Junior Achievement South Africa Hosts
7th Annual Africa Company of the Year Competition
Johannesburg, South Africa
JA (Junior Achievement) South Africa is pleased to announce that it will be hosting the Regional Company of the Year Competition 2017, in collaboration with JA Africa. The event will take place from 6-8 December 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Company of the Year (COY) competition is an annual event and the culmination of JA’s highly- acclaimed Company Program which delivers entrepreneurship education to high school youth across Africa.
Africa is not creating as many jobs as it is graduating students, and JA believes in presenting entrepreneurship to youth as a viable option for livelihoods through self-employment. By introducing entrepreneurship early in the academic careers of students, they receive the tools and skills they need to be successful, whether circumstances force them to this option or they pursue it by choice.
Currently being taught to more than 500,000 young people a year globally, the JA Company Program teaches students how to start and run their own businesses and develop and market a product or service with coaching and mentorship from a local volunteer from the business community. Students compete at the national level in each of their countries and the winners go on to represent their countries at the Africa regional competition. There, they demonstrate their business acumen and spirit of entrepreneurship in a competitive environment which engages business, education and policy leaders as well as the media.
This year, more than 40 student entrepreneurs from across Africa will attend the event. Delegations will represent Botswana, Gabon, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Students will compete for prizes by pitching and presenting their products to a panel of judges composed of business professionals and influencers from across South Africa. The theme for this year’s event is “Innovate, Create, Be Great” and the Keynote Speaker is Lebogang Chaka, CEO of AfroVisionary Legacy.
This year’s sponsors are FedEx, Citi Foundation, Oliver Wyman, Delta Air Lines, the official airline of the Company of the Year Competition, Facebook, Marketo, Rogers Capital, African Leadership Academy and Afrovisionary Legacy who, through their sponsorship, demonstrate a commitment to youth economic empowerment and entrepreneurship education in Africa. Each young competitor represents thousands of others across Africa receiving entrepreneurship training, mentoring and access to capital that will transform their financial situations and improve the wellbeing of their families and communities.
About JA Africa:
JA Africa is a member of JA Worldwide, one of the largest global organizations focused on the economic empowerment of youth. JA activates youth for the future of jobs through the delivery of in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship training. JA Africa reaches over 230,000 young people in 14 countries in Africa each year. Visit www.ja-africa.org
About FedEx Corp.:
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $61 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 400,000 team members to remain “absolutely, positively” focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. To learn more about how FedEx connects people and possibilities around the world, please visit about.fedex.com.
About Citi Foundation:
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. Citi invests in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyze job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant cities. The Citi Foundation’s “More than Philanthropy” approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfill its mission and drive thought leadership and innovation. Visit www.citifoundation.com/citi/foundation
About Oliver Wyman:
Oliver Wyman is a leading global management consulting firm that combines deep industry knowledge and expertise, with close partnerships and relationships. Oliver Wyman guides its clients through their thorniest business issues, from strategy to organizational effectiveness to the digital revolution using deep industry specialization and world-class expertise and profound thought leadership. Visit www.oliverwyman.com
About Delta Air Lines:
Delta Air Lines serves more than 180 million customers each year. In 2017, Delta was named to Fortune’s top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the sixth time in seven years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented six consecutive years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 306 destinations in 52 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs more than 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry’s leading transatlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, São Paulo, Seattle, Seoul, and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, and Facebook.com/delta.
About Facebook:
Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.
About Marketo:
Marketo, Inc., offers the leading Engagement Platform that empowers marketers to create lasting relationships and grow revenue. Consistently recognized as the industry’s innovation pioneer, Marketo is the trusted platform for thousands of CMOs thanks to its scalability, reliability, and openness. Marketo is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, with offices around the world, and serves as a strategic partner to large enterprise and fast-growing organizations across a wide variety of industries. To learn more about the Marketo Engagement Platform, LaunchPoint® partner ecosystem, and the vast community that is the Marketing Nation®, visit www.marketo.com.
About Rogers Capital:
Roger’s Capital’s common purpose is to combine world-class financial expertise with cutting edge technology to provide sophisticated solutions to businesses, institutions and individuals in their evolution towards a better tomorrow. Rogers Capital, believes that by blending the expertise of three business segments, corporate services, technology services and financial services, they can paint a bigger picture while using the power of technology to change the financial and business industry, making it more agile, efficient, and trustworthy. Visit www.rogerscapital.mu
About African Leadership Academy
African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by developing a powerful network of entrepreneurial leaders who will work together to address Africa’s greatest challenges, achieve extraordinary social impact and accelerate the continent’s growth trajectory. Each year, ALA brings together the most promising young leaders from across the continent for a pre-university program in South Africa with a focus on Entrepreneurial Leadership and African Studies. ALA continues to cultivate these leaders throughout their lives, in university and beyond, by providing on-going leadership and entrepreneurial training and connecting them to high-impact networks of people and capital that can help to catalyse large-scale change. For more information, visit http://
About Afrovisionary Legacy:
Afrovisionary Legacy is a boutique management consulting firm perfectly positioned, staffed and skilled to assist its clients across the globe. Afrovisionary Legacy renders services in Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, Australia and Dubai.
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