JA Alumni Heroes Tackling COVID-19 – Third Edition

July 6, 2020

We’re excited to share two more stories of incredible JA alumni using their entrepreneurial skills to help those in need and inspire others during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can also read the previous inspiring stories here and here.

#CharityPrints: Photographs for charity

For a long time, Damir thought that having an impact meant doing something big, something more than what he believed an individual could do. “Even though I thought of myself as a pretty big-thinking and open-minded person,” he said, “there were still some self-imposed limitations inside of me.”

With the appearance of the coronavirus and the heartbreaking damage it has caused all over the world, Damir’s perspective widened. As people he knew from the JA network, including alumni entrepreneurs and speakers from local and global events, started to fight the virus and do very different things to do so, Damir realized every impact, whether big or small, was still an impact. Damir remembered Florian Gschwandtner’s words from the first-ever Global JA Alumni Conference in Vienna in 2019: "A baby shark is still a f******g shark." The same goes for impact: small impact is still impact. 

Damir thought of ways to take what he had, what he knew, and what he was good at, and turn them into an action that can have an impact, especially to help people in need in this specific situation. “That’s why I started #charityprints,” Damir said. “Being a photographer, I decided to start selling the photos that I’ve taken as prints, take all the money form sales, and donate it to organizations that know better than you and I do where and who needs it most. By selling my prints directly to my friends, followers, and family through Instagram, I was able to avoid fees from payment middlemen like stripe or Paypal and donate as much as possible.”

An avid traveler, Damir posted an array of his favorite photos from Moscow, the Dolomites, and Indonesia directly to his Instagram feed and stories. He then recorded a brief video explaining his motivation behind the sales. “I created a very simple mockup of these photos in Photoshop, based on an image I found on Unsplash.com,” Damir said. “If someone is interested in buying a print, they usually message me directly on Instagram and, once paid, I set up an order on one of my trusted printing pages and they ship the prints first to my place, where I sign the print and then deliver it either myself if the person that bought it is in proximity, meaning Luxembourg or Brussels, or I ship them in case someone from a different place buys one. So far, together, we were able to raise over €800!” 

Aside from the monetary donation, many of Damir’s friends messaged his with words of encouragement and support. Some even felt inspired to directly donate as well. “Someone telling you that you genuinely helped them either become a better person, do something great, or simply made them happy, is, at least for me, one of the most fulfilling feelings ever,” Damir said. “I hope that throughout my journey I’ll be able to spread even more of my message and help people.” Damir also said this same feeling was sparked two years ago when he attended the JA Europe Company of the Year Competition 2018: “I am beyond grateful to be part of such an inspiring network of truly unique and impacting individuals.”

Connect with Damir on Gather

Helping digitize small businesses and grocery stores

Cecilia’s JA journey began in 2017, when she began preparing for the JAYE Malta 2018 national competition. Cecilia and her team created TimeNinja, a mobile app that uses gamification to help students focus on their studies and manage their time. They won the competition and went on to represent Malta at the  2018 JA Europe Enterprise Competition in Latvia.

In September 2019, after being accepted in a funded accelerator, Cecilia quit her job to work full time on TimeNinja. They launched one month later, in October, to a group of students, who provided feedback and the company began to add features.

When COVID-19 hit Europe, Cecilia and her business partner wanted to help. “We noticed that a lot of grocery shops in Malta started offering delivery services but didn't have a website to sell their products,” Cecilia said. “We decided to build an online marketplace for grocery shops to sell their products online for free. During our work on that concept, we noticed a big gap in the B2B market. Importers and distributors were more interested in our work than the shops themselves.” As a result, they decided to pivot to connect suppliers and shops through a B2B platform. “We are now in the process of building the MVP to solve process inefficiencies and digitalize the B2B landscape.”

Cecilia has really enjoyed her entrepreneurial journey thus far. “When I was a child, I always worried that I wouldn't pick the right career,” she said. “When I went to university, I ended up studying medicine, physics, and computing, and in the end, I became an entrepreneur. I love being able to find a problem, imagine a solution and then build and sell that solution. I get to do a bit of everything, and I get to do it the way I want to do it. Plus, I get to manage my days however I want, which is great. Despite the high risk, large amount of work and big sacrifices that are made, I don't see myself doing anything else.”  

Connect with Cecilia on Gather

Special thanks to JA Alumni Europe for providing these inspiring JA alumni stories.