published by
THE JA ALUMNI MAGAZINE. #1 NOVEMBER 2014
THOMAS J BATA I
first met Mr Bata when he was 76. We were in his small office on bustling Jindrisska street in the centre of Prague. He was talking about Junior Achievement, one of his favourite subjects. “It’s so important for young people,” he used to say, “They should all learn what it’s like to handle a business.” That was the first of many meetings during his frequent visits to Czechoslovakia in those days. Along with re-building the Bata business there, he wanted to do something for the next generation. Mr Bata was thrown into entrepreneurship at the age of 17, when his father died in a plane crash and he had to take over the business. The Bata Shoe Company was already a huge international enterprise. The original Tomaš Bata, his father, established the Bata Shoe Company in 1894 with the equivalent of just 320 USD. The family had had a long history in shoemaking (over 8 generations) but it was when Tomaš implemented an assembly line (which he learned about on a trip to the USA) that the business surged ahead. He made his mark as a businessman with a social conscience – famous not just for his international success as an entrepreneur, but also for his modernizing ideas and what he did to support the communities where he had factories. He was among the first to advance employee welfare schemes and built houses for his workers. These charming brick homes still stand in several towns. He created a business school where his managers could learn about the Bata Management
left an indelible footprint on JA
System – an avant-garde MBA-like programme that is still revered today.
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It’s so important for young people. They should all learn what it’s like to handle a business.
Young Thomas J Bata took on the business and continued to build its global presence. Like many others at the time, the family moved to Canada in 1939 and Thomas moved the Bata headquarters there in 1945. Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps, working with numerous charitable organizations and founding the Bata Shoe Foundation. Sonja Bata opened the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto which has become one of the city’s main attractions. Both Mr and Mrs Bata got involved in Junior Achievement Canada, which was in its early days at the time. Mrs Bata was a board member for many years. They also supported the set-up of Junior Achievement International in 1989 with a view to helping other countries benefit from JA programmes. That same year, after the Berlin Wall came down, when Mr and Mrs Bata “returned” from Canada to Czechoslovakia, they were greeted by cheering crowds
in Prague and in Zlín, the town where the Bata company was founded. Thanks to Mr Bata’s efforts at the time, Junior Achievement got off to a solid start. He financed the first teacher training which was held in 1992 and, when the country split into two on January 1, 1993, he sponsored the setting-up of JA chapters in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I was based in Bratislava at the time and volunteered to work on the Slovak side. Every time we met he would ask, “How many young people have you got now?” Unstoppable in his passion for JA, Mr Bata went on to co-finance the creation of JA Central and Eastern Europe office which was to support the set-up of JA chapters in another 10 countries in the region. In 2004 at the age of 89, he became the founding sponsor of a JA Alumni organization in Europe. The alumni network now includes young people from 22 countries and organizes a conference each year where they celebrate entrepreneurship and come up with ways to give back to JA: a fitting testament to Mr Bata’s vision and legacy. Mrs Bata has been an honorary member of the JA-YE Europe Board of Directors for 11 years and she continues to generously support JA through the Bata Shoe Foundation. Written by Caroline Jenner, CEO of JA-YE Europe, sharing the story of Mr Bata's engagement with JA, for the date of September 17th 2014 when it was celebrated the 100th anniversary of Mr Bata's birth.
Bata Family and Sonia Bata for being one of the most important supporters of the JA-YE Alumni Europe network. Thanks to you, we are able to achieve more!
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CONTENTS
ew beginnings are always imperfect, uncertain and risky. Either in your personal life, professional life or in the startup life, there is no single first experience that happens already as good as you would dream it to be. But should that mean that we do not create something new just because we are afraid or averse to imperfection? I do not think so. Neither is it the spirit of this organisation. Hence, we are delivering the first JA:M - JA-YE Alumni Europe's Magazine. We are releasing this as a Beta version, because we want you to be part of the perfectioning process of this Magazine. It is crucial that national networks and all Alumni across Europe participate and get engaged in feeding it with amazing stories and spreading the JA-YE Alumni spirit and culture. For this reason, I am genuinely honoured to present you the beta version of the JA-YE Alumni Europe's Magazine and I am really excited to start working on the improvements and new content with all of you! Sharing our achievements is achieving even more! Bernardo Pequito dos Santos Vice President of Marketing and Communications / Editor-in-Chief of JA:M
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ALONE BUT TOGETHER
NEW LOGO
WHEN IT ALL STARTED
10TH ANNIVERSARY
ENTREPRENEURIAL ADVICES 18
ALUMNI HONORIS
ALUMNI HONORIS
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The JA Alumni Magazine Published by JA-YE Alumni Europe Editor-in-Chief: Bernardo Pequito Dos Santos Feedback: bernardo@alumnieurope.org
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THE CEO OF JA-YE EUROPE
EUROPEAN FINALS
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A VERY SPECIAL GUEST
EVENTS
Thank you for supporting JA-YE Alumni Europe! Thanks to you we can do a better job and keep inspiring young minds!
JA-YE ALUMNI EUROPE 6
But together P
eople who have always gone their own ways have at some point in their lives experienced to stand alone. A feeling that is never pleasant, even if it is on a stage to spread a message, or sitting alone in the office and working on a new idea afterhours. I have been there many times, crazy ideas has led me into situations where my family and normal circle of friends could not help, nor follow my mind. The time I had to buy my partner out, sell businesses or insolvent liquidation was hard and Family and friends can only help so much, and what you need in these situations are like-minded fellows. Not necessarily friends or family, but like-minded people who know what you are going through and can tell you hard for bitter how the reality is, you won’t lose them because of work, they know your work is important and they are still there when you decide to take time off. I was introduced to a number of people who were not afraid to be individuals and stand alone, not afraid to talk about their dreams or failures. I quickly saw that what gave them the strength to do so was the fact that they were not alone. They had the opportunity to act as individuals, and yet be a part of something bigger. Be among peers. Not family, not friends but like-minded people. A network with the capacity of many individuals working alone but standing together. Later on, I experienced that this network was working alone among other networks standing together all around Europe.
