PRESS RELEASE – THE National Lotteries Authority (NLA) has collaborated with Junior Achievement by providing the cost of the airfare towards the Junior Achievement Company of the Year (COY) competition in Lima, Peru.
Natural Touch – a Junior Achievement Company of the Babonneau Secondary School, was announced winner of the JA Company Program in October during the JA Awards Ceremony and was eligible to participate in the 10th edition of the regional COY.
The competition is a friendly engagement among JA Company program participants of secondary schools where teams are challenged to set up and run a real business within 12 weeks with support of business mentors.
Upon liquidating their companies, participating teams are required to submit their financial statements to the local JA office for adjudication based on a set criterion.
The COY provided a platform for 21 student companies from 31 countries to display their range of products and services created, developed and promoted and to participate in exhibitions, networking and ice breaker activities, seminars and pitch training sessions.
Students demonstrated much enthusiasm, passion and a high level of professionalism as they interacted with each other, JA executives, government and corporate representatives during the event which was held from November 25th – 28th 2018.
Re-Tyre of The Cayman Islands emerged winner of the competition, with Ecuador and Peru gaining second and third place, respectively.
The St Lucian team was represented by three students and one teacher of the Babonneau Secondary School, the JA Executive Director and Chairman.
Chairman, Kirt Hosam stated, “I was deeply impressed by the competition itself; beyond passion for their products and services, student teams showed real business acumen, presenting skills from finance to marketing with a deep understanding of the markets they were in and the opportunities the global economy is offering them. JA does a great job in supporting that development and showing young people how fascinating it is to have an idea and the right ways to make it into a reality.”
Mr. Hosam went on to say, “This experience would not have been possible without the generous donation of $20 000.00 towards the airfare to Peru by the National Lotteries Authority and I take this opportunity to express my profound appreciation to the board and staff of NLA for their patience, generosity and time in making it happen particularly for the students. To the Ministry of Education, parents, teachers and staff of Babonneau Secondary School, I say thank you all for your support.”
Junior Achievement (JA) is one of the world’s largest nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of the youth by providing economic literacy programs to student; teaching them the importance of an education. Over 11.1 million students experience the JA program annually. (Junior Achievement St Lucia)