Meet the 2019 JA Network Awards Nominees—and Winners!

November 21, 2019

The winners of the 2019 JA Awards were announced at the gala dinner following the 2019 GLC in Berlin, Germany, tonight. Read about each of the nominees, find out who won, and learn what makes them such incredible assets to the JA network.

The JA Activator Award

The JA Activator Award recognizes a member nation, U.S. area, or regional operating center’s proven willingness to activate programs and ideas developed by others within JA. This award celebrates one of the most important characteristics of good leadership: the willingness to learn from others and execute someone else’s ideas that are not your own. The nominees are . . .

JA Nigeria

In 2018, JA Africa introduced Money Bee to JA Nigeria. In 2019, JA Nigeria’s Board Members decided that in addition to conducting Financial Literacy Day activities, the organization should offer some sort of quiz competition to measure students’ learning in those programs; thus, Moniepedia and the Money Bee were born.

Over 2,000 students from over 100 schools across the country participated in the Moniepedia and the Money Bee competitions. The event garnered so much attention that officials from two new state governments (Kano and Ekiti) reached out to JA Nigeria to find out how to bring the JA programs to their states. EFInA, a large financial literacy organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has also reached out to JAN to find out how to partner with us to implement Money Bee competitions and other JA financial literacy programs across the country.

This project serves as an excellent example of fulfilling the mission of JA, as it opened the minds of the participants and broadened their knowledge of finance, which in turn sets them on the right path with the tools to succeed in a global economy. Congratulations to JA Nigeria for this impressive accomplishment!

JA Romania – Winner

Since its founding in 1993, JA Romania has grown continuously, expanding its activities to reach over 686 towns and developing the largest school and university entrepreneurial education program in Romania. The programs are developed through a formal partnership with the Ministry of Education and with the financial support of the business community.

Delivering JA programs to such a large number of students poses unique challenges for JA Romania, from logistics for materials delivery to budget constraints. Program improvement is important, and direct, unbiased, quantifiable feedback for every program, for every resource, from every student is hard to obtain and to analyze without technology.

In 2017, JA Romania joined the JA Inspire™ Global LMS Pilot with the aim of collaborating with other JA locations in order to provide JA students in Romania with the most relevant resources and learning experiences available in the JA network and improve the quality and inclusion for program delivery. JA Romania began translating and localizing the JA Blended programs available in the platform and upgrading its locally developed programs for digital use. Shortly after, JA Romania began creating its own courses on the LMS. These courses became so successful that teachers asked thousands of students to enroll.

JA Romania saw a significant increase in student enrolment in the new course—ABCdar Bancar—in 2019 compared to other courses, while costs remained level for the organization. However, increased targets meant more access to funding and resources. This meant for us not only a modern approach to education, using technology and operational efficiency in terms of program growth, but a quick response to the new requests from funders: use of technology in schools and blended learning.

JA Philippines

In 2016, Pru Life UK and JA Philippines embarked on the promotion of the Cha-Ching, a financial education program designed to teach money-smart skills in children. With the support of the Prudence Foundation and JA Asia Pacific, JA Philippines set out to educate 40,000 elementary students in the country. In 2018, enrolment in the program had doubled the first year’s target, reaching 80,000 children, primarily in the provinces of Negros Occidental and Palawan. JA Philippines now looks to nearly triple the number in its fifth year, aiming to reach 150,000 students.

Evaluation results from teacher and student surveys show favorable responses to the curriculum, with 92 percent of student respondents nationwide rating it as “great” or “good” and 93 percent agreeing that Cha-Ching made school more interesting. Additionally, 100 percent of teachers surveyed responded that they had a great overall experience participating in the program. They also agreed that the teaching materials are excellent and said they would recommend the curriculum to their colleagues.

JA Italy

JA Italy has joined forces with UNICEF to support young migrants and refugees who arrived in Italy unaccompanied to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills and facilitate their integration into Italian society.

Over the past three years, Italy and Europe have experienced an unprecedented influx of migrants and refugees. According to the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 45,000 unaccompanied minors have arrived in Italy since 2015. As of January 31, 2019, 14,939 unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) have been registered in the Italian reception system, with an additional 4,332 estimated to have arrived outside of the formal system. Most UASC stay several months in reception centers before they can receive their documents. This influx entails challenges in terms of literacy and other skills sets as many of these young people come from countries where school completion and achievement rates are low; furthermore, many UASC will have missed out on schooling for months prior to arriving in Italy.

