It was splurge day last October 7, 2020 at the Virtual Trade Fair hosted by MINT Junior Marketing Association (JMA), in collaboration with the E-commerce class of Entrepreneurship teacher, Ms. Shaira Habon, and Mapua University’s own Junior Marketing Association (Mapua JMA).
Twenty start-ups put up by student-entrepreneurs joined the online selling event. MINTJMA first opened the call for online shops to Ms. Habon’s e-commerce class, and then invited Mapua JMA to join so as to also increase the number of participant sellers.
MINT JMA president Aira Hernandez said in an email exchange, “we aim to be as collaborative as possible, so we decided to open it to the entire MINT community, and also partnered up with MAPUA Junior Marketing Association so slots were made. It’s our way to support small businesses and student entrepreneurs.”
The live online selling event was done via Facebook livestream through MINT JMA’s official page. Since the pandemic severely affected in-person and store businesses, online streaming of shops became the “new norm” to keep earning while still at home.
“These days, people tend to become more creative with their choices in terms of food, household items, and other stuff. Thus, the majority sell their products on [social media such as] Instagram, Facebook, [and online retailers like] Shoppee, Lazada, and more. Considering the ‘new normal,’ [these are] really profitable platforms and powerful tools to market,” Hernandez added.
The team had planned the said event 3 weeks prior and did several dry runs with the sellers so as to overcome technical difficulties on the day itself. The Virtual Trade Fair live stream garnered almost a thousand views at 941 views. W