High school students pitch Taiwan’s “Shark Tank”, Dragon’s Chamber Taiwan on their businesses

Two High School entrepreneur groups from Dominican International School participated in last week’s Dragons’ Chamber event at Meet Taipei 2019. 

In this annual event finalists pitch their businesses to long-term, established expatriate entrepreneurs in Taipei. The organizers gave two of the school’s student businesses the opportunity to pitch their businesses to showcase the Dragons’ Chamber organizers’ commitment to the training of young entrepreneurs for the past three years. The young entrepreneurs are Senior High School students in their final school year.

Three years ago Dominican International School student entrepreneurs pitched their businesses for the first time to the “dragons” in the first elimination round, hoping to eventually get into the final. The organizers of the event have supported the young entrepreneurs ever since and every year, they participate in the first elimination round of The Dragon’s Chamber. This year, the organizers gave the two most promising high school businesses the chance to showcase what they are doing, and to show the support the Dragon’s Chamber gives the school and the young entrepreneurs.

Elias Ek, one of Taipei’s best known expatriate entrepreneurs and the author of “How to Start a Business in Taiwan” is one of the school’s esteemed supporters of the Entrepreneurship project. He knows how to identify with the young entrepreneurs and how to inspire them, because he started his first business at the age of fifteen.  The students feel that they are given real advice and they act on the recommendations of the business people present during their initial pitch. Jessie Hung, one of the main organizers of the 2019 Dragon’s Chamber has also been a student supporter for the past three years. She is always ready to share valuable ideas with them, and to give much needed advice.

Entrepreneurship is part of Dominican International School’s 21st Century Project Based Learning where the school teams up with outside partners to help students to create a public product. This means that students present their work to an audience beyond the classroom. These students run real businesses and the successful ones step away with well-earned profit at the end of the school year.  Some of these young entrepreneurs went on to partially fund their university education from their own start-ups after leaving school. 

21st century Project Based Learning teaches Generation Z students very valuable skills, also known as the 4Cs – they are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. Students therefore learn how to solve problems and how to think beyond the box. They learn to work together to achieve a common goal and to communicate in such a way that they convey their ideas clearly.