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We are individuals working alone but together
Working with own agendas, dreams and events but still supporting a bigger organization. To find yourself working alone but supported by others you become stronger, and to see yourself in a bigger picture but still being able to be you, act on your ideas and be individuals is the best freedom you can find. I do not want to stand alone, yet will I never be able to follow the streams, for me freedom is to be able to stand alone together with other people. People who have gone from being not friends, not family and not just like-minded people but have become important and meaningful in my everyday life. People who give me a feeling that I can describe as Friendhigh.
To make this visual to the world, that we are individuals working alone but together we now proudly introduce the new logo and brand line of JA-YE Alumni Europe. A new logo represent the togetherness and this is the way we stand together, not becoming corporate with aligned work and ideas, but fighting our single mindsets together under one brand. I hope the national organizations will join in and adopt the alone-together project, and take part in something bigger while still having own mind-sets and agendas.
JA-YE ALUMNI EUROPE
NEW W
e announced the new logo during the 11th International Conference in Helsinki and now it is officially our new face. The new logo is a part of the overall rebranding project of JA Alumni Europe, aiming to strengthen our brand as one common big brand! We are encouraging every national network to be part of this rebranding project by understanding the long term benefits of being under the same brand. We believe that in the long term we can impact more effectively by being easilier recognizable as Junior Achievement's brand. In addiction to that, while contacting external entities, it will also create much more brand awareness and will facilitate our commercial work when trying to find sponsors and partners. Moreover, it will facilitate the integration and the implementation of new member countries that will need guidelines and strong support on their first steps using the JA brand. Of course, this is something that is also align with JA's branding guidelines. Daniil Golubev, our graphic designer said: “I would be lying if I said it was an easy task. And there’s still a long way to go. I’m happy that the first step has been taken. Our new visual identity is young and fresh, truly representing individuals of our great network!" Together we achieve more!
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The interview with Brynhild Vinskei JA-YE ALUMNI EUROPE
WHEN IT ALL In the first Magazine we could not forget one of the main responsible person of the existence of JA-YE Alumni Europe Brynhild Vinskei. She told us how the organisation started, very interesting details about the creating process, vision and culture. Not to mention also lots of interesting stories and curiosities about the organisation! Don't lose any piece of it. Are you really sure you know everything about JA-YE Alumni Europe?!
JA-YE Alumni Europe has had its 10th anniversary on 2014, can you please tell us more about how it all started? When I participated in the company program back in 2002 I had the time of my life, I learned so much about myself, my abilities, skills and I realized I had skills, desires and ambitions that went far beyond what I had ever imagined and discovered what I wanted to do in my life. I went from thinking I wanted to be a nurse (no offence to nurses- we couldn't live without them, it just wasn't for me...) to realizing that I wanted to be a leader and someday maybe have my own company. If was life changing in so many ways.
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After finishing the company program, I started working for JA-YE Norway and it quickly hit me that I really missed the adrenalin kick of meeting all the wonderful entrepreneurs I got to meet throughout my year in the company program and
I felt so sad thinking that I might never see or connect with this group of people again. One thing lead to another and soon the birth of JA-YE Alumni Norway was a reality. A year after, I had the amazing opportunity to start up JA-YE Alumni Europe. It was at a conference in Vilnius, Lithuania in September 2004 a conference that were supposed to be for company program attendees, but was, in the last minute, changed to be for former company program students. With fantastic support from JA-YE Europe, Diana, Caroline, Gabi and Oldo, not to mention JA-YE Lithuania- the first JA-YE Alumni conference was a reality.
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I realized I had skills, desires and ambitions that went far beyond what I had ever imagined.
Gathered in a small room in Vilnius was the team that turned out to be the founding team of JA-YE Alumni Europe. A
team of highly motivated, enthusiastic and energetic former JA-YE students from across the Europe. Dream big & “Sky’s the limit” was our unwritten slogan throughout the week. Our ambitions were high; we created Alumnia (our own JA-YE country) We aimed at having local JA-YE Alumni organizations in every country in Europe by 2015, we planned to have annual JA-YE Alumni Europe conferences, to help JA-YE Europe and locally succeed even further, oh- and not to forget the Beaver song.. And the shark song…. For us, this conference was the launch of JA-YE Alumni Europe. How was it during the first years? After the conference in Vilnius a lot of great initiatives started. We founded the National coordinators committee, various tasks forces, the first edition of Flying High with Louise as editor was issued on December 2nd 2004, and the planning of the next JA-YE Alumni Europe conference started. Not everything was easy and it did take a lot of patience and negotiation to get everything up and running. Thanks to the tremendous support and help from the team at JA-YE Europe and JA-YE Norway, we managed to get a very professional JA-YE Alumni organization up and running. And for the first time ever, we hosted the JA-YE Alumni Europe conference together with the JA-YE Company programme of the year in Oslo in 2005. A very important milestone here was when Caroline Jenner and I, in front of everyone from JA-YE in Europe, signed the Cooperation agreement between JA-YE Europe and JA-YE Alumni Europe at the JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Award dinner. It was the beginning and the foundation for the future of JA-YE Alumni Europe. The JA-YE Alumni Europe structure, with the National Coordinators, the European President, the secretary general and the task forces was created and with the partnership with JA-YE Europe officially in place, we were ready to take on the world- and we did it!
