The Body Boutique
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Last spring Tillsonburg's Junior Achievement team, The B Treeology, cleaned up at the London and District JA awards. And the year before, Bath Treats did the same, with a much smaller company.
The local Junior Achievement program – a 20-week after school entrepreneurial program for high school students – continues to grow. With about 26 students for the 2014-15 season, they created two separate teams.
"We have two teams and I believe we have eight mentors," said JA mentor Karen Northgraves at the recent Tillsonburg Business Resource Centre grand opening. "We had a lot of register this year and JA London recommended we have two teams."
Northgraves is mentoring The Body Boutique, which sells body lotions and hand soaps.
"I'm just so excited with these kids, they are so gung ho. The returning kids brought back friends because they really enjoyed it. It's fun every year... and I love it. Actually, I love it even more this year because the kids are so into it."
JA is something every student should look into, said Northgraves, not just for the entrepreneurial experience – and fun – but also the scholarships, which have been won by local students.
"Apply, apply, apply," said Northgraves. "That's what we're going to instill in our kids. JA has $50,000 worth of scholarships a year that only Junior Achievement students can apply for. And it's amazing how few apply... because it's very busy that time of year."
Both teams – Scentilations and The Body Boutique – meet Monday nights at The Gyulveszi Centre on Potters Road.
"It's a little competitive," Northgraves smiled, "and the kids actually have fun with it."
Body Boutique has 12 team members, including the majority of Tillsonburg's returning JA students, led by company president Nicole Kyriakopoulos who last year was VP of Sales with The B Treeology.
"Because we had the numbers, we were told we had to do two teams... it wasn't decided by us," said Kyriakopoulos. "But we made it work by letting people pick which product they'd like to go with. It just so happened we were about half-and-half."
Not satisfied with their initial product, The Body Boutique decided to make a change. The new product was packaged and ready for sale early in December. They achieved $500 in sales the first weekend it was available.
"We came up with the body lotion and the hand soap, and they sell for $15. There are three scents – Wild Cranberry, Balsam Wood, and Tropical Breeze. Our Balsam and Cranberry are more 'festive', so they are more geared towards Christmas and winter-time. Tropical is more summer-time and year-round. We want people to be satisfied with whatever they are getting, and that they have options.
"We'll probably phase out the festive ones after the holiday season just so we can keep it fresh. We'll update it a little bit so people aren't getting bored with the scents."
The response has been very positive, she said.
"By getting it out right now, and coming to these events before Christmas, we have a lot of customers who are saying 'this will be perfect for stocking stuffers' or 'so-and-so will love this.' I think it's a versatile product, too."
Kyriakopoulos gained valuable experience last year working closely with The B Treeology president Megan Spencer.
"I kind of knew what I was getting into this year when I decided I wanted to run for president," said Kyriakopoulos. "It's not like it was a huge shock for me or anything, but it's definitely a lot more work than last year.
"Last year we had a larger company, between 15-20. This year we're down to 12 so instead of having a few people under VP, now we just have the VP mainly. Last year we could play around with who wanted to be in each group. This year, it's 'if you sign up for this role, this is the role you have to stay with.'"
HEALTHY COMPETITION
In past years Tillsonburg competed against Junior Achievement teams from London, Middlesex, Elgin, Oxford, Huron, and Perth counties, attempting to make and sell a product for profit. And they still do... as well as the team on the other side of the room.
"When we first split into two groups we were kind of looking at it as not working against each other, but working with each other."
That changed, she said, in the first couple months. Both teams are now trying to win, both are trying to be 'the best.' Now they're getting down to business.
"We've got a very competitive group this year. Ellen (Nagy), she's probably going to be our top seller this year. She keeps coming to me every day, 'I need more products, I need more products!' A bunch of our members are ready to sell. They are so motivated, they just so badly want to beat the other group."
You can find The Body Boutique on Facebook.