Ideas in Action for UPSHIFT puts young migrants and refugees in contact with Italian students and the local business community. These contacts increase UASC’s sense of belonging in their host society by fostering their entrepreneurial skills and helping them create their own businesses.

The impact of the interventions is being documented and evaluated for potential scale as a pivotal response in other affected communities. It is hoped that the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and/or Ministry of Education will be able to adopt the program as a sustainable model of support. As of today, the program is running well and organizers see great potential to scale it up to include many more young migrants across Italy as well as other countries in Europe facing the same challenges, including Greece, Spain, Malta, France, Germany, and Sweden.

INJAZ Kuwait

In 2018, INJAZ Kuwait created a new three-year strategy: make INJAZ the preferred youth-empowerment partner in Kuwait by 2021 by focusing its efforts into three main concepts— efficiency, growth, and relationships.

In previous years, INJAZ Kuwait was top-heavy, employing several highly paid managers and fewer entry-level coordinators. This changed in 2018. The organization now has 21 employees, the most talent it has ever had, yet the cost of maintaining them is much less.

At one time, program materials were stored in an offsite storage unit. Keeping track of inventory was hard. In 2018, INJAZ Kuwait moved to a new office and rented part of the building’s basement as a storage area, which now also hosts all program materials. Having the materials close by helped employees keep track of inventory and avoid printing excess materials they didn’t need. INJAZ Kuwait also began recycling printed materials after each session and used technology and the LMS whenever it could to deliver programs. This ultimately resulted in a program cost reduction of 50 percent. During the 2018–2019 academic year, Google, Inc. approached regional office INJAZ Al-Arab to collaborate on their program Google Skills at the regional level. The one-day workshop included 10 countries in the region. This collaboration increased INJAZ Kuwait’s targets by an additional 21.5 percent, increasing student reach from 16,223 to 19,723 students in the 2018–2019 academic year. This initiative is helping INJAZ Al-Arab get closer to achieving its goal of reaching 1 million students in 2022.

JA Europe

The Entrepreneurial Skills Pass (ESP) is a microcredential that measures impact, serves as an assessment for teachers, and is living proof of JA member nations’ open-mindedness and willingness to take on innovations developed within the network, as well as take it to the next level.

Started in 2014 as a group effort of ten European JA organizations, the ESP has become the biggest cross-border project ever seen in the European network with 28 countries involved in the current school year. The ESP has not gone unnoticed outside Europe, either. With pilots held in different regions, several organizations have either started or demonstrated interest in using it in their geographies. The ESP is truly going global.

The ESP is a key priority for the member nations that are using it, as it brings gains in several dimensions, including new fundraising opportunities. The ESP can generate considerable additional revenue for the network as well as allow JA locations to explore innovative partnerships not previously explored, such as research, further opportunities for students, and technology.

INJAZ Bahrain

INJAZ has always been a pioneer of its unique initiatives, willing to go beyond the normal course of business. In that spirit, INJAZ Bahrain has embarked on a five-year strategy to grow and double its reach by exploring a more robust operating model with a solid funding stream while seeking and implementing cost-optimization initiatives.  

Over the past year, INJAZ Bahrain has partnered regionally and globally to embark on strategic initiatives that will transform the way it operates and delivers programs, and the way it leverages existing and evolving success stories from around the world. The regional strategy has always encouraged the use of digital tools and means to reach a larger number of students. INJAZ Bahrain had spent the last two years studying and exploring suitable tolls that would match the market needs and be suitable for schools and students to implement.

With the support of INJAZ Bahrain Board, INJAZ Bahrain has embarked endeavors to because the first country in MENA to roll out the ESP; have one single operation system (Enterprise Resource Management [ERP]) to handle HR, accounting, and donor and data management; digitize the Our Families and Head Start programs for the LMS for immediate use by students; and implement the Remark OMR for collating pre-post surveys through bulk scanning. 

JA Brazil

JA Brazil has a wide reach in South America with a network of 27 offices across the country through which they have presence almost in every state in the country. Although JA Brazil has previously struggled ups and down, it has overcome those situations under the guidance and leadership of Bety Tichauer, executive director since 2017.

