Junior Achievement Lithuania board chairman V. Lašas, whose initiative and funding will send around twenty students to the international expo this year, has called upon business owners, urging them to join and contribute to the idea financially. "I invite private sector representatives to join us – grant the opportunity to go to the exhibition in Dubai for even more capable students. This will be an excellent opportunity for the youths to obtain global experience and for us – to encourage the young generation of leaders to dream big and pursue their ambitious goals," V. Lašas says.
A unique opportunity to obtain entrepreneurship experience
The Junior Achievement Lithuania programme AcceleratorX's challenge to realise ideas already at school and establish a business during this school year was accepted by almost 1,000 students from 102 schools around the country. They found an entire 204 youth companies. To create their products, the companies gathered funds by distributing shares and attracted a total of more than 20,000 euro in investments.
The student teams participating in this year's competition had to overcome two stages: present the company's operational and financial reports. In contrast, the top ten best youth companies will have to introduce their product or service via a video call to members of an evaluation commission, answer the commission's questions. The finalists for the national best student business competition will be revealed and awarded on May 7. The winners of AcceleratorX will represent the country in the JA Europe Company of the Year 2021 student entrepreneurship competition, which was to be held in Lithuania this year but had to be transitioned online.
V. Lašas says that the main prize – a trip to the international exhibition Expo 2020 in Dubai, which will be awarded to the three best teams this year, is a unique opportunity to expand their entrepreneurial horizons.
"Learning is inseparable from travel, meeting various people, getting to know other cultures, inspiring examples set by other people and sharing one's own experiences. Through their participation at the international exhibition in Dubai, we wish to show that Lithuania is a curious country and our youths are talented, full of creative ideas and the desire to learn and improve," V. Lašas says.
Looking to attract funding from private donors
The international expo, which was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will run for half a year – from October this year to the end of March 2022. While it will be held in 2021-2022, it was decided not to change its name – it will be titled Expo 2020. Lithuania's preparations for the exhibition are coordinated and organised by the Ministry of the Environment; preparations for it have proceeded for three years now – the Lithuanian pavilion has already been built, and the final preparatory work is being done for it.
It is planned for around 3 million euro to be allocated to Lithuania's appearance at Expo 2020. This funding will be directed toward constructing the pavilion, its maintenance, thematic and cultural events, a national day, bringing over talents and presenting them.
The expectation is that funding for the student's participation will be collected from private donors.
"The theme of this year's exhibition in Dubai is "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future." The exhibition will feature businesses from various areas discussing the opportunities of the new world, sustainability and mobility. I truly hope that the most creative participants of the practical entrepreneurship development programme will draw priceless knowledge and experience from it. I am proud of our youths who are global thinking, courageous in their experimentation, abandoning stereotypes and bravely creating their own and Lithuania's future," V. Lašas says.
AcceleratorX is a programme of Junior Achievement Lithuania, which offers students from grades 9-12 real business experience while still studying. By resolving local problems, meeting market demand or simply testing their ideas, students create various businesses and spread the spirit of entrepreneurship. This programme is not a business simulation; it is the experience of creating a real business, introducing how a business is developed, managed and allowing students to themselves make critical business decisions.
Junior Achievement Lithuania is an educational organisation, youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy programme leader in Lithuania. Private donors and funds finance the organisation's programmes: the strategic impact investors SEB bank and Moody's and the strategic investors Narbutas. More information about the organisation can be found here.
