Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot students travel to Austria to participate in a European Entrepreneurship Competition
10th INNOVATION CAMP OF JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT CYPRUS
For the tenth consecutive year, Junior Achievement Cyprus hosted the Bi-communal Innovation Day, on Friday, 15 December 2023 at the premises of POED (Nicosia). The main objective of organizing this student event was to encourage entrepreneurship among students and provide them with the tools they need to develop skills in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation. These skills emerge as critical to their success in further education and careers in the labour market.
In this year’s competition, 94 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot students, aged between 15 and 18, attending private schools from all over Cyprus, accompanied by their teachers, took part. Having formed teams of 5-6 people, they collaborated and attempted to solve the business challenge that was revealed to them on the same day: The participants were asked to find the main aspects and parameters in order to create a fully sustainable food industry and design their business ensuring that all activities are aligned with the principles of the circular economy.
The students had only a few hours to work collaboratively with other students they had not met before, and come up with an innovative product, service or solution that can be applied in the case of Cyprus and internationally. At the end of the day, all groups presented their proposals to a special committee of experts, consisting of Ben Rawlings (British High Commission), Sofia Hasikou (ECOMMBX), Serdar Atai (MASDER), Turkan Fikretler (METGIN Ltd), Youlika Antoniades (Capacitor Partners) and Styliani Petroudi (CYENS).
The winning teams of the Innovation Day are:
1st Place: ‘SAVEATS’ The company proposes an app that uniquely bridges the gap between consumers and food retailers, offering a platform for buying food at significantly reduced prices. The team consists of: Alara Alyn Saruhan (English Schol of Kerynia), Clara Leonie Haan (TLC Private School Paphos), Asya Beyaz (Levent College), Charalambos Stylianou (The English School Nicosia), Anastasia Hadjigiannakou (Greek School Pascal Nicosia) and Jack Kotecha (International School of Paphos).
2nd Place: ‘FruitPlus – The company proposes recycling fruit peels and rinds into eligible sweets and treats. Turning discarded peels into an edible product, such as candied citrus peels or pastries with fruit peels, chewing gum or syrups, reduces the burden on garbage dumps and exploits the nutritional benefits offered by these peels. The team consists of: Olcay Çangar Erin (Levent College), Stephanie Sotiriou (The G C School of Careers), Stalena Nikolaou (Heritage Private School), William Grochocki (TLC Private School Paphos) and Dora Beyaz (Necat British College).
3rd Place: ‘ULTRA-WASTELESS’ – The company aims to minimize food waste by creating AI-Powered sensors mounted on sliding containers that facilitate access to food. The team consists of: Emir Ergun (English School of Kyrenia), Emre Ertepinar (Necat British College), Alexander Agroskin (International School of Paphos), Sezgin Efendi (Ted College) and Katerina Pavlou (Pascal Private Greek School).
Awards
The winning team award was offered by ExxonMobil and presented by Louisa Papageorgiou, Public and Government Affairs Advisor of ExxonMobil. The team will be offered an entrepreneurial experience in Vienna, organised by Junior Achievement Austria, that will further develop their entrepreneurial and circular economy skills.
The 2nd and 3rd place prizes were awarded by the British High Commission and ECOMMBX respectively. The awards consist of educational experiences for students at the companies’ offices.
JA Cyprus would like to express its appreciation to the mentors-volunteers from the business world who supported the teams: Marina Vasilara and Mustafa Ongun from UNFICYP, Luke Gibbon, Marios Siammas and Andreas Riris from the British High Commission and Avramis Despotis, Secondary Education Teacher.
Special thanks to Elisa Bosio, Head of Rankings Administration at the Research and Innovation Department of the University of Nicosia for the important information she provided to students about the challenge.
During the camp, a teacher training and workshop on the subject of Social Entrepreneurship was offered by Andri Kyriakou, Senior Officer at the Synthesis Research and Education Center.
The event is supported by the British High Commission.
For more information visit our website www.jacyprus.org or contact Emily Sotiriou at 97-715909 and email emily.sotiriou@jacyprus.org