What defined alumni in 2004 is what defines us today- a group of dedicated, ambitious former JA-YE students who believe that everything is possible, that the right attitude is we might meet some challenges on our way, but with a challenge comes learnings and our mind-set stays the same. Looking through 10 years of history, what is the feeling for a founding member? 10 years ago when I stood in front of a bunch of energized and ambitious group of former JA-YE students, I realized that I was witnessing another life changing moment in my life. A moment when I truly learned the value of networking, of working with like-minded people sharing the passion and vision of the world a better place and shape our careers and future in the way we want- not the way someone else tells us to. I learned that the sky is the limit and that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I often look back at this moment… When I look back at where the journey of JA-YE Alumni Europe started, the obstacles we have overcome, the challenges we have faced, the solutions we have found, the new friends we have made, the energy, the inspiration and hard work we all have put into making the JA-YE Alumni network attractive, unique and serious- I will say we- YOU- have more than succeeded, you have reached the level of outstanding achievement and I’m so impressed, so proud – simply blown away by how far you’ve taken this network today. When we started JA-YE Alumni 10 years ago, we had one quote we frequently used- “Sky’s the limit” and that is so true- you’ve all shown that everything is possible if we put our mind
to it and that is why JA-YE Alumni Europe is a success and continues to be a greater success day by day. What did JA and JA Alumni brought to your life? Briefly- JA changed my life by enabling me to realize I had skills and ambitions I didn’t even knew existed. JA-YE Alumni challenged me in ways I’ve never before been challenged, I’ve learned so much, I’ve grown professionally and personally, travelled the world, gained friends for life, friends who have inspired me, encouraged me, supported me, people I’ve learned a lot from and who’ve made me the person I am today- I am forever grateful for this, for the network and dear friendship I’ve been given. Importantly, JA-YE Alumni also lead me to the love of my life, also an alumnus, my husband for 5 years and together we have the most beautiful and happy little Olivia (2 years)
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It’s kind of a cliché, but it is trueSky’s the limit
JA-YE Alumni is a unique network of likeminded passionate people who wants to make a difference in the world, a network where you’ll get to grow, develop, learn and meet friends for life. What advice would you give to future Alumni? It’s kind of a cliché, but it is true- Sky’s the limit and the moment I realized that during the conference in Vilnius, is the moment I truly started taking on the challenges and opportunities life had in store for me. One thing I’ve learned is that
most people underestimate themselvesdon’t! Whatever you set your mind to achieve, you will achieve! You might meet some challenges on the road, but don’t give up, sometime the route to what you want needs to make some turns every now and then- embrace them and learning’s you’ll get from it. After all, a bright attitude is a source of empowerment that can move everyone in the right direction. Life has many surprises in store for you- embrace them all! What is, for you, the profile/spirit/culture of an Alumnus? In 2005 we created a code of conduct for JA-YE Alumni Europe, as part of our cooperation agreement with JA-YE Europe. In this, we tried to capture the essence of who we are/ our attitude as Alumnus, and to me, this is still the true spirit, the attitude and culture of a JA-YE Alumnus.
JA-YE ALUMNI EUROPE
A very successful JA-YE alumni programme that many of you probably know is Leader for a day. The event was first initiated by JA-YE Alumni Norway in 2003 and quickly adopted by JA-YE Alumni in Denmark followed by France, Armenia and other countries in Europe. In 2009 the first JA-YE Alumni Europe Leader for a day was a reality, as aimed for at the alumni conference in Lithuania.
Here’s the paragraph from our code of conduct
JA-YE Alumni Attitude: “A bright attitude is the right attitude. It is a source of empowerment that can move everyone in the right direction” Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG difference! Teamwork - driven by connecting people and resources Communicate – mean what you say, say what you mean, but don’t say it mean Innovate – be brave to succeed Honesty – be honorable by being honest Enjoyment – The journey to success will be a whole lot better if you’re having fun
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JA-YE ALUMNI EUROPE 10
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10
nniversary is always a date of gathering and being close to the ones that are important to us. It is time to flashback some of the best moments of our lives, but also to reflect about the future and our dreams. All that happened in the welcoming city of Helsinki, where the 11th International JA-YE Alumni Europe Conference took place from the 3rd to 7th of September. JA-YE Alumni Europe International Conference is our network's biggest event of the year, bringing together many entrepreneurial Alumni from all across Europe. In 2014, this amazing event was remarkable for its agenda quality and for its exceptional logistics and organisation. It was one of the biggest and boldest Alumni Conferences ever. Those were intense moments of knowledge sharing, experiences and multicultural exchanges and bonding with like-minded people.
On the last day, participants had also the opportunity to discover the beauty of the Finnish capital city, being invited to a funny and enjoyable trip around the city while doing creative tasks and experiencing some of the most charismatic places
and oldest Finnish traditions. On the top of this, the unforgettable Gala, at the wonderful villa-type building, located on the small island of Valkosaari, built in 1900, the perfect place to the comemorations of the 10th anniversary. How much better could it be than celebrating 10 years filled with inspiration, entrepreneurial thinking, success stories and international friendships with more than 100 Alumni from 16 countries?. "As much as I describe my experience you will only know how big and important is that by participating. It's an experience that is rarely possible to live. In the same space , we had many different inspirations and futures, although have been young people like me with fears and flaws in the curriculum," said Carminho Le達o from Portugal, for whom it was the first international event. CEO of JA Finland Virpi Utriainen also shared her thoughts with us: "When I first heard about that I thought: wow! You took a big challenge, but it is an absolutely great learning story for you. Young people who are behind this event, who have been inviting other young people all around Europe over here [Helsinki], one of the northest countries in Europe, they took a big step." Thank you to the Conference Organizing Team: Mikko, Elina, Lari, Joonas, Kalle, Henri, Laura, Dennis, Riku, Saku You were amazing hosts!
ALUMNI HONORIS
JA Alumni Honoris
D
uring the last JA-YE Alumni International Conference, in Helsinki, there was a great surprise announced for the entire network and also for a particular person. The 10th anniversary was not only a perfect landmark to celebrate but also to the creation of JA Alumni Honoris. JA:M spoke with Ricardo Martins Costa, who has been surprised about the nomination of Chairman of Alumni Honoris, during the Conference. So what is JA Alumni Honoris? Discover more on the interview with Ricardo Martins Costa.
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The main goal behind Honoris is to keep people close to each other, foment networking and learn and improve ourselves as human beings. We’re actually just creating an excuse to keep the most experienced ones engaged with the network and set role models for the younger ones.
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How many people are Alumni Honoris?
