“Your World, Your Business” campaign launched

JA-YE partners with European Commission
to inspire the responsible entrepreneurs of tomorrow

Brussels -  4th May 2009; Today, Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise Europe (JA-YE) and the European Commission launched the “Your World, Your Business” campaign to encourage young people to become the creative, dynamic and responsible entrepreneurs of the future.

The campaign will help young people to better understand the potential of enterprises and draw attention to the importance of social and environmental aspects of business. By reaching out to students and teachers across Europe, the initiative pursues European policy goals in the fields of corporate social responsibility and entrepreneurship education.

In today’s economic climate entrepreneurship is seen to play an increasingly important role for the European economy. Entrepreneurs convert ideas into economic successes and jobs and a healthy entrepreneurial environment is important for the longstanding health of an economy. According to the European Commission, some 23 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe provide 67% of total private employment, which corresponds to some 75 million jobs. 

“Your World. Your Business”

The “Your World. Your Business” campaign is centered around two videos that will be premiered in Brussels on 7^th May 2009 during SME week. One will profile four young European entrepreneurs[i] whose business models are commercially successful and based around social and environmental issues. This video is designed to be shown in the classroom. It will be distributed, together with a teacher’s guide, in all EU languages to thousands of European schools through the JA-YE network.

The second video has been produced for promotion and distribution on the web only. All the materials can be viewed at http://ec.europa.eu/your-world-your-business.

These materials are targeting an audience of young people aged 16-19, together with their teachers, who will have the opportunity to inspire their students to become the kind of entrepreneurs our society increasingly needs: creative, dynamic and passionate about the society and the environment.

“Learning to be entrepreneurs of the future goes hand in hand with a growing awareness of corporate responsibility,” said Caroline Jenner, CEO of JA-YE Europe “There should be no trade-off between achieving business performance and meeting environmental and social goals. The students who appear in these videos have shown not only great business sense, but also a desire to achieve something tangible for the community.”

HP Responsible Business Competition

In addition, “Your World. Your Business” aims to go one step further than the confines of schools and the classroom. Students participating in the initiative will be encouraged to submit their ideas to the JA-YE Europe and HP “Responsible Business Competition”. The competition encourages students to consider social and environmental responsibility as they build their own student enterprises. Students can submit their business ideas at http://www.responsible-business.org//europe/ to have a chance to win prizes and the title of “Best Responsible Business Idea”. The award will be given to the team or individual that best integrates strong financial performance, social responsibility, environmental excellence and innovation into their business ideas.

In the past three years, over 62,000 students have taken part in the Responsible Business Competition. The Austrian student company, Infotainment, who won the Responsible Business Award in 2008, will share their experiences of the competition with the audience at the launch event of the “Your World. Your Business” campaign on May 7th.

For more information, please visit: www.ec.europa.eu/your-world-your-business

Editorial Notes:

About JA-YE
JA-YE Europe (www.ja-ye.org) is Europe’s largest provider of enterprise education programmes, reaching 2.9 million students in 38 countries in 2008. Funded by businesses, institutions, foundations and individuals, JA-YE brings the public and private sectors together to provide young people in primary and secondary schools and early university with high-quality education programmes to teach them about enterprise, entrepreneurship, business and economics in a practical way. The JA-YE Company Programme is recognised by the European Commission Enterprise Directorate General as a ‘Best Practice in Entrepreneurship Education’. JA-YE Europe is the European headquarters for JA Worldwide.

About HP

HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/

Editorial contacts:

Stephanie McNair
Tel: +32 2741 62 06
smcnair@hillandknowlton.com

Diana Filip
JA-YE
Tel: +32 2 626 6174
Mobile: +32 485 125 969
diana@ja-ye.org