Students suggest solutions for the improvement of well-being and mental health

8TH ANNUAL JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT CYPRUS INNOVATION CAMP ‘EVOLVE’

For the eighth consecutive year, Junior Achievement Cyprus hosted the Innovation Camp, on Tuesday, 14 December 2021. The one-day Innovation Camp ‘Evolve’ encouraged students to use their skills in enterprising and innovative ways, fostering their employability and entrepreneurial flair in the process.

The participants were made up from both Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot backgrounds, aged between 15 and 18, from private high schools from all over Cyprus. Students had the opportunity to come together in groups of 3-4 people and collaborate to suggest an innovative idea towards a business challenge that was given on their arrival at the premises. The participants were asked to develop an innovative product, service, or solution to improve the well-being and mental health of people, especially those that were mostly affected during the pandemic.
Students had only a few hours to collaborate with other students they had not met before and to collectively shape their ideas. At the end of the day, all teams presented their solutions to a panel of successful and experienced entrepreneurs.

The winners of the seventh Bi-Communal Innovation Camp are:

1st Place: ‘PAM TV-A Social Enterprise’ – The company proposes a high-tech TV, with a microphone and camera installed, which will allow direct contact with specialists (such as doctors, nutritionists, psychologists), group entertainment, distance learning, etc. Essentially, it will serve the needs of the population that has affected by the pandemic and need more communication.
The team consists of: Alara Soysan (Levent College), Εleni Kouriefs (ΙΜS Limassol), Chen He (International School of Pafos).

2nd Place: ‘Amigo App’ – The company will promote an application through which consulting and support services will be provided by experts.
The team consists of: Orr Rubin (Heritage Private School), Umut Kürşad (Levent College), Ziyue Tao (Foley’s School), Sezin Efendi (Ted College).

3rd Place: ‘Adapt’ – An application that suggests activities and methods of personal development in order to improve the standard of life of users.
The team consists of: Pelagia Andreou (The Junior and Senior School), Maxim Serov (Pascal), Elina Josephides (Heritage Private School), Ali Polar (Necat).

Prizes
The award for the winning team was presented by Denise Jobin Welch, Public Relations Officer of the US Embassy. The team will travel to the United States to attend an entrepreneurship program this Summer. The awards for the 2nd and 3rd place were awarded by the University of Nicosia and Astrobank respectively, partners of the Organization since 2014.

In his statement, the Chairman of the Board of Junior Achievement Mr. Andreas Papadopoulos stated:
‘Our young people need to be empowered with opportunities such as today, where they can develop their critical thinking, express their creativity and build their communication skills. In this way, they will develop the skills needed to be properly prepared for their future integration into the labor market.’

The event was supported by the United States Embassy in Nicosia.

JA Cyprus (www.jacyprus.org) is a member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, a global non-profit organization specialized in youth entrepreneurship education, that aims in equipping young people with entrepreneurial, financial literacy and work readiness skills.

The organisation is supported by:
Strategic Partner: PwC Cyprus, LIDL Cyprus
Partners: Astrobank, Bank Association, Novartis, ASBIS
Supporters: University of Nicosia, ExxonMobil

For more information visit the JA Cyprus website (www.jacyprus.org) or contact Emily Sotiriou on 97-715909 or via email at emily.sotiriou@jacyprus.org