Among JA Student Companies, Sustainability and Compassion Reign Supreme
June 16, 2021
On June 22, JA USA will celebrate the first regional Company of the Year competition of 2021, the National Student Leadership Summit. The following week, JA Europe will launch Gen-E, its first entrepreneurship festival, which includes both the Company of the Year Competition and the European Enterprise Challenge. Looking forward to these events has us reflecting on the past two years and thinking about how much JA students around the world have accomplished, especially after last week’s announcement of The de la Vega Global Entrepreneurship Award winner.
Although 2020 showed us what we at JA have always known—that our students are both brilliant and resilient—it also reminded us that JA students are compassionate and forward-thinking in their approaches to entrepreneurship and business. The 2019 and 2020 regional JA Company of the Year competition winners in the U.S., Europe, MENA, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific showed a strong interest in sustainability. These young entrepreneurs are not only pursuing their own economic interests but also the health of the planet and of humanity.
Just take a look at some of the winners of the regional Company of the Year competitions over the past two years . . .
In 2019, JA USA student companies focusing on sustainability took home three of the four signature awards. Filtair USA (JA of Northern New England)—inventors of an air-powered filter that attaches to bicycles—received both the Delta Social Impact Award and the EY Innovation Award. Hydrope (Junior Achievement of Northern California)—producers of a device to make carrying reusable water bottles more convenient—took home the FedEx Access Award. Continuing the theme, student company Denim2Demin (Junior Achievement of Southeastern Pennsylvania) finished in third place overall for its products made with recycled denim jeans.
The 2020 National Student Leadership Summit first-place winners continued to shine with an earth-friendly product. The student team from JA of Southeast Texas founded EVO to challenge plastic consumption and encourage environmentally healthy habits through sustainable practices. One of the ways in which they achieve this is through the sale of bamboo straws, which come with a handy traveling case, to replace traditional single-use plastic and paper straws.
JA Turkey student team Entella Co. took home first place in the 2019 JA Europe Company of the Year competition for its innovative solution to marine pollution: a filter that collects debris in marinas. We were so impressed by these intrepid students, we featured the company and two of its founders in our 2020 Annual Report. Read more about Entella (then read about all the JA Europe 2019 student teams).
In 2020, JA Europe student companies around the region continued to demonstrate social consciousness and compassion for both humans and the environment through their endeavors. Echoo from JA Belgium (French) took home two of the three signature awards—both the FedEx Access Award and the ManpowerGroup Ready for Work Award—for its service-based business guiding companies toward zero waste using technology and data, while JA Greece student team Ecowave received the signature Delta Innovation Award for its biodegradable and compostable bioplastic paper for medical examination tables. Read more about all the incredible winners.
In Asia Pacific, student teams are no strangers to sustainability. The 2019 winning Company of the Year teams turned waste and natural materials into fashion: Terra from JA Philippines took home both the FedEx Access Award and first place for its innovative repurposing of coconut coir and patched-up textiles to create fashionably handbags; in second place, Zeal Student Company from Prestasi Junior (JA Indonesia) produced shoes from local materials that also convert physical energy generated from human pressure into piezoelectricity, a type of electrical energy; finally, third-place team Sagasco Student Company, also from JA Indonesia, took home third place as well as the Best Financial Management Award for its modern footwear made of hyacinth and Batik, representing not only environmental friendliness but also a nod to Indonesian heritage.
Sustainability continued as a strong theme throughout the 2020 JA Asia Pacific Company of the Year competition, with first-place student company Revival from JA Singapore taking home first place for their bags made of recycled banners. Pasiadot from JA Guam won the signature FedEx Global Possibilities Award for its set of portable, reusable utensils made of bamboo. Read more about the incredible 2020 JA Asia Pacific student companies.
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), sustainability comes in a slightly different but equally impactful form. INJAZ Al-Arab celebrates both high-school and university student companies at its Youth Entrepreneurship Celebration (YEC). YEC 2019 University track winner Mahya from INJAZ Oman created an ecologically friendly feed for farmed fish called Prozolla, an organic product for freshwater fish and red-eared turtles.
In 2020, first-place high school team Shatla from INJAZ Oman leveraged technology to sell agricultural products that serve the planet by providing accessibility for people who want to grow plants, linking product suppliers with customers. INJAZ Palestine student team Bee Friends won the Social Impact of the Year Award for its use of recycled beeswax from Palestinian apiaries to produce sustainable and healthy food packaging. Read more about all the 2019 and 2020 teams.
In the Americas, winners for the past two years have built businesses that tackle environmental issues, from the elimination of plastic waste to the purification of water and air. In 2019, JA Mexico’s student team Ciclo Verde took home the first-place prize and the title of Company of the Year for its biodegradable pots made from avocado seeds and skins, which can be planted directly into the ground, eliminating plastic waste. Detecs, also from JA México, took home second place for its Air Clock, an air purifier and bedside lamp that illuminates and freshens a room’s air in one device. In third place, Wash You from JA Ecuador wowed the judges with its pebble-sized dry soaps that require little water to clean hands, addressing sanitation needs in areas with limited water supplies.
In 2020, Nina from JA Peru won first place for its stainless-steel water bottle that purifies water using an activated carbon filter, and second-place winner Clap from JA Argentina impressed with a toilet that degrades on contact with water, aiding in sanitation while being environmentally friendly.
Not only did JA Africa look to the environment with its 2020 Tide Turners Plastic Challenge, which mobilized thousands of young people to fight against plastic pollution and marine litter, but the students followed suit with their companies. In 2019, JA Botswana’s Relo-Pave Investments wowed judges with its innovative waterless paving bricks for sustainable construction. The 2020 JA Africa Company of the Year first-place team, Nagro Tech PYT LTD of JA Eswatini, saw an opportunity not only to help communities obtain fresh produce to fill nutrition needs, but also realized that growing produce in areas with limited real estate could be overcome with its smart mobile tower garden, a hydroponic system that grows vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
Finally, the team that wowed the world, Bubbles from JA Denmark (Fonden for Entreprenørskab), won the premier de la Vega Global Entrepreneurship Award with its noise-canceling headset that aids students with learning disabilities in the classroom by creating a direct communications channel between teacher and student. Inspired by real-life experiences, Bubbles proves that compassionate entrepreneurship leads to success. Read more.
At JA Worldwide, we can’t wait to see what JA students around the world bring to the six regional competitions. Wherever you are in the world, you can tune in to the livestreamed events this year, starting with JA USA and JA Europe. And you can be sure we’ll cover all the news here on jaworldwide.org and on our social media channels, too.
2021 Company of the Year Competitions
JA USA: National Student Leadership Summit, June 22–24
JA Europe: Gen-E, June 29–July 14
INJAZ Al-Arab JA MENA: November 2021
JA Asia Pacific: November 2021
JA Americas: December 2021
JA Africa: December 2021