ALUMNI HONORIS
Ricardo Martins Costa, former Vice President of JA-YE Alumni Europe was invited in Helsinki, during the 11th International Conference, to lead a new challenge as Chairman of JA Alumni Honoris Why did you remember to create Honoris? For while we have been talking about creating something that would bring together former active members of the network, and during this past year it started to take form. This was a particularly interesting idea for me, it was my last big project as Member of the Board and it would be launched during the 10th year anniversary… Everything made sense! What were the first steps? How did it all start moving forward. Well, it all started one year ago when we were defining 2014’s projects for my department. We had been talking about a Senior Group and in the beginning that’s what it was planned to be - a bunch of old people with 26 or 27 years-old with no particular task (laughs).
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Along the way, Camilla and me worked hard on tuning the concept. We asked some of the former active members to help us and started developing a more exclusive concept that would end up having nothing to do with age - we call ourselves a networking group, so it was about time to actually bring together the best that network has to offer.
From the 35 nominees, 26 people fulfilled the criteria and were officially invited. Initially it was supposed to have much less members on its first year, but it’s always difficult to choose from such a special group of people. To take off, we decided that the initial group - Mikko, Nynne, Louise, Brynhild, Brian, Boris and Katherina - would be responsible to nominate people that they thought could fit the criteria. However they actually decided that me, Camilla and Elena should join them on that process, adding us to the initial group. Personally talking, it was really rewarding to be invited by them. From now on, the Honoris Members will be able to nominate people to join the network and approximately 5 people will be able to enter the group each year.
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The Honoris should mainly focus on relationships and fundraising
What are the main crucial criteria to be part of such group of people? First of all you need to understand what is this group, what it intends to do: bring together former active Junior Achievement Alumni members who have achieved something extraordinary whether in the field of entrepreneurship, business or within the JA Alumni network. There is one criteria that is absolutely mandatory to become part of the group:
being recommended by more than one Honoris member. After that, the nominee needs to fulfill at least one more criteria: having accomplished significant milestones or established profound positive changes to the European or national network, showed support to the European network for a significant amount of years or having accomplished successful entrepreneurial results like revenue, scalability or number of employees. What kind of actions will this network take? Are there any events programmed? Let’s start for your last question. Yes! We have programmed in April, from 17 to 19, the first Honoris meeting and it will happen in Porto, Portugal. We want to gather the Honoris and discuss some activities that we can develop within this group. Of course that more than everything else, it will an opportunity to meet with friends that share similar interests. Actually, from our meeting in Helsinki it became clear that the main focus for Honoris events are friends, inspiration and network. The Honoris should mainly focus on relationships and fundraising. With this in mind, the activities should be focused on building relationships, cooperating with the European Board, fundraising, representing the network and doing PR for Alumni Europe. What’s ahead for Honoris? It’s just starting, so a lot of things actually! (Laughs) We need to develop a good plan of activities, agenda for the year, a code of conduct and many other things. All of these things need to be planned well in advance, we can’t forget that all members are pretty busy people. We really want to make this almost as a reward for all of the really outstanding alumni that have devoted their time, effort and even money to this organisation and to those who have succeeded in their professional careers.
First of all let me tell you that I was not expecting to be invited to lead this group or to be so involved with the network after finishing my last year as Member of the European Board. However it’s a great challenge, but more than that, it’s the perfect timing to do it. Our network is turning 10 and now we can see the impact that it had on the 18 year-old people of 2004 - how it has changed their lives. I was available at the time to accept the challenge and next to the Alumni Leadership Award, this is my big project for this European network. I’m very happy to be involved in it, specially with such an outstanding group of people. We’re talking about young adults with major accomplishments in life, many of them with successful businesses and employing several people, others with great careers in big international companies or even others that are following their own dreams around the globe. I feel like I’m just a kid next to some of these people! Looking back, what were the most remarkable moments for you as an active member of Alumni Europe? That’s a really hard question. I’ve spent four years in the Board, worked with so many different people and I think that together with Elena we’ve set the record for the longest “European Board career”, so has you can imagine I’ve been through many remarkable moments. Well I can definitely highlight as a remarkable the moment I got the news that I had been elected for the Board for the first time. I was in Italy helping in the Company of the Year Competition 2010 and I remember becoming really excited with that news, even though I had no idea what I was getting into (laughs). But to be honest, being able to implement
the Alumni Leadership Award made me realize that everything is possible if you really want it and work hard for it to happen. I had been thinking about that idea long before becoming Member of the Board, and when I presented it to Davide Coppaloni we immediately realized that we needed to pitch the idea to JA-YE. Well, four years later this has become an important moment each year at the Company of the Year finals. Besides this I personally highlight the deep structural changes in the network. We’ve changed from a Committee to a Board, we’ve created two departments, changed the way we communicate with the Member Countries and developed solid working structures.
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I feel like I’m just a kid next to some of these people!
Another remarkable moment for me was the International Conference in 2012. I took a dive when I accepted to organize the biggest of event of the year in Porto, what a true adventure that was! From fear to jubilation, I’ve experienced everything during that one year I spent organising and leading a team of 13 people that would welcome around 100 people in my hometown. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life! It’s very easy to see how this network has changed over the past four years, but specially how mature it became. Now we don’t even think on not having three or
four events every year, but there was a time that we were not sure if we could make even one. You are leading this team of honorable people so we should consider you an honorable person, shouldn’t we? (laughs) How do you see yourself being considered that way? Way better than NOT being considered an honorable person! (laughs) Of course this is just a name to recognise some great achievers in the network. Personally I was not expecting to become a member right after leaving the European Board. I was hoping to join the group in maybe one or two years, so of course I was very happy when I was invited to join so soon. Now, when looking to the group of people that made the final list I feel privileged to see my name among them.
ALUMNI HONORIS
After finishing your last year as Vice President of Alumni Europe, here it comes another huge challenge! How do you feel about it?
I definitely think I devoted a lot of time and energy to this network, it became my greatest passion and has had a tremendous impact in my life. For that reason it’s very nice to recognised by your peers. I know it may sound as a cliché or even a bit like shallow speech, but I don’t really think that recognition is the most important thing here. The main goal behind the Honoris is to keep people close to each other, foment networking and learn and improve ourselves as human beings. We’re actually just creating an excuse to keep the most experienced ones engaged with the network and set role models for the younger ones.
