November 3, 2014, Bucharest
Over 1.000 young people from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia will acquire new skills in innovation and entrepreneurship through the SMARTUp Challenge program, developed by Citi Foundation and Junior Achievement. 250 student participants from the four countries are invited to enroll online on www.smartupchallenge.org with a solution to a given challenge on the topic of entrepreneurship and job creation. During the following months, the teams of students will be supported by Citi volunteers to further develop their business ideas. The best 10 students in each country will then be selected to participate in the 5-day innovative SMARTUp Challenge Summer School taking place in Romania in August 2015, where they will benefit from an international collaboration experience.
With a “learning-by-doing approach”, SMARTUp Challenge supports students to implement innovative business ideas that can integrate youth living in low-income situations. Expert advice provided by Citi employees, networking opportunities and a strong learning program facilitated by Junior Achievement will help participating teams grow their initiatives.
“Through this regional program, Citi and Junior Achievement seek to ease the challenges that young people are facing when looking for job opportunities. We are supporting young people in becoming more competitive on the job market and even in growing their potential to create new jobs for themselves and for others”, Tibor Pandi, General Manager of Citi Romania, said.
“It has become very important to help young people understand that the old search and apply approach to securing a job no longer provides results as it used to. Now, the competitive advantage belongs to young people who can view their career as a business, considering who their market is, what benefits they are providing and what resources they can mobilize. Entrepreneurship education is the best tool to achieve this,” Stefania Popp, Junior Achievement Romania CEO said.
Students in Romania can join the program until November 17, 2014 on www.smartupchallenge.org 50 students will be selected to enter the National Innovation Challenge phase, to meet senior representatives of Citi and Junior Achievement during the “Young Innovators Day” on November 21, 2014. They will participate in three interactive workshops delivered by Junior Achievement and work together with Citi business mentors to develop their projects until March 2015. Projects can range from launching new businesses, growing existing ones or running specific projects that create workplaces.
Contact:
Lucian Grãmescu, Operations Manager, Junior Achievement Romania
E-mail: lucian.gramescu@jaromania.org
Phone: +40 726 734 271
Alexandra Oniceanu, Public Affairs Executive, Citi Romania
E-mail: alexandra.oniceanu@citi.com
Phone: +4021 2036768
Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
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Citi Foundation
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress in communities around the world and focuses on initiatives that expand financial inclusion. We collaborate with best-in-class partners to create measurable economic improvements that strengthen low-income families and communities. Through a "More than Philanthropy" approach, Citi's business resources and human capital enhance our philanthropic investments and impact. For more information, visit www.citifoundation.com.
Junior Achievement Romania, non-profit organisation, was founded in 1993 and is member of Junior Achievement Worldwide®, USA and Junior Achievement - Young Enterprise, Europe. JA is the largest and most dynamic international organization which provides economical and entrepreneurial education. In Romania, JA „learning by doing” programs are anually followed by 189.000 students from 1.200 schools and they take are implemented locally, in partnership with the Ministry of National Education and supported financially by the business community.
Citi Foundation Junior Achievement Partnership
In 2014, the Citi Foundation is investing $4.2MM in JA programs across 52 countries.
Citi and the Citi Foundation have long been one of JA’s strongest global supporters our contribution extends beyond financial support, to include: