This week in Stockholm, Sweden, the JA-YE (Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise) Europe Company of the Year Competition will bring together students from across the continent who have won national competitions to crown the most successful student company of 2008. The event, hosted this year by Young Enterprise Sweden and co-sponsored by FedEx, is the pinnacle of a year’s worth of entrepreneurial endeavor, emphasizing the acquisition of solid business skills and the importance of teamwork.
“JA is proud to join with FedEx to recognize student-company excellence, relative to effectiveness and innovation. Junior Achievement programs not only teach students how to start and run a profitable business, but also reinforce the social, ethical, and environmental responsibilities of successful businesses,” said Sean C. Rush, president and chief executive officer of JA Worldwide®.
Student companies will be judged by a panel of business people on their annual reports, marketing, sales strategy, company presentation, product or service. Each student team submits a 10-page business plan that includes product design and development, price points, marketing plan, sales results, sale of stock. Students must also display their product, make a 4-minute stage presentation, and be interviewed by competition judges.
Also at the Stockholm event, the first-ever “FedEx Global Impact Award” will be given to the student company that has the most comprehensive understanding of global trade. The award recognizes the team that demonstrated the international potential of their company as well as considered the impact such growth might have on the environment.
In addition, the European competition will be attended by 30 Junior Achievement student “ambassadors” from the United States, Canada, and Latin America, sponsored by FedEx. They will acquire the first-hand knowledge and experience necessary to initiate the competitions in their respective regions the following year. Over the next three years, regional competitions will be added in North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. By 2011, Junior Achievement will host students from around the world in the first Global Student Company of the Year Competition, crowning the world’s most effective and innovative student company.