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ALUMNI HONORIS
ALUMNI Ricardo Martins Costa
Ricardo founded Alumni in Portugal in 2009 and joined the European board on the following year where he was Vice President until 2014, representing the network for four years. Besides his impact on the national level, on the European Board he was responsible for several projects throughout the years and important structural changes. Among the projects, we can highlight his work as the main promoter of the Alumni Leadership Award, project manager for the 9th Alumni Conference and initiator of the Alumni Honoris group.
Nynne founded and presided JA YE Alumni in Denmark (YEAD) and was very active in the launch of the European network. She lead and shaped the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship and founded N-act in 2009, a consulting company within education, business development and organizational start-up.
NYNNE CHRISTIANSEN
MIKKO JAATINEN
Mikko joined the European board in 2010, staying for two years as member of the Board. Being a key player on the foundation of Alumni Europe and Alumni Finland, Mikko has always shown a tremendous passion for the network. Among many businesses, Mikko owned a CafĂŠ PicNic in Helsinki in 2009, moved to Australia, lived in the U.S.A. and had many adventures around the World.
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ALUMNI HONORIS
Preslav Mitranov
Preslav was part of the European Board for three years. He was a very active member and responsible for many of the ideas we see implemented today. Besides his passion for the network, he worked for some years at the JA-YE Europe office in Brussels.
LOUISE EDWARDS
Louise joined the Danish Alumni network in 2004, becoming one of its most noticeable members. In 2009 she joined the European Board and was elected President in 2010. Louise was a fundamental player in the development of the alumni network, having been the Editor-in-Chief of the Flying High from 2004 to 2009, responsible for creating, editing and distributing the European Newsletter.
MARIUS KLAUSEN
Marius was an active alumni member in the Danish Board back in 2007. He remained giving an active contribute until 2011, meanwhile creating some companies along the way. Among them Bargruppen and later AIRTAME.
KATHARINA KRENN
Katharina was an intern at JA Canada in 2006 before becoming President of JA-YE Alumni Europe. She also led her national network and over the years, Katharina worked in companies such as Bwin or Michael Pachleitner Group.
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ALUMNI SUCCESS TRACKER
Boris
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s an 8th grade student, Boris Kolev joined the JA Student Company program at his high school in Sofia, Bulgaria. The student company he formed, �Junior Team�, quickly became one of the top student teams in the country by winning the national competition several times and competing in the JA-YE Student Company European Finals. The student company developed innovative products such as the Business Card CD and the Music Pillow, which are well-known products today.
Along with the JA Company program, Boris participated in many of the other JA programs in school: JA Economics, Business Ethics, Banks in Action, Success Skills, Virtual Enterprise (MESE), Manager for a day - and the list goes on. Following the JA involvement in high school, Boris was recruited by the JA-YE Alumni team in Bulgaria and became an active part of the network. After the first year, Boris became the National PR Manager of the network. Only two years later, he was elected National President of the JA-YE Alumni Bulgaria.
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The best friends I have ever had are coming from JA Alumni. “We were all learning how to start and close businesses, how to penetrate the market, and how to manage, we learned how to lose as well,” Boris explains. The latest and most successful projects of JT International are the NetMark and DigiMark companies. NetMark provides social media services and online presence management to some of the largest brands on the Bulgarian market, while DigiMark quickly has become one of the leading mobile developing companies in Eastern Europe. In 2008, Boris became one of the “Europe’s Best Young Entrepreneurs” in the BusinessWeek annual worldwide competition. He received the “Young Manager of the Year” national award in 2010, and won a national award in 2012 for an Inspirational Young Leader voted
by the public. As from 2012, Boris is part of the national ranging “30 under 30” by Forbes Magazine for Bulgaria, a listing of the most important young innovators and influencers in the country. In 2013, Boris received an award from Forbes Magazine for overall performance in entrepreneurship, where the prize is a full scholarship for a MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Now, the whole JT International Group has more than 40 full-time employees and many more project based workers, external experts and partners. They are all focused on creating smart and innovative marketing tools that can make a change in their country – and the world. But the JA Alumni still holds a special place in Boris’ heart. He expresses his wish to start a JA Alumni Business Club for alumni with successful businesses, to be able to exchange information and maybe even sponsor other Alumni initiatives. “Of course I’m still supporting JA Alumni with whatever I can, because I cannot forget where I started and the JA spirit still lives in me.”
ALUMNI SUCCESS TRACKER
delivering new ideas to the largest marketing agencies and brans in the country. With a strategy of creating spin-off companies for every successful idea, Boris ended up with eight different companies united under the JT International Group. Every company had its own entrepreneur, who drove the team forward and also held shares in the company. The first spin-off company was BlueMark Ltd, which delivered Bluetooth advertising solutions. After that followed ScentMark for scent marketing, JT Design for websites and graphic design and JT Events for event organizing. Two more startups were JT PR as a PR agency and JT BTL as a live promotion team, but these companies are now closed because of poor market performance.
