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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Tuesday, 19.03.2024, 04:04

JA-YE Alumni Europe conference in Tallinn gathers more than 100 young entrepreneurs

Juhan Tere, BC, Tallinn, 27.08.2013.Print version
110 young entrepreneurial people from more than 25 countries gathered in Tallinn, Estonia between 21 and 25 August to participate in the JA-YE Alumni Europe international conference to improve their leadership skills and exchange knowledge with fellow entrepreneurs from all over the world by listening to inspiring lectures and workshops given by professionals from Microsoft, HP and Swedbank, informed BC Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise Europe Elina Konstantinou.

Winners of this year’s global contest Social Innovation Relay organized by JA-YE were the highlight of the conference. Three 15-year old high school students from the Indian city of Chandigarh have developed a unique, eco-friendly business idea to turn rice harvest waste (rice husk) into a new building material called “Green Wood” which is suitable for constructing low-cost houses and inexpensive furniture. Rice husks are currently burned by farmers, which produces thick smoke and results in air pollution.

 

With the creation of “Green Wood” youth innovators Bisman Deu, Rayvin Thingnam and Ekambir Singh have found a way to produce a low-cost building material that contributes to the reduction of air pollution and at the same time provides another source of income for local farmers that would have otherwise discarded rice waste.

 

The student team was coached by business experts from Hewlett-Packard (HP) who helped them develop the idea and write a sound business plan as part of the Social Innovation Relay 2013, a global competition organised by international educational organisation Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE). The programme encourages high school students coached by industry experts from HP to develop business ideas that can solve a social or environmental problem in their community.

 

“The JA-YE Alumni European Conference has been such an enriching experience. Meeting so many people from across the globe and sharing their ideas has definitely helped me think bigger and better. This conference has brought me closer to my entrepreneurial dream!” said Bisman Deu, a member of the winning team from India.

 

The JA-YE conference in Tallinn also featured a selection of business workshops given by representatives of Microsoft, HP, Swedbank and SENT (Sild Ettevõtlike Noorte Tulevikku)

Changing Lives Final Summit held on the evening of August 24 celebrated the end of the Changing Live awareness campaign supported by the European Commission’s Youth in Action programme. The Changing Livers campaign encourages former students of the entrepreneurship education programme, Junior Achievement – Young Enterprise, to reach out to schools sharing their own personal stories in order to spread awareness about entrepreneurship among youths of Europe.






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