June 28, 2016
Hungary. Budapest. Over 150 students along their teachers and Citi employee volunteers took part in the Citi-JA Hungary Young Entrepreneurship Program’s National Competition on June 3 in Budapest, with Kevin A. Murray, CEO of Citi Hungary opening the event. Nine teams competed for the first prize that goes together with the opportunity to represent Hungary at the JA Europe “Company of the Year” Competition in July in Switzerland.
In addressing the audience, CEO of Citi Hungary, Kevin A. Murray said, “As part of the Citi Foundation's Pathways to Progress initiative, catalyzing job opportunities for youth is one of the key areas we are focusing on globally and in Hungary. We are very proud of the twenty Citi employee volunteers who have been actively engaged in this program in the role of mentors, workshop lecturers and judging panel members. I would like to also thank Junior Achievement for being a dedicated and committed professional partner for us in designing and executing our community programs in Hungary for over twenty years.”
“Our mission is to develop the entrepreneurial spirit in the young generation, and our objective is to facilitate young people to think creatively and take action to realize their business ideas. We are pleased to have worked together with the Ministry of National Economy to develop a new framework curriculum for high school students of grade 10 focusing on enhancing their financial and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills,” said Orsolya M. Gergely, CEO of JA Hungary.
The judging panel of the Citi-JA Hungary Young Entrepreneurship Program consisted of six members, four of which were Citi volunteers, including Citi Hungary’s HR Country Officer, Klara Tatar-Kiss. The Ministry of National Economy was also represented at event. The judging panel selected the “Game of Tones” student company as the winner of the national competition, out of the nine finalists. This is a team of 11 students from the Waldorf High School of Szeged creating and selling colorable paperware with artistic design, including calendars, notebooks and folders.
The new Citi-JA Hungary Young Entrepreneurship Program was launched in October 2015 and since then 56 student companies with 614 students from 41 schools have been established. Altogether 1,000 secondary school students were impacted in the program.
The program is unique in its approach, methods and tools in Hungary. It is a “learning by doing” module that provides high school students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in launching and running their own enterprises. This requires students to actually implement their business ideas, create and sell their own products and services.
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