- Boris finished more than 5 Junior Achievement’s programmes
BORIS KOLEV
T
he Alumni spirit, passion and commitment became a very large part of Boris’ life. He did not miss a single national or international Alumni conference between 2006 and 2011. “I was obsessed with the JA-YE Alumni spirit. There are so many amazing people and wonderful friends all around Europe, and even on other continents.” Boris says. “We just became a family, a JA Alumni family. The best friends I have ever had are coming from JA Alumni.” While being an active part of the Alumni spirit, Boris made a big step in his life when he decided to start his own business. After going through the admission process to study in the US, the loss of his father in a tragic accident put a stop to the plans. Instead, Boris started to look for a job to take care of his family after receiving his high school diploma. He signed up for a Bachelor of Marketing and Management at the local branch of the University of Portsmouth, and got a job at Hewlett-Packard a few months later. However, Boris realized soon after the start at HP that he was not cut out for the strict corporate world. Instead, he started thinking about starting his own company. Boris called his old JA student company colleagues to ask if they were interested in turning it into a real company. They all declined, but granted Boris permission to do so. Boris went to the JA Alumni network and asked two of the members to become his new business partners. That is how the company “JT International” was born. The name “JT” came from the student company, and “International” was added because of the “think big” vision. Three people founded JT International: Boris, Bilyana Hristova and Violetka Minkova. After four years, disagreements in the vision of the company led to a split, and Boris purchased all the shares in the company. JT started as an innovative marketing company. They were a startup that wanted to create a difference in the marketing environment in Bulgaria. The company that started off slowly in 2007 with only a couple of clients grew quickly. JT introduced guerilla marketing, Bluetooth marketing, ambient advertising, scent marketing and other concepts to the market. They were constantly
- He did not miss one single Alumni event from 2006 to 2011 and he still attends some when he can, nowadays - Worked at Hewlett-Packard - Founded his company, JT International, with 2 other partners, also JA Alumni - JT International group has 8 different companies - Boris is part of 30 under 30 in the Bulgarian ranking by Forbes Magazine
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ENTREPRENEURIAL ADVICES
MIKKO M
ikko Jaatinen is one of the most charismatic and cherished person inside JA-YE Alumni Network. But despite the fact he is only 28 he has already great success not only inside the network, but of course in his entrepreneurial career. He is responsible for the establishment of the JA-YE Alumni network in his country, Finland, and he is Partner at Nordic Business Forum Ltd, the best and biggest event of its kind in the Nordics, that sold out 10,000 tickets for the next year's edition in few days! Besides that, Mikko loves fun "I love the energy that laugh brings. I love to do some funny things. I have recorded my own cd (I am not a singer) and now I am working on my own Gallery (I am not a painter)". JA:M talked with Mikko about his career and projects and asked him for Entrepreneurial Advices for young people.
- Age 28 - Responsible for the establishment of JA Alumni in Finland - He and other Alumnus started a business after JA Programme – Realister International - Run his family business CafÊ Picnic
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- Partner at Nordic Business Forum - Has recorded his own CD
One of my biggest milestones has been Company Programme in my 9th grade back in 2001. It showed me that it´s up to you what you will get. If you do a lot, you will get a lot. That was really cool to see as a teenager that you can really affect your life. Tell us more about your entrepreneurial projects. After the CP we established the JA-YE Alumni organisation: Jalumny. After that I met with Sten Saar in Alumni Europe Conference and we started to do business together: Realister International. We did school products i.e. Formula Notebooks. The main idea was that “Learning is Cool”. I sold my part of the company to Sten and left to Australia. I traveled for one year and a half. When I came back to Finland I took over family company (cafeteria in Helsinki). I ran that company for a little more than a year and we sold it. Meanwhile we also had company that sold consulting and entrepreneurial education trainings. For four years I have been partner in Nordic Business Forum. Actually one of the co-founders of NBF is my early age Company Programme partner Jyri Lindén. Really amazing guy, dear friend. I have been always very active meanwhile the companies and I have been part of several companies boards, active member in several NGOs, partner in couple of Start Ups etc. We can definitely see that you are a Serial Entrepreneur, but… Do you have any particular project that you would highlight? I would like to highlight the present. In Nordic Business Forum we have been growing with a tremendous speed. Need to be very grateful of all the great things that we have been able to be part of. Such a pleasure to work with so amazing and inspiring people.
During your career as entrepreneur, you have probably learn much from situations that didn’t go as you’ve wished. What did mistakes teach you so far? World will not end. Shit happens and the main thing is that you are willing to learn. Do not stay in the poop but move on. It is important to get up as fast as possible. It is vital that you have a great team around you, so you are able to get help and support when needed. I wouldn´t be where I am without the great people and their help. Without other there is no other´s success. It´s all about the people.
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You need to love what you do, and more importantly feel passionated and energised by your idea. What were the biggest challenges professional and personally that came with the decision to become an entrepreneur? Uncertainty. But realising that the biggest uncertainty lays in not being in control yourself. By being entrepreneur you are in charge. We are always afraid of things that we don´t know about. The world is changing so rapidly that the only thing that is certain is change. What should be the first lesson for an entrepreneur? Execution. There is so many day dreamers. But the whole thing is in acting. Just do it.
I want to become an entrepreneur for living. What should I know/be prepared to upfront? You need to love what you do, and more importantly feel passionated and energised by your idea. The hours are long and you need to give up some things. It will be ride, and if you are not passionated you will run out of energy quickly and you will quit. What advices would you give to a wannabe or recent entrepreneur? It´s all about the people. Who do you wanna work with? How you wanna make this world a better place? What do you want to change? Who you wanna help and serve? How much did JA influenced your learning process and influenced your career?
ENTREPRENEURIAL ADVICES
When and why did you decide to become an entrepreneur?
I would say that in my case, more than I dare to admit. I would not have been so active with JA Alumnus if I wouldn´t be so grateful for JA. Thank you. How important are the networks and special the JA Alumni network for success? Everyone decides on this individually. My suggestion is that get the most out of it. There are some really amazing people in this great network. Do not let it go. I have made some true lifelong friends. Something that no money could buy. Did you find inspiration in any person or anything you like? If yes, who and why? The biggest inspirations are always other people. I think this varies in different life moments. When I was young I had different people that I looked up than I have now. I think the beauty of it is that we can find something to look up and be inspired in every single person. For me it´s the people that gives me the inspiration and energy.
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INSIDE JA-YE EUROPE
The CEO of Current Job: CEO JA-YE Europe (since 2002)
CAROLINE JENNER
Nationality: Canadian and Belgian Biography facts: - Has lived in Europe 23 years - Has been working at JA-YE Europe since 2002 Career as entrepreneur: - Co-launched a language teaching business in what was still Czechoslovakia in the early 1990's Career within JA-YE: 1993 Volunteered to help Junior Achievement establish a chapter in Slovakia and took on the role of CEO, establishing a national network, raising funds and lobbying the Ministry of Education to endorse JA as a partner 1997 Moved into a regional role for JA Central and Eastern Europe where worked with several other countries in the region to start JA organisations. 2002 Took the role of CEO for Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise Europe Since then, she became deeply engaged in entrepreneurship education policy with the European Commission, serving on expert groups such as New Skills for New Jobs and Data and Indicators for Entrepreneurship Education.
