【ITC2021】Compassion: The Key To A Successful Business Idea

FedEx Express/Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge 2021（以下、ITC 2021）の国内大会でTOP3に入賞し、日本代表として国際大会に出場された高校生のH.H.さんがこのコンテストでの学びについて記事を書いてくださいました。

当コンテストは通常は対面で開催しておりますが、コロナ禍で行われたITC 2021は全てオンラインでの開催となりました。そのため、コミュニケーションの難しさなどの様々なハードルがありましたが、H.Hさんにとってビジネスの本質に触れるよい機会になったようです。是非ご一読ください。

International Trade Challengeの概要はこちら
https://ja-japan.org/contests/ITC.html

***

Compassion as a definition, means to have sympathy for another, and the will to act upon it.

Participating in the ITC 2021 gave me a chance to reflect on my passions. With rigorous work amounts, and countless hours of brainstorming, research, and discussions, it has allowed me to truly understand how I want to envision my future. An entrepreneur. 

ITC has shown me the hard work, diligence, but most importantly, compassion needed to make an idea successful, to better the lives of others.

ITC was one of creativity, viability, and compassion. It tested the aspects not only of our business abilities, but how much we could help other people.

When I first began the workshop hosted by our Junior Achievement Japan facilitators, I was quite frankly, unprepared. I had not chosen an idea until the day of, and it was a bit sloppy. Supplements of flaxseed oil for the mental-wellbeing of South Africans (The theme provided for the business workshop was "a product for mental well-being in South Africa"). Yet the idea itself was boring, generic, and lacked the creativity to make it an appealing, and successful product. My idea was never chosen, and a different person from my group was chosen for the best proposal.

With this experience that I had gained, my teammate and I decided that we were going to come up with something new, and would benefit as many people as we could reach. We came up with an umbrella with a blue-tooth connective security feature, that allowed users to feel sanitary, and safe.

Safety is an essential in anyone’s lives, and we believed that was the key to reach our target population. We also integrated compassion into our pitch as well, building a character, and telling a story about her to allow our audience to really connect with the ideas being presented. This idea of compassion, had allowed us to achieve what we never thought was possible, taking 1st place at the local final in Japan.

I decided to continue this process even when I had reached the Asia Pacific Finals. The topic we were given then, was to come up with a physical product that would help those in the UK affected by the pandemic, and overcome their struggles. 

My new teammate from Hong Kong, was one of strong will and character. We had our difficulties connecting, and cultural differences created barriers. Yet we were able to break these down, and finally come up with an idea we believed would help other people. With compassion being the forefront of our ideas, we were able to make it to the Grand Finals, further proving the effectiveness, and importance of this emotion.

The success of a business is determined by how much of an impact it can have on other people. This is my biggest takeaway from this competition.

The International Trade Challenge was a great opportunity to understand the core values of a successful entrepreneur and business, and the power of helping others to reach one’s own goals. I am hoping that those who are reading this will participate in the competition as well, and discover the life lessons they find essential in helping their past, present, and future.

記載：高校1年 H.H.

***

ITC 2021の国内大会の様子については、FedEx Expressのnoteにも記事が掲載されております。是非ご覧ください。

https://note.com/fedex_express/n/n9ee8fc5643a9