JA Brazil as a whole exhibits openness, flexibility, and vision throughout different aspects and projects, continuing to be relevant for Brazilian youth and stakeholders while remaining aligned with the regional strategy for the future of the organization.

In 2018, IT and communications company Almaviva do Brazil approached JA Brazil to challenge the organization to help with youth training. The main objective was to prepare young Brazilians so they could successfully navigate job interviews and other professional opportunities with Almaviva. This cooperation between JA Brazil and Almaviva is only one of JA Brazil’s efforts dedicated to improving unemployment rates in the region, but it is certainly an important and effective one.

JA of Greater Washington

JA of Greater Washington’s programmatic approach is driven by its strategic partnerships with three of the nation’s largest and highest-achieving school districts. Built on trust developed over years of programmatic engagement, it has developed contractual partnerships with three school districts engaging every student in each system at least once. This position prompted the organization to seek opportunities to leverage those partnerships in order to make a deeper impact on the individual students it serves.

In pursuing a more rigorous pathway to engage these students, JA of Greater Washington identified one area of growth that required immediate investment in innovation: the goal of building deep and rigorous entrepreneurship experiences for local students.

This vision and localization of national and international best practices have gained recognition for JA of Greater Washington: many national offices regularly reach out to request resources and its education leadership now serves on JA USA’s Entrepreneurship Pathway working group. The local Washington school systems have engaged in innovative entrepreneurship work with JA and are actively working to expand efficiently, utilizing the reach and demand of the school systems and JA’s resources and program expertise.

JA of Greater Washington is grateful for the spirit of collaboration that JA fosters and its staff is eager to continue spreading JA programs.

JA Colombia

JA Colombia has been hard at work adopting and adapting programs from fellow JA locations to fit the needs of people in Colombia. The Women for Development (W4D) program was first developed by colleagues at JA Paraguay-Fundación Paraguaya in 2010. The W4D aims to empower low- or zero-income households, vulnerable women who have with business ideas, and enable women to create and/or develop their own businesses, formalize them, and achieve sustainability in order to reach self-sufficiency, support their own families, and in time provide employment. These are mostly single women 15 to 55 years old. To date, the program has reached and certified 1,205 vulnerable women, enabling them to create or formalize businesses and provide employment to family members and others in their communities, and become self-sustaining.

The KEY program was originally developed by Young Enterprise of Northern Ireland, which provided personal training to JA Colombia CEO Fernando Loaiza, who brought the program to Colombia, adapted it to fit the country’s needs, and implemented it in 2015 with funding and volunteer support from Exxon Mobil. The KEY program initially benefited vulnerable 15- to 17-year-old students, 82 percent of which have been able to pursue higher education. An independent third-party survey of program participants showed a clear positive attitude change among participants toward life and business as a result of the program.

GREENT is the newest collaborative project for JA Colombia to embark on. In collaboration with JA Bulgaria, the two locations are working to update and adapt the GREENT blending-learning methodology for teachers and young green entrepreneurs in Latin America.

JA Colombia considers that the above instances meet this award´s criteria by demonstrating that they do promote the mission of JA Worldwide, as well as positive and tangible outcomes in the areas of resource generation and program growth.

The JA Collaboration Award

The JA Collaboration Award recognizes member nations, U.S. areas, and regional operating centers that champion collaborative projects between and among nations, areas, and regions and encourage worldwide cooperation through projects that promote fundraising initiatives, operational efficiency, and program reach. The winning project must demonstrate that it promotes the mission of JA Worldwide, as well as positive and tangible outcomes in the areas of resource generation, operational efficiency, or program growth. The nominees are . . .

JA Azerbaijan and JA Estonia – Winner

JA Azerbaijan faced many challenges from August 2014 to May 2018. Due to political restrictions and reforms, local NGOs struggled to get funding from international organizations, and many found their bank accounts blocked. In order to restart operations and unblock financial resources, the government required each project to be registered at the Ministry of Justice. In parallel, the Ministry of Justice declared its intention to reform existing legislation for NGOs in the country. During this review, NGOs, including JA Azerbaijan, had no other chance but to wait for new legislation to pass.

