On Wednesday, 9 May the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Club (IEC) members were given a task to advertise and sell Monster Energy Drink. A rep of Monster Energy drink in Ghana, came to our club meeting to discuss about the task. Each group was given 12 cans of drinks to sell across a market in Community 8 – the first group to sell of the drink was the winner and awarded.
In the beginning, it was quite difficult to settle. People were asking me questions such as: what is so special about this drink; why do I need to buy this; isn’t there a lot of caffeine in this drink? So when these questions were thrown at me, I had to devise plans and strategies to get around the questions. During the activity, I came across a man, he was a pharmacist at his shop and he said, “Although I am unable to drink this, I encourage you and your friends to continue this activity because it is giving us a great experience. It will take you far in life by acquiring the advertising techniques at this young age.”
In all, this activity organized by the Club leaders was an exhilarating and new experience to me. I strongly suggest this club to my juniors because I feel as though everyone should have a chance at marketing items. Eyako Eli Dzantor – G 9
For the past weeks, the IEC has had various sessions with different professionals to educate us on how to pitch. We were given various tips and tricks on how to market a product and today, we took on the practical part of it. Myself, alongside my group members; Delasie,Mamle and Nana Kwame were supposed to sell a total of 16 monster energy drink streets on a hot afternoon at the Community 8 Market. At first it seemed a difficult task but in no time we were able to sell all of them. It was really difficult convincing people who don’t take in energy drinks to buy. It was also really difficult trying to have a conversation which people who don’t really understand the language. We even had to move to our local languages to advertise the drink. This experience showed me the reality of being an entrepreneur and showed me some new skills in advertising. Arnold Gyateng – G 9
Today was such an amazing day, I have honestly learnt so much from this practical experience on marketing. My initial idea was that we were going to go to a mall where selling to people our age wouldn’t be so hard, but we rather hit the streets of Community 8, Tema, where the challenge was even tougher. Competing against each other added to the fun yet competitiveness. Selling a drink such as Monster energy drink was really hard. Ghanaians have a view on how they see the drink which is “demonic” so convincing them was really hard. The first ten minutes, no drinks had been sold from my side, however after receiving some advice from strangers and Mr. Sly, we got on our feet finally selling a carton of the drink together as a team. I’ve honestly learnt a lot from this trip, including team work, marketing strategies and many more. Nana Yaa – G9
This trip personally has been one of the best trips I have ever had in my stay in Tema International School. We were put in groups and given one instruction, “sell these drinks and you are guaranteed a dinner at Starbites.” Right when the word “dinner” found its way into my ears, I was hyped and ready to start selling. I was in a group with Alistair Kirk as our leader, Khadija, Eyako, Hannibal and Asantewaa. All on our toes, waiting for the call from Mr. Sylvester to start, “Cross the road” he exclaimed, and we were off. During marketing and selling, we ran into some difficult moments, like some people not being able to speak English and others who believed that the drink had a satanic background to it. But at the end, we came out victorious and got the grand price, a dinner at Starbites. Germaine Osei Kwame – G9
