief Executive Officer this year, admitted tat there is pressure for his team to make a mark like last year’s team.
“Yes, the pressure was felt from the start since we heard about the last team’s success and the impact they made. We knew we had huge shoes to fill,” Alleyne said.
This year’s team comprises Alleyne, Marketing Manager Akisha Ashby, Human Resource manager Chelsy John, production manager Kern Mc Wellington and finance manager Zanele Jack. The five Upper Six students were all selected randomly.
“The entire class was eager to participate so as the teacher I randomly selected names from a box,” Celestine said.
Apart from the competitive aspect of NSSEC, Celestine said the competition has helped the students with their school work and the lessons learned during the game will help them in life.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime. It will definitely stir up a new passion for business management and for entrepreneurship. You get to play with money that isn’t really yours to run a company and see it grow,” she said.
Theories and definitions gain real-world relevance to the students.
“My classroom notes came to life. I was able to see in a real-world setting the factors that affect demand as well as how economies of scale really work. Before it was just terms I had to know to pass my CAPE exams but now I am able to relate to the terms,” Jack said.
Goodwood Secondary has two teams in the NSSEC, and their King-Tech Computing is currently ranked 20th overall. King-Tech are current leaders in the Shell Poinsettia Group.
The other Tobago schools in the competition are Bishops High School, Speyside High School, Signal Hill Secondary and the Harmon Hall School of Seventh Day Adventists.