Without funds, JA Azerbaijan was unable to pay staff salaries for months, and most of the staff opted to leave the organization. In September 2014, Sevinj Mammadova took over as Executive Director and, with a team of only two people, worked to reactivate operations and raise funds.

In 2017, Mammadova sought a partner among the JA network in Europe to implement a joint project that would be funded by the EU delegation in Azerbaijan. That partner was JA Estonia. On October 1, 2018, JA Azerbaijan launched Entrepreneurship for Youth in partnership with JA Estonia with funding from the EU. The project aims to introduce JA programs on entrepreneurship and financial literacy at the secondary schools in Azerbaijan. The specific objectives focus on the process, policy, and practice needed for to establish the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Thanks to the partnership with JA Estonia, JA Azerbaijan was able to organize a study tour for government and business representatives to Estonia, where they met with counterparts. This partnership helped to better understand the advantages of introducing JA programs. This was a strategic decision to convince the government and business in the future of this project.

JA Europe: USAID project

The Supporting Entrepreneurship Education in Eastern Europe project started in February 2017 with the aim of increasing student reach in the region (Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, and Serbia), as well as build capacity in JA organizations for sustainable growth. Three bilateral mentoring partnerships were established between JA Georgia and JA Bulgaria, JA Moldova and JA Romania, and JA Macedonia and JA Albania-JA Serbia.

The project promotes collaboration at all levels within organizations—project manager to project manager, CEO to CEO, and even board to board—and within any functional areas, such as operations, development, and marketing. The project resulted in more than 50 face-to-face mentor/mentee meetings and countless online touchpoints, and it delivered over 15 joint activities delivered and more than ten joint fundraising initiatives with at least two member nations.

Without the support and resource reallocation from JA Serbia to JA Macedonia, the organization would not have been successfully reestablished in 2017. Without the almost daily support from JA Romania, it would have not been possible for JA Moldova’s team of four to finish the last school year with the highest growth in their programs ever.

The partnerships established within this project have been truly impactful for the JA network, with all organizations involved developing a sense of responsibility for the future of the more fragile locations, therefore investing their resources to ensure they succeed and strive.

JA Estonia

JA Estonia has led and participated in several projects involving multiple JA locations throughout Europe. Project objectives included bringing those in the network closer together, generating the spirit of camaraderie, supporting the growth of member nations, promoting innovation in program development and delivery, and granting access to different funding streams. JA Estonia is recognized in the network for creating a space for the exchange of knowledge and professional and personal development of those involved.

But JA Estonia’s collaboration efforts often extend beyond its partners. Between 2015 and 2019, JA Estonia led a group of four JA locations, including Latvia, Finland, and Sweden in an Interreg Central Baltic program supported by the European Regional Development Fund to provide international experiences to students in the Central Baltic region through the creation of international student companies. The knowledge shared through this project enabled the development of new content, which is currently available to the entire network.

By applying for different grants from the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organizations such as JA Moldova and JA Georgia have had the opportunity to offer their students, teachers, and staff exchange opportunities between countries. This is important not only to promote JA activities at the national level with international dimensions but to motivate students and teachers.

INJAZ Bahrain

Keeping pace with market needs and finding the right mix of interactive and digital approaches to learning, INJAZ Bahrain has launched two new digital programs: Head Start for university students and Our Families for primary students. This is only the start of further developments in the digitalization space for many more programs as INJAZ Bahrain seeks to launch a full blended-learning program.

INJAZ Bahrain is pioneering local initiatives to introduce interactive, digital learning programs, as well as collaborative efforts to create common platforms for students. In addition to its digital programs, INJAZ Bahrain has launched a new financial literacy program for primary students called Smart Investor, a product of a collaboration between INJAZ Bahrain and Bahrain Bourse. Smart Investor equips young people with basic concepts related to money management and smart financial planning.

Providing opportunities for the young JA alumni is also important to INJAZ Bahrain, keeping alumni connected and providing extended learning for those hungry to continue improving their careers.

INJAZ Bahrain will launch the ESP in the near future. Students who have successfully completed the JA Company Program will be certified and rewarded through unique opportunities for leading the way to a successful entrepreneurial journey

INJAZ Bahrain strives to lead the MENA region to new heights through collaboration and initiation of creative, fruitful, and lasting partnerships, aiming to reach even more students and to be the partner of choice for business, educators, and policymakers in the Kingdom of Bahrain and expanding youth education and economic development.

