The Square, Brussels, 26^th April 2012

JADE was invited to the 10^th European Business Summit as a supporter of the event that took place on the 26^th April 2012. With a main focus on "How can skills get Europe out of the crisis", the event successfully gathered top companies' executives, EU policy makers and NGOs such as JADE to discuss how matching the right skills with the right jobs is one of the keys to a sustainable economic growth for the EU.

Plenary sessions hosted keynote speeches by political and business leaders such as the Presidents of the European Parliament and the European Council, the Prime Ministers of Belgium and Italy, the COO of Accenture, and the President of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) who highlighted the increasing gap between businesses requirements and education, as well as the necessity for Europe to activate and encourage entrepreneurial initiatives

According to a study conducted by Accenture and the FEB, 86% of EU employers have decreased or frozen their budget for training and skill enhancement programs despite the increasing shortage of qualified workforce. This paradox, linked with the wide unused talent pool in Europe, shows that appropriate actions to reflate growth and fight unemployment have to be taken jointly by both EU politics and business leaders.

JADE attended the conferences that followed and engaged active networking with EU decision makers and top corporate executives so as to explain how Junior Enterprises embody concrete gateways between academic education and the labour market by fostering youth entrepreneurship and giving students an opportunity to set foot in the workplace at an early stage.

Several MEPs and members of the European Commission, such as the Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, Diego Canga Fano, as well companies like HP, 3M and Huawei showed vivid interest in the Junior Enterprise initiative and may take part in future JADE meetings.

Committee of the Regions, Wednesday, 18^th April 2012.

JADE, along with EASPD and Eurochambres’ Woman Network, was invited to be a guest speaker at the 2^nd Enspire EU networking meeting, a project established by the European Union to develop entrepreneurial inspiration for the EU. Several professionals and representatives from European regions, communities and organisations were gathered to exchange ideas and best practices with regards to the enhancement of entrepreneurship across the European Union. With a focus on disadvantaged, discouraged and disconnected communities, these Enspire EU partners presented their projects and shared examples of cooperation to make Europe’s economy more competitive through inspiring people to become entrepreneurs.

The event was an opportunity for JADE’s Secretary General, Inés Bultó, to present the Junior Enterprise’s “learning by doing” concept through the concrete example of a successful Belgian Junior Enterprise. She mentioned that according to a research carried out by the European Commission in 2011, 25% of Junior Entrepreneurs create their own company, compared to 10% of students in higher education that do not receive any kind of entrepreneurship education.

Ms. Bulto also tackled with JADE’s main goals, as to represent the European movement of Junior Enterprises and to develop its members professionally by providing them with a structure that enables them to create career and international networking opportunities. She then stated its will to develop Junior Enterprises across the world by giving figures that revealed an ever growing movement that even hit land in the US, South Africa and Asia.

Ms. Bultó concluded by expressing the role of the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises in fostering entrepreneurship among European youth by showing that basic practices at Junior Enterprises such as practical experience and teaching others are the most effective ways of developing entrepreneurial skills for the leaders of tomorrow.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Brussels, 8th-11th March 2012

Around 350 people had the opportunity to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of JADE during the JADE Spring Meeting, the first JADE event of the year 2012. This international conference, on the topic of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, took place in the capital of Europe from 8th to 11th March and gathered students from over 38 nationalities, representatives of the European Commission and senior executives from big corporations among others.

The four-day meeting was open by a ceremony at HUBrussel in which JADE Alumni presented the story of JADE and the representatives of all JADE members explained, in the most original ways, the reasons why the Junior Entrepreneurs from their country were willing to attend the event. The Opening Ceremony was followed by an extremely interesting key-note speech on entrepreneurship delivered by Ashok Rao, Chairman of TiE Global, which main goal is to foster entrepreneurship globally.

Another highlight of the congress was the ceremony that took place at the European Parliament, during which Peter Teirlinck, Innovation Academic from HUBrussel and Steve Duggan, Senior Executive at Microsoft delivered a speech.

Furthermore, Marko Curavić, Head of Entrepreneurship of DG Enterprise and Industry from the European Commission, mentioned during his key-note speech the results of an Entrepreneurship Education research carried out in Europe that show that Junior Entrepreneurs are more likely to find a job, as well as to create their own company.

78% of Junior Entrepreneurs find a job right away after finishing their studies compared to 59% of the students who haven’t done any kind of Entrepreneurship Education.

Furthermore, the Chairman of IBM Europe, the Head of the Innovation Community of Bayer Material Science and the Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES were some of the guest speakers who participated in the Panel Discussion on Innovation and Entrepreneurship that was moderated by the Vice-President of JADE, Simona Lascu.

During the conference, all participants had the chance to take part in over 23 workshops on business development and soft skills provided by entrepreneurs, independent trainers and multinational companies such as Microsoft, IBM and Accenture.

Moreover, this year’s event offered the possibility to the Junior Entrepreneurs who are already planning to become entrepreneurs in the near future to pitch their business idea in front of a panel of industry experts.

Additionally, the JADE Spring Meeting provided an excellent framework to enable the Junior Entrepreneurs to network not only with business men but also with other Junior Enterprises’ members, in order to exchange best practices and to discuss potential partnerships.

More particularly, the Excellence Awards offered the opportunity to eight Junior Enterprises from all around Europe, to present their activities and to showcase their best practices to the network. This year’s Awards were divided in four main categories: Most Entrepreneurial Junior Enterprise, Most International Junior Enterprise, Most Innovative and Creative Project and Most Socially Responsible Junior Enterprise.

Marketing Méditerranée: Most International JE

In Marketing Méditerranée we consider the Excellence Award Competition as a real challenge as well as a great opportunity to share experiences with other Junior Enterprises. Being a dynamic actor in this network is a good way to improve our professional and personal skills. Participating in those awards enables us to go further in our projects and ideas, developing them concretely. Getting involved in sustainable development, internationalization, being an entrepreneur and working on projects encourage us to improve our whole structure. Moreover, winning such prizes allow us in being recognized by our school and our clients. It represents an essential advantage in business and for our future development. Every Junior Enterprise should experience it!

ESCadrille: Most Socially Responsible JE 

ESCadrille Toulouse Junior Conseil applied to the Excellence Awards since we wanted to share what is implemented in our structure as regards sustainable and socially responsible practices. It was also a good opportunity for us to find out about what other Junior Enterprises do. We are convinced that winning the Most Socially Responsible award will help us develop the activity of our Green Business Unit as well as raise CSR awareness among our team but also among our clients. Furthermore, this title will now be an official guarantee for our clients, and an additional stimulator for us.

Finally, when you write such a report, it gives you the chance to think of all you do. It puts it all into perspective, and you then realize what more you could do to go even further in these actions. This process is really useful so as to set new objectives and strategies.

That is why we highly advise other Junior Enterprise to apply!

LSM Conseil: Most Entrepreneurial JE

This past year had been full of massive changes and incredible new projects but we had never really stopped for an instant to ponder and evaluate our progress. Just like climbing a mountain, our adventure was enjoyable yet challenging hard work. However, the real pleasure comes when one stops to admire the view. Preparing these awards was just like that small well-earned break and a great exercise to see where we stood after so many hectic months.

JEst: Most Innovative and Creative Project

Winning the award was splendid and has boosted our morale as well as credibility, bolstering the team to climb ever greater peaks. We wish to thank everyone for their support and hard work that has led to this moment; it wouldn't have been possible without you!

We would also like to encourage all the small entrepreneurial Junior Enterprises to apply to next year’s Excellence Awards as it is not because you are not a big European actor that you don’t have any opportunity to win!