Blog

Helping Romanian students become entrepreneurs

Mihaela VASILE, Corporate Engagement & Government Affairs Manager for Monsanto Romania

For the second year in a row, as Corporate Engagement & Government Relations Manager for Monsanto in Romania, I successfully supported our team to mentor more than 600 students from around the country. This was made possible by Monsanto’s partnership with the Junior Achievement (JA) Award — Europe’s largest provider of education programmes for entrepreneurship.

Preparing children to be engaged and responsible global citizens

Armando Persico, Teacher in Italy

I have a dream... to improve the teaching profession and offer apprenticeship and entrepreneurship opportunities to all students.

As a coordinator of the Italian version of the ‘dual system apprenticeship’ model, I introduced the first Italian vocational ‘management’ path. This is an exciting challenge for the Ikaros Foundation vocational schools where I work. My role is to coordinate 250 younger colleagues (regardless of their subjects) and introduce them to teaching entrepreneurship and providing training.

Partnering to Build Financially Confident and Entrepreneurial Youth

Dirk Ostijn, Head, Western & Central Europe Sub-Region, MetLife

In 2013, MetLife Foundation, the philanthropic arm of MetLife, launched financial inclusion as its global focus. Simply put, the Foundation is working with partners in both developing and developed economies to expand and improve financial services to help low- and moderate-income people build better, more secure lives.  

Science and engineering aren’t boring - boring programs are

Nikolaas Baeckelmans, Vice President EU Affairs, ExxonMobil

Recently appointed as member of JA Europe’s Board of Directors, I am proud to represent ExxonMobil in its quest to foster a diverse workforce of highly talented individuals. ExxonMobil is a global company with more than 70,000 employees, most of them scientists and engineers as the energy sector is extremely high-tech.

Financial Education and the Digital Future

Nicolas Huss, CEO Visa Europe

Amsterdam was recently the focal point for the world of financial literacy. Two major events took place there. These attracted royalty, politicians, academics and business people, like myself. All joined the debate on how to teach young people to be financially resilient.

I joined the board of Junior Achievement Europe at one of those events, the organisation’s annual general meeting. My motivation is simple. I've participated in its programmes before. I've seen the benefits to students and volunteers. And, I want to help it tackle the digital future. More on that below.