Children create their ideal mutual fund - ‘Take your child to work' results from the Biondo Group

MILFORD — If you want to buy a few shares of “FETCEP,” you will need to talk to the sons and daughters of some of the employees of the Biondo Group, right here in Milford. Of course, you may have to bend down a bit to talk to them face-to-face, since this group of two boys and five girls range in age from 8 to 11. However, the only diminutive thing about them is their age, since their ideas are big and bold. FETCEP,the imaginary mutual fund is the product of a “ Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” at The Biondo Group. The program is now in its third year at Biondo and it is for the children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren of Biondo’s employees. Genny Cornell, the Director of Relationship Services at Biondo, brought the idea over from Smith Barney. Celeste O’Neil, the Director of Human Resources and Administrative Services embraced the idea as perfect for the small family-oriented Biondo organization. Sharon Lolk,Marketing Associate, and Alexandra Bogusta, Relationship Associate, were also involved in carrying out this program. The theme for the day was “Making Good Choices for a Better World,” taken from the national website, www.daughtersandsonstowork.org. (The national program is sponsored by the Take Our Daughters And Sons to Work Foundation. Their purpose is to empower and encourage organizations like Biondo to help shape the future for a new generation at work. On the day, the children came to ”work,” they were asked to create a company in their minds and to each create a logo representing the business of their company. They put their logos on T-shirts. It was then explained that a mutual fund is a group of several different companies into one, so that if you buy a share of a mutual fund, you are, in effect, an owner of each of the companies. The kids created FETCEP, which stands for business of each of their companies; to wit: Football, Environment, Theatre, Candy, Education, and Pizza. They presented their company to Joseph Biondo, Jr, who showed them a copy of an actual stock certificate. The mini-entrepreneurs then made a copy of a stock certificate for their own companies and one for the mutual fund. They also talked about what their companies did. The sky was the limit with them, in terms of the variety of their interests and their slogans. For example, the education company, “The International House of Success” was a not-for-profit company for special needs and their tutors would guarantee going from a D to an A in five days. The environmental company had kids planting their own basil. After lunch, Celeste O’Neil did a segment on giving back or contributing to the community and told them what their own families did. They talked about establishing four types of buckets for various types of giving back; environment, education, arts, and human services. As CEOs of their companies, they would have an opportunity to choose which type of giving back. According to O’Neil, the day represented the weaving of business, values, and individual passions, as well as learning some hard core information about business. The implications of this type of “Bring Your Daughters and Sons to Work” go far beyond Biondo. She suggests checking out the national website for ideas and being ready for a lot of preparation involving everyone. Celeste hopes that this experience at the Biondo Group could serve as a model to other businesses in our area.