Higher College Of Technology Students Become Salespeople At ’Mini Shopping Mall’ Event

Hands-on work on campus experience to demonstrate the operations of a MINI showroom

Students from the Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) showed their prowess as car salespeople as they set up and ran their own MINI showroom at the ‘Mini Shopping Mall’ event, held at Sharjah’s University City.

AGMC, the exclusive importer of MINI in Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates provided a platform for the Emirati students to get first-hand experience of selling cars by helping them set up their own MINI showroom and operate it for 2 days. The makeshift MINI showroom was one of the busiest stands at the ‘Mini Shopping Mall’, which tested students’ creativity by allowing them to choose from a host of different multinational brands and run a branch of that business on-campus for a short time.

“The concept of this event was so original and exciting that we had to be a part of it,” said Natalija Norikova, Marketing Manager of AGMC. “The talent and competence of the students shone through as they decided how to place their products, market their store, attract customers and conduct test drives on the campus. It also gave them an important insight into the complex environment of selling multinational products to local audiences.”

In addition to co-sponsoring the event, AGMC took the group of students in charge of MINI through a MINI brand-training session which helped familiarize them with the core-values of the MINI brand and its key selling propositions. The training sessions concluded with a quiz to test the students on their absorption of the content, and four students won prizes including a weekend test drive of a MINI and MINI Lifestyle merchandise goody bags.

“The Mini Shopping Mall was a lot of fun and it was interesting to have the opportunity of representing a multinational brand as official ‘salespeople’ for a few days,” said Abudl Khadar, one of the lucky students chosen to run the MINI showroom. “MINI is a great brand to work with because it responds well to creative concepts and innovative marketing. We hope our efforts will translate into genuine sales at the official AGMC showrooms!”

The event continues AGMC’s strong relationship with the Higher Colleges of Technology. Last year the two joined forces to host the ‘Annual Al Noor Road Safety Campaign and MINI Driving Skills’ event at the HCT men and women’s campuses, in addition to the ‘Mystique Fashion Show’, a platform for young Emirati fashion designers to showcase their talents on a bigger stage.

Norikova added, “It is important to support such grass-root events because these students are the future of the UAE – we need to encourage them to develop their skills, discover what they love to do and which fields they would like to pursue as a career. We look forward to continuing our support of HCT in the future.”
 

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