Entrepreneurship Week: Willy Wonka’s Candy Land

Every semester Enderun celebrates its biannual Entrepreneurship Week–or Entrep Week as it is commonly called. Designed to incite the spirit of entrepreneurship among its young students, this year’s Willy Wonka’s Candy Land does not disappoint. Under the guidance of Rey Estrada, Stephanie Dionisio and Patrick Carlos, students were encouraged to create their own product and market it to the wider community. Given Enderun’s indisputable culinary strength, most of the booths sold food. This, however, does not undermine the quality and creativity of the non-food products. Perhaps it is fitting then that the winner of this semester’s best booth design was Puff Puff Shop–a group that conceptualized the use of hemp as a fabric for bags.

Aside from the student booths, the Enderun Entrepreneur’s Society (EES)–organizers of Entrepreneurship Week–went the extra mile and arranged some activities and shows for the benefit of all attendees. Over the week of September 10-14, there was an Elevator Pitch contest on Monday, a game called Chewy Bunny on Tuesday, a performance by ACTS Manila Ballet on Thursday, and another game called Marsh the Mallow on Friday.

Now on its third year, the Enderun community has gone a long way in terms of the liveliness and spirit of Entrep Week. Though there were vocal critics, many participants came to its defense. Rey Estrada, instructor of Introduction to Entrepreneurship, states that an activity as big and complicated as a school fair certainly entails a learning curve, any other institution would have experienced the same thing. Wilson Gan, Assistant Dean for the College of Business and Entrepreneurship, says that culture plays a big role “we are very much a market culture” and the boisterousness of the atmosphere gives the affair its vibrancy; if we wanted a trade-show type of atmosphere then it would be too stiff for students.

From the students’ perspective, they felt that the change in location on Tuesday–Entrep Week had to relocate to the MPCC to make way for a booked event in the Atrium–created a lot of confusion and ruined some of the designs of their stalls. Many were also pining for more customers, and wished that the event was better promoted to outsiders as well as Enderun students. Believing that viability of their products could withstand the pressures of the outside market, they felt that their hard work could have been better rewarded had there been more outside visitors. Nevertheless, it was a great achievement for EES, as well as Enderun’s students and instructors. Despite the shortcomings, participants still felt the invaluableness of the learnings that the experience has given them. It created a healthy sense of competition that certainly brought out the spirit of entrepreneurship within the manicured grounds of Enderun.