Jogging at dusk. Walking to the car after a late night shift. Waiting in the dark for a taxi. Every day, women find themselves in potentially threatening situations. For this reason, seven Tauranga Girls' College students have come up with a business product they think will help keep women safe andbenefit the community. Aimee Donaldson, Aimee Law, Alyx Wheeler, Ashley Mackintosh, Alex Hope, Merehine Waiari and Greer Golding are part of the Personal Security company - a business formed for an option at their school known as the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (Yes). The girls are selling personal alarms with a piercing siren when the pin is pulled. The alarms also have an LED light on them and can be attached to a keyring. The enterprise scheme is a national competition in which students have to form a business and plan, finance, market and produce their product as well as write an annual report. The managing director of Personal Security, Aimee Donaldson, said for every alarm sold, $2 would be donated to Tauranga Women's Refuge. At the end of the year, the students will gift their business to Tauranga Women's Refuge for ongoing fundraising. In just a fortnight, Personal Security has sold 64 of the alarms at $14.95 each and that's without any marketing within their school of all female students. Each of the seven directors have provided start-up capital for the business, and imported their product from Hong Kong. The girls said the alarms were a precautionary measure that all women should have. "All of us have after-school work that ends at night and it [walking to your car] is a little bit daunting," Aimee Donaldson said.
To buy one of the girls' personal alarms, contact Tauranga Girls' College or email p.s.alarms@gmail.co.nz. On August 15, all of the school groups involved in YES will hold a trade fair at Bayfair, to promote and sell their product inventions.