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In addition, appointed as Senior Vice President Europe for JA Worldwide in 2004, she has worked on global initiatives such as the World Economic Forum’s 2010 Report on Entrepreneurship Education.
JA-YE Europe is a network of organisations dedicated to entrepreneurship education, skills for employability and financial literacy. Each of these organisations operates within their country's space with a board of directors and professional staff and they work closely with their ministries of education and the private sector. What is unique about the organisation? The JA-YE network is unique in its focus on building the bridge between schools and the community around them—and even across borders. We are providing content and methods to help teachers participate in entrepreneurial education. They need support to work effectively with the business community and schools cannot organize a lot of extra-curricular activity on their own. With JA-YE, young people get in touch with the real world while they are still in school—which is a huge advantage when they start thinking about possible career orientation or starting their own business. They are much better prepared to make the transition from school to working life. How can we take advantage of that and solve problems in world? When young people learn to take initiative and assume responsibility, to collaborate really well with others, their attitudes change. Role models are important in this process too as these people are encouraging in a different way from parents or teachers. Young people start to feel that they can make a difference. What’s more, they are more motivated to persist with their ideas and plans. What lies behind the high percentage of drop outs is because young people don’t see the relevance of what they are doing and they are therefore not motivated to stick with it. Unemployment is different—that is often about making poor education choices or not knowing how to follow up on opportunities. What JA-YE can do is address these issues before they happen.
What does it take to become an entrepreneur? I would say first of all people who say entrepreneurs are born of course they are only half right. I think that entrepreneurs can be born but that is only a small percentage of the population. Many more can be made. In order to do that, all we need is to take away some of the fear that people have of trying something that they have never tried before. That's Caroline Jenner’s definition of entrepreneurship "to take risks. If you don't learn how to take risks in good constructive positive way, early in life when it is safe and you have people to help you, you will probably never take risks. That's the definition of being an entrepreneur - to give it a shot! How special is JA Alumni Europe? I think one of the things that is special of being an alumni is that it is a choice that people have made. So it is a risk in itself that you have gone through something and you have a million choices in front of you and you choose to participate as an alumni. By definition that means that you are choosing to give back, it means to work with other people, it means that you are giving your time besides your day job, interests and even besides your education. You are thinking that it is equally important to do something like this. It’s also one of the most powerful indicators we have of the impact JA-YE can have on young people. What are the benefits of being part of such network? There are benefits in this kinds of informal education because when you take on roles like this you are constantly learning, you are networking and meeting people who have other skills. You are picking up things that you would never pick up in normal streams of education. It is impossible. You can't take an exams that proves everything you have gained from this experience. But I bet that the list would be pretty long if someone asked you what kinds of things you have learned!
So the benefits professionally and personally to these kind of experiences are in some ways immeasurable. We know from research on alumni that many more of them start businesses than other people, they are more likely to move into leadership positions in organizations, they make more income over time. But if I look at this from the individual’s perspective—not just the benefits for society and the economy—you are simply more confident about your future. You are probably a more balanced, sensitive and social human being. And today with all the technologies, the speed and the challenges we have, this is what we need! How important can JA-YE Alumni Events be (such as the International Conferences)?
INSIDE JA-YE EUROPE
What is JA-YE Europe?
To Caroline Jenner, events such as the Annual International JA-YE Alumni Europe Conference is about “(…) creating energy and equity in your network that will drive you forward.” It is of great value to the participants because “(…) it is very hard to build a network and hard to know who to turn to” and it is great investment to spend time on getting to know each other and developing friendships. Also for the organising team it is a remarkable opportunity in their lives, due to the “skills gained from organising a conference”. She reinforced the idea stating that “(…) you probably won’t be able to know exactly how great it is for maybe even 5 years but it will add up.” The JA-YE Alumni International events are growing in number and quality year by year and we expect to keep delivering value to our members!
Adapted from video interview of Get Made to Caroline Jenner in Munich, September 2011.
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COMPANY OF THE YEAR COMPETITION
European
JA-YE Network Hosts its Largest Youth Entrepreneurship Competition Ever
S
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tudents from Iceland took the top prize at the silver jubilee of the JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Competition 2014 with their innovative glass made out of Icelandic lava and black clay. They were competing against 37 other national winners from across Europe. Sigudur Kristinsson, CEO of E14-Magma was delighted to win saying, “The JA Company Programme thought us how to really work as a team and how to resolve disagreements in a professional way. The most important lesson for us was to never give up! Winning the 25th Company of the Year Competition is an enormous honour since Iceland has never won a competition like this.” Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia Taavi Roivas who is JA-YE Europe alumnus opened the 25th Award Ceremony hosted by JA Estonia which gathered together 500 students from 37 countries, teachers, business advisors and partners to celebrate the success of their
teams during the three days of competition (23-25th July). The student teams were part of JA-YE Europe flagship Company Programme, which sees students set up and run real businesses with the support of business mentors. 250,000 young people created student companies across Europe this year. The top 38 student companies were showcased in the 25th JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Competition. These enterprising secondary school students have all been running a business for a school year and they have received support from teachers as well as guidance from business volunteers. Each student company created and marketed real products and/or services, successfully dealing with the challenges of setting up and running a business. The Company Programme has had a positive impact on youth unemployment. JA-YE research has shown that alumni of the Company Programme are proven to be more employable (12% less likely to be weakly employed and fewer days of unemployment compared to over 20% less likely to be unemployed than the control group). Alumni are also more likely to start their own business and are more likely to have a higher average income in employment.
