Teen entrepreneurs from the Bahrain Bayan School have designed a sell-out success word search board game, aimed at improving memory and concentration.

The group of 12 students, aged 16, created Tornado Tiles as part of an InJAz Bahrain scheme called the 'Company Programme', which sought to teach school and university students how to build their own businesses, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The game is played with 15 scrabble tiles placed face down on a circular piece of cardboard '“ each turned over according to a throw of the dice and then used to spell a word.

“My friends and I used to play a similar game in which each one of us had to create random words out of letters,” said team member Salem Bin Huwail.

“When we undertook the InJAz programme we thought of turning this simple idea into a product.

“Our aim is to get children and teenagers off their smart devices and do something useful to train their brains while still having fun.”

As part of the InJAz programme, the team sold shares in their company for 500fils a piece, raising BD300 to use in the game's production.

Negotiations with Awal Plastics led to the procurement of 3,000 plastic tiles for BD40, while MmBrand provided 30 printed cardboard game boards for BD200, which the team used to produce 30 complete board games.

“We also used the money to tailor special pouches for each game,” said Bin Huwail, who said that the game had been a great success when it went on sale at Al Basta Market and the third annual Made in Bahrain event at Al A'ali Shopping Complex.

“We completely sold out after Al Basta Market and Made in Bahrain.

“We used the profits to make 70 more games but they also sold out very quickly on Instagram and through our peers at school.

“One of those who bought the product even promoted it on her Instagram account.

“The profits we got from those 70 games will go to the people who bought the shares from us.”

Bin Huwail said that he had learnt a lot through the InJAz programme as it had made him think like a businessman.

“I had to act like a grown up in order to meet with companies and convince them to help us,” he said.

“Now we are seriously thinking of turning this into a real business.” - TradeArabia News Service