TEDEd Club @ Al Qamar Academy

Thrilled to announce the start of the Al Qamar Academy's TEDEd Club as by Allah's grace our application to TED was accepted.

Am also very grateful to Jb M.G  Dawood Miankhan Sahib and the management of Quaide Milleth International Academy of Media Studies (QIAMS) for kindly giving permission for Al Qamar TEDEd Club to learn video recording and editing - skills they would need for creating the final TED talk.

11 students from Grades 4-6 have signed up as members.  The first session introduced students to TED talks. They viewed two fascinating talks and got to brainstorm what makes a good talk, what are great ideas worth sharing and what prevents ideas from spreading.  The club members got a chance to practice their public speaking skills by giving one minute talks on why they want to join the club.  I was impressed at the self confidence and spoken skills of the children.

Looking forward to the rest of the sessions where children will decide a topic for a talk, do research, write the speech and finally record. 

Green Dreams - a student startup venture

The Entrepreneurship Club at Al Qamar has come a long way from the time it started in July. The  group of 7-10 students are participating in the School Enterprise Challenge, a global business planning and execution competition which guides students through the various stages of running a sustainable business. Students have to design a business around the 3Ps -  Profit, People and Planet.


Business Idea

The team started off with brainstorming what kinds of business it wanted to run. After narrowing a long list down to the top 3 ideas Candle making, a medicinal plant nursery and scrapbook making, the students conducted an online survey to get a sense of what would work. The overwhelming vote was for a medicinal plant nursery - an idea which intrigued the surveyed group. The students articulated  a business goal of helping people find natural alternative care for common ailments while reviving traditional knowledge. The students called their business "Green Dreams".

During this process, Br. Siraj Samsudeen, a corporate consultant, conducted a Business Planning workshop to help students identify what makes a successful business. "Its about meeting customer needs, and not what you want to sell."

After several group discussions and brainstorms, the students submitted a formal Business Idea document which enshrined all their ideas.

Business Planning

Next, the team had to go through a 8 week training program on how to complete business plans. They learned about conducting market research. The team conducted a second survey with detailed questions about which kind of plants people wanted. They even interviewed potential customers in depth to understand customer needs.

The students  learned about understanding their own business space which involved doing a SWOT, competitor and customer analysis. They realised a key point - their own customers could become competitors. They brainstormed marketing strategy - from defining their product, coming up with pricing, creating a list of promotions and figuring out places they would sell - a throwback to the 4 P's of marketing. They narrowed their product mix to 6-7 plants in two categories. The regular priced plants were to be sold in recycled plastic jars and bottles. The premium products were to be sold in coconut coir pots.

The students had to create a Financial Plan which detailed their costs and potential revenue. The applied for a startup interest free loan from the school - which was approved. The amortization costs were included in their Financial Plan. Next came the Operating Plan with a brainstorm of startup and periodic activities involved in running the business and creation of an organizational chart with roles and responsibilities.

The entire process gave the students an excellent overview of running a real business.

Annual Plan

Green Dreams was formally launched during a parent meeting with great success. With aggressive marketing tactics and personal promotions the team reached 84% of their monthly target in the first sale itself. The balance was made up during the next meeting. In January, they plan to now conduct sales at the beach - a popular go-to spot for the neighbourhood people

Meanwhile, the team received its first feedback from the the SEC group and they were thrilled to bits:

1.    We were impressed with the clear, detailed presentation of your market research analysis. You clearly have a strong understanding of your customer base and have shown that there is a considerable market for your product/service. Congratulations on your high level of analysis!

2.     You have done a great job when analysing and justifying your 4Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), indicating a high level of awareness of your target market. You have a clear description of your product/service, its use and the place you will be selling at, and a carefully considered pricing strategy, along with innovative promotion techniques. Well done!

3.     Can you think of more creative, innovative and entrepreneurial ways of raising the start-up capital you need? You can find lots of inspiring fundraising ideas, tactics and strategies in our dedicated Start-up Capital Guide [available to download from our website].

4.     Overall, this was an excellent Business Plan that you have created! We really enjoyed reading about the sustainability and return to your cultural roots that inspired your business idea in the first place. As another suggestion, we recommend making sure to find another way to earn the start-up capital. You could explore using the school loan as a back-up plan, since reducing your costs incurred will allow you to generate profits more quickly. Good luck with your business!

The Green Dreams team has to now run the business successfully for 3 months before submitting an Annual Plan.  Make dua for this gutsy group.

UE Ecology Class #4 Visit to an animal Shelter

Today's ecology class was one on contemplation of how to be humane, compassionate and merciful to our fellow creatures.  Our kids need to be sensitized to the issue of abandonment of pets and I am sure the kids felt a tug at their heart on seeing the condition of the animals today at the animal shelter.

It was disheartening to see the state in which some of the animals were, abandoned, sick, traumatized, attacked, maimed, paralyzed and vulnerable.  We were briefed by Shravan about these animals, how he provided medical attention, returned them to their territory or put up for adoption, a commendable job by his team and him.   

The children had a lot of questions as to why the pets were abandoned, why are the stray dogs returned back to their territory, who adopts them, what is that thing the dog had around its neck.  Shravan patiently answered all their questions and also described that the E collar is put so the animal does not bite where the injury or stitch is placed.  (I wasn’t  surprised to overhear  a fourth grader describe to his friend about the Elizabethan collar and its use before Shravan explained it as I knew they pick this knowledge from the books they read). 

Shravan told the children that pets are not commodities to be bought in a store.  They are living creatures and when a pet is got, it becomes family and must not be abandoned. 

Dogs are territorial creatures and the stray who has been on its own will be distressed to live in an enclosure no matter how spacious it is.  Another aspect for returning the stray dogs is they have survived alone for a considerable time and are brought here only because of an accident so they will be comfortable to go back and can fend for themselves whereas a pedigree dog would be unable to survive on its own and forage for food.  If an animal leaves the shelter, there is space to take in an additional animal in its place.  But sadly, he needs to keep in mind his resources, funds, and space constraints in taking the animals and sometimes refuses to take more animals.

The kids were distressed to see the injured, whimpering and whining dogs, monkey, cats, camel, cow, calves, kittens and pups.  They were also scared the dogs would bite them but all fear was blown away when they walked past the dogs to touch and feed an injured pony, feed a recuperating camel, a cow and the pinnacle was to see, hold and pet a kitten.  The vets were kept busy on their toes today because of the number of animals that came in to be taken care of.  We saw how the vets were 

providing the necessary medical aid. 

We met Ash who has come to help at the animal shelter and lives in California and has adopted abandoned animals as pets, 16 in total, cats, umbrella cockatoo, yellow crested cockatoo, grey parrot and many more.  Some of the kids interacted with her and understood how she had gone to the US for higher studies but found her passion in animals and is doing her Veterinary Medicine after changing her career.  She was left speechless by their questions and level of understanding.  She couldn't believe they are fourth and fifth graders and appreciated how smart they were.

The kids returned with their hearts filled with love for animals and the conviction to not tease, taunt, hurt the stray animals or abandon pets.