“The teams who competed in Estonia were of an incredibly high standard showing an abundance of creativity and talent for innovation. But with unemployment at stunningly high levels, it is clear that we must do everything we can to help young people improve in teamwork, problem-solving and presentation. Competitions and pitching sessions like this are well-tried tools to push students, who quickly identify their strengths and weaknesses as far as their own skills are concerned.” Caroline Jenner, CEO JA-YE Europe. The runners-up in the competition were ACE from the UK for their revolutionary adhesive pad which is pressure sensitive; and Grades of Glory from Sweden who set up a tutoring company revolutionizing the study help market in Sweden by offering study help in cooperation with sport associations. Source: JA-YE Europe's website
A VERy special
COMPANY OF THE YEAR COMPETITION
TAAVI RÕIVAS
D
uring the gala dinner at the Company of the Year Competition in Tallinn there was a tall young guy who wouldn’t had even been noticed if he hasn’t been surrounded by bodyguards. The young man looked exactly like the crowd around him – he was chatting with other guests, wearing the wooden bowtie made by Latvian student company and even taking selfies. There’s nothing wrong with it, he’s just a regular JA alumnus, but besides that he’s also the Prime Minister of Estonia! The youngest government leader in the European Union, Taavi Rõivas, by his 34 years has achieved a lot. After finishing the university he started his political career and has worked in Estonian parliament and Tallinn city council as well as been the advisor of many Estonian ministers. Since 26 March 2014, Taavi Rõivas is the Prime Minister of Estonia. Not to mention that he still finds time to raise his 5-year old daughter! There’s a fact in his biography that he has never been ashamed to mention – during highschool years Taavi started his own student company with his fellow classmates. Although the young entrepreneurs didn’t win any awards, the programme had a great impact on the future of the young politician: “JA-YE student company programme has given me boldness to go to the economics faculty of Tartu University right after the high school. Though I haven’t become an entrepreneur, probably because I have never tried to become one, it has still given me the entrepreneurial mindset,” said Mr. Rõivas during the gala dinner. After the gala, we had a chance to introduce JA-YE Alumni Europe to the Prime Minister. Mr. Rõivas found the alumni network very interesting: “I think that it’s really cool that the people who have been involved in student company programme are still connected with each other. It’s very important that they also give their own awards, being a role model and keeping connection with young generation.” He even showed his interest in joining our network when he finishes his term as the Prime Minister. Now, I wouldn’t take more responsibilities, but anyway, I will keep an eye on the alumni network. I’m happy that there are people who have the energy to carry forward their experience,” he said.
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UF Alumni Summer Camp 3–5 August | Gothenburg, Sweden Here you can find some of the events the members of our network have organized during 2014.
EVENTS
Over 70 Swedish Alumni gathered for the annual UF Alumni Summer Camp. The theme of the camp was “Sky is the limit”, with inspiring workshops and talks on the subject.
YEAD International Camp 2014 31 May–1 June | Copenhagen, Denmark Almost 70 JA-YE Alumni from all over Europe gathered for YEAD International Camp 2014! The Danish Alumni Network invited all their European friends to an inspiring kick-start of the summer. On the agenda was time for team-building and networking, a very interesting workshop about 'How to be a better listener and communicate effectively', but there was also time to relax and get to know each other as well – either through the team games or while enjoying the Barbeque.
JA-YE Europe Enterprise Challenge 2–4 July | Amsterdam, Netherlands 80 university from 14 countries students presented their innovative business ideas and demonstrated how they will boost European innovation and growth with their start-ups. The Alumni Leadership Award was given to 10 young role models.
National Coordinators Meeting 4–6 April | Bergamo, Italy 43 Alumni leaders from 16 countries in Europe and South America gathered for the National Coordinators Meeting. This event was focused on sustainability and growth within the respective countries and in the international network. The participants were engaged in sessions addressing communication techniques, strategy and development matters as well as sharing best practices across borders.
eLeaders for a Day 30 October | Rome/Milan, Italy The Italian edition of eLFD took place together with the e-Skills for Jobs High-Level Conference: Making a career with Digital Technologies.
JA Alumni Camp 14–16 November | Rome, Italy
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Three days that focused on entrepreneurship, personal development and soft skills improvement, all following the spirit of JA Alumni Italy "Learning by doing and having fun!"
This year, JA-YE Alumni Europe celebrated the 10th anniversary with the theme 'Ideas and inspiration: a decade of entrepreneurial spirit'. The conference gathered around 120 young entrepreneurial people from more than 25 countries.
EVENTS
JA-YE Alumni Europe Annual Conference 3–7 September | Helsinki, Finland
Company of the Year Competition 22–25 July | Tallinn, Estonia Of all 250,000 European students who started their student companies in the beginning of the school year, only 200 were to compete for the title of best European student company. JA-YE Alumni Europe was also presented at the competition. Three of our board members, Elena, Siret and Tomáš, picked out one outstanding person from each company to chose 15 young leaders worth the Alumni Leadership Award.
JENZ Anniversary 3–5 October | Berlin, Germany Together with YES Alumni Weekend in Berlin, over a hundred participants gathered.
12h Innovation Camp 21 March | Prague, Czech Republic NCM 2.0 21–24 November | Belgrade, Serbia
JA Alumni Czech Republic team organized a 12h Innovation Camp for their members and high school students. 42 participants divided into seven teams and under a supervision of experienced start-uppers developed seven great ideas how to bring life back to empty shops on a made up “Innovation Street”.
Alumnize.RS Weekend August | Leskovac, Serbia Serbian Alumni network Alumnize.RS gathered 100 alumni members. On the agenda was time for team-building and networking, successful Alumni stories and speakers from Serbian business sector. There was also a time to relax and enjoy Alumni spirit at evening party.
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EDITORIAL TEAM 26
THE These are the guys behind the first issue of JA:M. We hope you enjoyed our first edition and we look forward to your feedback! Feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions!
Linda Sonnichsen
Bernardo Pequito dos Santos
Julia Micanovic
SADAF MA
DANIIL GOLUBEV
President of JA-YE Alumni Europe
Vice President of JA-YE Alumni Europe for Marketing and Communications, Editor-in-Chief of JA:M
Editor
Editor
Graphic Designer
Our initiatives and events are supported by a number of organisations which believe in the ambition and entrepreneurial potential of the European alumni network of JA-YE. Without your help, JA:M wouldn’t have been published. Thank you for sharing our values and working with us towards a more entrepreneurial Europe!
JA-YE ALUMNI EUROPE
OUR JA-YE Europe A Member of JA Worldwide
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