Flip to Fold nets award for local pupils
A SIMPLE idea such as creating a recyclable product to make folding clothes easier has garnered two Malibu High School pupils an invention award at a national entrepreneurship competition.
Fazil Smith, 16, and Jason-Lee Ockhuizen, 17,took third place at the Junior Achievers South Africa Company of the Year Competition, held in Sandton, competing against nine teams from around the country.
The competition was aimed at acknowledging young entrepreneurs and their potential to contribute towards job creation.
Their invention is a clothes folding device, made from recycled material, called “Flip to Fold”.
Jason-Lee said the Junior Achievers hosted a 12-week programme where pupils were taught business and presentations skills. “We had to draft a business proposal and do a presentation on it,” he said.
The Flip to Fold is a square cardboard covered in wrapping paper and plastic. It is divided into three columns, with the middle column divided into three rows. A T-shirt is placed flat on the cardboard, it’s flipped and the cardboard folds.
Jason-Lee and Fazil live in Blue Downs and often spend time sharing ideas. “Flip to Fold is the name we came up with and our slogan is ‘comfort is just a fold away’. Our business is to look at an ordinary product and see how it can take any normal thing and flip to fold it, to create comfort,” said Fazil.
The grade 11 pupils said since the inception of their business they have sold close to 50 Flip to Folds.
Mathematics teacher and the duo’s mentor Reginald Noemdoe said: “This was an opportunity for the pupils to be exposed to the business world.”
First prize went to Core Vortex from McAuley House for decorative jars made from recycled material and second went to Glamorous Creations from Stanger Manor Secondary School, KwaZulu-Natal for its medical alert bracelet.