Written by Ema Poposka

Who doesn’t love their plush toys? They keep us company when we are alone, we tell them our secrets, and they are always there for us ready for a hug. The most recent addition of these good friends that share my room is a cat that I named Kit Kat. She has light brown fur, her eyes are different colour, and one of her ears seems to have been beaten. I always wonder how that happened. She doesn’t want to speak about it, which is fine. But, it gives her character, makes her special. I love her especially because of that. 

I got Kit Kat at the RCHK fair. She was a product of the RCHK Junior Achievement company Lovables which participated at the 2018-19 Junior Achievement programme and won first place as JA Company of the Year in competition with more than 80 schools from all over Hong Kong.

Junior Achievement (JA) Hong Kong is one of the many programmes around the world helping young people to develop their entrepreneurial skills incorporating Sustainable Development Goals. Lovables was established by six RCHK secondary students: Winkie Law, Nicole Lee, Carla Divry, Celia Divry, Michael Kim, and Michael Tsao. They were supervised by for teachers, John Lee, Patrick Ronan, Boyd Jerman, and Andrew Scott. 

The company produced four seemingly “imperfect” plush toys. The team explained that “the idea for the project came from the realization that the current plush toy industry was not representing the diversity in our society so Lovable’s plush toy design represented underrepresented members of society.” This incorporated Sustainable Development Goal #4 - Quality Education, and #10 - Reduced Inequalities, respectively, to foster and build inclusive, non-discriminatory educational environments, and to promote universal social inclusion.

During the process, the RCHK team learned, “that teamwork, communication, and mutual trust are really important. Of course, we also learned a lot about how business theories and models look like in real life - especially with all the different departments of a company”, said Winkie Law speaking on behalf of the whole team.

For seven months the team moved their business idea to full realization. “The most difficult part was developing the products and figuring out what we wanted to do, how we could accomplish different tasks, and keeping on track. Especially with everything else going on with schoolwork and other activities. We had to learn how to communicate really well and come to conclusions together,” Law said.

However, everything was forgotten after they were awarded JA Company of the Year. “The best part of our experience was selling our Lovables at the school fair, and seeing everyone's reactions to our toys! Everything went beyond our expectations, and it was really satisfying seeing people walk around, holding their own Lovables, and feeling so happy that we had a positive impact. We still see some around now, and it's really satisfying seeing that our hard work has paid off.”

The company has now dissolved as students have busy schedules at school. However, they will reunite to represent Hong Kong in the Asia Pacific competition next year.