Junior Achievement Students Impress With TOTEtally VI Company And Their First Product, Resuable Bags

ST. THOMAS — Future leaders of the U.S. Virgin Islands? They are already here. Young, yes —  some still in their teens and in high school — but here nonetheless, impressing with oratory skills, deep knowledge of leadership, keen understand of how to run things, and a sense of discipline that left this reporter speechless.

Meet Maria John, Destiny Bedminster, Kevin Hughes, Johanna Gonzales, Elizabeth Ferguson and Demoré Cole. They all hold leadership roles in their company, TOTEtally VI, and were tasked to demonstrate to The Consortium how their company is run, while introducing and convincingly selling their firsts major product: resuable bags.

With ease — and hints of extensive training from expert Junior Achievement coaches — each student went further than giving a surface and, (no pun intended) junior description of their role, but spoke with detail — like seasoned executives who were not only confident in their ability to sell a product, but also in the viability of what they are selling.

When it was all said and done, all this reporter wanted to know was where he could purchase the bags, caring nothing about price; the students had TOTEtally convinced me based on their selling prowess, and their genius in conveying a company culture leading to the belief that anything it produces must be of great quality.

TOTEtally VI is a company out of the J.A. VI program — part of a worldwide organization dedicated to helping young people understand the economics of life and the system of free enterprise. These students and this particular company, is supported by ICMC, which, according to a blurb on its website, provides services to clients that enhance effective management and the ability to manage change, increase operational efficiency and manage business growth.

The students were gathered in a conference room at the ICMC facility in St. Thomas, while they fielded questions from this reporter. Ms. John, who serves as president of TOTEtally VI, explained the JA program effortlessly, as well as the description of her role.

Her routine includes ensuring that there is a followed agenda at each meeting. “I also ensure that each department’s goals are met and that every VP has what they need to be productive,” Ms. John, a Charlotte Amalie High School student, said. In addition, Ms. John said she gives updates on progress being made on company goals during every meeting, and touted her ability to make executive decisions.

Vice President of Public Relations, Ms. Bedminster, also a C.A.H.S. student, masterfully described the company. “TOTEtally VI is a Junior Achievement company that is comprised of 22 young entrepreneurs from various high schools in St. Thomas, including CAHS, IEKHS, Montessori and Antilles,” she said. “Our mission is to offer an eco-friendly and biodegradable product to cut down on harmful waste in our environment, one tote at a time.” Ms. Bedminster said the company’s main focus is that it remains environmentally friendly, “so our product has to reflect that. I also work to ensure that our brand personality to our consumer matches the brand that we want it to be,” she said.

Ms. Bedminster achieves this by managing TOTEtally VI’s social media accounts as well as the company’s traditional marketing efforts, in partnership with Mr. Hughes, the VP of marketing.

When asked how the company came up with TOTEtally VI for its name, Mr. Hughes said, “The name TOTEtally VI came about because the team wanted one that reflected the young, vibrant nature of the company. Most importantly, the word play of tote, our product, is in the name TOTEtally VI. We also want to reflect the island’s push against harmful waste in the community and so this name also reflects this culture in our community, which matches our company mission. We are a socially responsible company.”

Mr. Hughes then went into detail as to how the company decided that a resuable bag product was something the territory needed, following the territory’s decision to ban the use of plastic bags.

“Tourism is one of the main revenue drivers in St. Thomas. The island’s beauty, its coral reefs and marine ecosystem is important and so the island has made a great decision to move away from plastic bags. As a result, reusable bags are in high demand,” Mr. Hughes said. “We knew we wanted to be socially responsible and so aligning with this initiative made sense. We then found our target audience, middle-aged women, through market research.

ICMC JA coaches from left to right: Sean Liphard, Denelle Baptiste, Amber P. Lewis, Allison O’Boyle and Carla Scott.

“Many studies, including one from Forbes, state that women are more likely to purchase bags compared to men. They are also more likely to grocery shop for the household. It should be noted that our bags are purposely unisex. While the respective is our primary target audience, we recognize that everyone needs a reusable bag. Not only for grocery shopping, but for running errands and other practical usage. It is multipurpose, just for you.”

Ms. Gonzales, who serves as vice president of production, went into detail about the product. She revealed that the bags come in two sizes: a large and a small; they boasts various prints and come in two solid colors: black for the large and canvas for the small. And there are accessories as well. “We also sell small bag pouches separately so that our consumers can store their totes neatly. You may not want to have a big tote bag just lying around. These pouches are also multipurpose,” Ms. Gonzales said. She highlighted the materials used to make the bags in an effort to demonstrate the care that went into assuring that their product was truely friendly to the environment.

Ms. Ferguson, the vice president of finance, revealed the bags’ prices to be $18 for the large and $15 for the small. “Our finance team knew that we needed to cover fixed costs to meet the break-even point,” Ms. Ferguson said. “As a result, we did the math using different numbers and found that 40 bags would help us break even, and with a profit. We wanted a profitable company with happy shareholders. We also wanted the price to reflect the quality of the bag.”

Speaking on lessons learned as a result of creating the resuable bags, Ms. Ferguson said she learned the importance of over-budgeting in a business as a way to always have a financial cushion. She also learned concepts such as the break-even point, where there is just enough revenue to cover fixed costs. Importantly, Ms. Ferguson highlighted the significance of teamwork and ensuring that company heads communicate with each other; an imperative, she said, if a firm is to run smoothly.

Lastly, Mr. Cole, the vice president of human resources, explained his role as one that ensures that the company’s bi-laws and values and upheld. “The voted values of TOTEtally VI include respect, responsibility, integrity, teamwork, and creativity,” he said.

The bags are currently being pre-sold, and can be ordered through [email protected].

ICMC JA coaches include Sean Liphard, Denelle Baptiste, Amber P. Lewis, Allison O’Boyle and Carla Scott. Also playing an important role is Karen Nelson-Hughes of ICMC, who serves as a JA volunteer.

During the interview, the students were greeted to a pleasant surprise by Jason Charles (acting project coordinator of JA from Alpine), who walked into the room for an impromptu visit to see the students and company in action. Artra Watlington (acting project coordinator of JA from ICMC), also accompanied Mr. Charles on visit.

This story is the first of multiple publications borne out of a partnership with ICMC JA and The Virgin Islands Consortium.

Correction: June 21, 2017

Because of a text error, a previous version of this story said the TOTEtally VI product as reusable plastic bags, when it’s actually resuable bags made out of environmentally friendly products. The story has been updated to reflect the correct information.