Junior Achievement of the Philippines

Title

Language

English

Year

1970

Subject

Student movements—Philippines

Student activities—Philippines

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Junior Achievement is a community effort aimed at building a corps of entrepreneurs, employers, employees, and in general citizens who understand the full meaning of private incentive and ownership. Students organize themselves to form miniature enterprises which they operate under the guidance of adult executives. Thus, they gain first-hand experience as workers, managers and investors.

Fulltext

Overnight a new identity emerged: Student Power. Student Power is a concerted effort by student activists — young and righteous people ever vigilant of their right to demand justice and democracy, expressed in rallies and demonstrations. Student activism began to gel I towards the end of 1969. At about the same time, another form of student activism took shape. Non-political and non-vocal — shying away from demonstrations of protests — this other student activism engaged in a demonstration of cooperation, industry, perseverance and self-confidence. Instead of provocateurs, they had among their ranks counsellors drawn from top management of successful enterprises. Expectedly, their activiites did not command nationwide attention for they lacked emotional appeal. None of them made the front pages of daily newspapers. While their counterparts — the political students activists — were hugging the headlines, all they could show were modest profits: monetary and experience. The "other" student activists are members of the Junior Achievement of the Philippines. No one older than 21 years old, they come from different schools, colleges, and universities. Like their counterparts, they pursue different fields of studies—business, law, engineering, and liberal arts. What It's All About Junior Achievement is a community effort aimed at building a corps of entrepreneurs, employers, employees, and in general, citizens who understand the full meaning of private incentive and ownership. Students organize themselves to form miniature enterprises which they operate under the guidance of adult executives. Thus, they gain first-hand experience as workers, managers and investors. As a first step, the students establish a typical "corporation" whose capital is pooled from shares which they save from their pocket money, or sell to friends who have confidence in their ability and honesty. Youth Achievers take their jobs seriously. Above, they are exposed to product planning. Below, Atmar executives go over product sales. 7 un Oí Ach Once the "mini"-corporation ¡s formed, they elect among themselves a Board of Directors and a set of officers. Almost always, the business student becomes Company president, and the engineering student vice-president for production. But, regardless of their managerial positions, all put in an equal share of productive work — and get paid accordingly. One such JA company is Atmar Enterprises — a group of students from Ateneo and Maryknoll (hence the name). Atmar Enterprises is under the counsel of Getty Oil executives. "Upon advice from our counsellors, we decided to produce satchel bags," explained Jun Hagan, an Ateneo business student and Atmar president. "Immediately, we were exposed to the different phases of a real industrial enterprise. We learned how to maximize each other's talents. For instance/ we have in our group, one who knows his way around Manila and has good bargaining talent — so he is in charge of purchasing. "Another was very good in design — he could cut out the raw materials with practically no wastage; he is in charge of production. "Of course the girls take charge of sewing up the bags," Hagan points out. Atmar's carry-all bags are attractive — especially with the name of one's school proudly printed on it, complemented by the school's insignia. Aside from being roomy, the satchels are designed to go anywhere, bring anything anywhere, and reasonably resistant to dirt and smudge. Ingenuity best describes use of leatherette for the bottoms and duck canvas for the body. Sturdy strings top the bags to secure whatever personal effects are placed inside. Although the students meet only two nights a week, Atmar has already produced 603 satchel bags, 540 of which have already been sold. Since they An Achiever as a manufacturing worker. started operations a couple of months back at a capital of P485, Atmar already reflects a net profit of Pl,301.38 — after "operating expenses" and "taxes." But it was not that easy. Hagan recalls that at some point the group almost broke up because of a growing animosity. With the help of their Getty counsellors, the problem was isolated. It appeared that in his effort to make a faster turnover, Jun was driving the group too hard, reaching a point where morale was dangerously low. Everybody, particularly Atmar's president, learned their first lesson on the value of human relations and the maintenance of proper attitude for efficiency. Support To insure a constant flow of young people getting the feel of private enterprise — an understanding that is essential to them if they are to "take over" business and industry as employees, managers, and stockholders — a Center is being maintained at Malugay Street in Makati, Rizal where the students operate their business. 8 The Junior Achievement of the Philippines, Inc. counts with the support of business and industry, among which is Getty Oil (Philippines) Inc. Getty is a founding member as well as counselling firm. Executive Vice President George B. Campbell sits in the Board of Trustees. He also serves as First Vice President for JA. In addition, Getty executives, C. E. Tuason, I. Sanchez, Jr., and A. V. Amagna, take time out to serve as counsellors, providing youngsters the benefits of their experience in production, administration, and marketing. What does the Junior Achievement seek to accomplish? The objective of Junior Achievement is to instill in the new generation a sympathetic understanding of the private enterprise system in which business thrives and prospers. Letting today's youth understand economic problems will make them better prepared when they find themselves either in government service, or practitioners in private enterprises after they step out of school. In a way/ JA is harnessing student power today for better captains of business and industry tomorrow. • Achievers found satchel bag-making is an easy but challenging process. Clipboards are saleable items, too. 9

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