JA Venezuela

Venezuela has suffered increasing social economic deterioration in recent years that has directly and negatively impacted the livelihoods of the country’s population. Lower-income individuals have been affected the most, as they face near-total scarcity of basic public services including water, energy, transportation, and waste disposal, among others, not to mention the dramatic increase of migrant peoples into the country.

Poverty has started to spread in this hostile environment, a product of a multidimensional condition that deprives the population of the most elementary basic needs, directly impacting JA Venezuela’s daily performance. It makes operations difficult for the organization, but it has continued to make a difference in the lives of Venezuelan citizens, inviting them to study to improve their lives and achieve their purposes.

The Venezuelan government considers JA content to be capitalist, which has put staff, operations, volunteers at risk; fortunately, school directors have found ways to avoid government restrictions to allow JA Venezuela to work with their students and in their facilities.

Despite the hurdles, JA Venezuela has persevered, becoming a part of the global team in the face of hard times and adversity. The organization has continued to work to better the lives of the most vulnerable people in the country, to rebuild its volunteers base, and to be ready for a future where the entrepreneurial spirit prevails.

JA Colombia – Winner

In collaboration with IBM, JA Colombia developed and implemented the IBM Start-up Challenge in 2018. Five hundred vulnerable 15- to 17-year-old public-school students received practical training in enterprise design thinking, agile methodology for empowerment, and project structuring using the IBM cloud platform.

The program had a swift and positive impact in Colombia. Again in alliance with IBM, JA Colombia extended and implemented the programs regionally in 2019. In addition to Colombia, the program was implemented in eight countries in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

Student participation grew from the initial 500 in Colombia in 2018 to 4,800 in 2019, and IBM has committed to continue its support of the JA mission and tech education, the latter a key element in today’s youth training and development. The relationship with IBM now greatly benefits youth across the Latin America region.

The JA Alumni Engagement Award 

The JA Alumni Engagement Award recognizes member nations, U.S. areas, and regional operating centers that have developed robust alumni strategies, including tracking, communication, and engagement projects for JA alumni. The alumni strategy should enhance the member nation, U.S. area, or regional operating center’s ability to promote fundraising initiatives, volunteering, and/or operational efficiency. The nominees are . . .

JA Alumni Germany

The German JA Alumni network connects members, develops skills, and provides education on economic topics. It does not focus solely on an entrepreneurial mindset, but also includes former JA students who see a future in professions unrelated to entrepreneurship. JA Alumni Germany strives to form a diverse network with alumni from different cultural, social, and educational backgrounds who have stood out in their professional fields.

JA Alumni Germany works toward achieving its goal of network diversity with three different approaches: inspiration, further education, and self-engagement. Inspiration means bringing its members together with inspirational personalities in coffee talks and speaker series. For education, JA Alumni Germany  provides classes taught by experts about topics such as rhetoric and CV building. Both kinds of events are organized by the voluntary work of our members, which is essential for the third and most important aspect of developing its members, self-engagement.

JA Europe Honoris

JA alumni in Europe started connecting 20 years ago. Since then, the diverse group of alumni has expanded and developed into an international network of like-minded people who connect with one another through personal and professional development opportunities and who value giving back.

The JA Alumni Honoris, a group of more than 40 JA Europe alumni from 13 countries, raised €55,000 and presented the gift to JA Worldwide President and CEO Asheesh Advani at the first-ever JA Global Alumni Conference in Vienna, Austria, in August 2019. Giving back is one of the main pillars of the JA Alumni Honoris network, which brings together JA alumni who have achieved something extraordinary in entrepreneurship, business, or within the JA alumni network in Europe.

The money raised will go directly into the JA Worldwide endowment, which enables all alumni, volunteers, board members, donors, and other believers in JA to leave an enduring legacy. Specifically, JA Worldwide will reinvest the €55,000 gift into alumni projects and activities over the course of three years.

JA Americas Alumni – Winner

JA Americas has developed a robust and active alumni network across ten countries with five more in the process of starting up. At the first-ever JA Global Alumni Conference in Vienna, Austria, in August 2019, six of the ten semifinalists for the “I am JA” Video Star contest were from JA Americas, as were two of the three finalists, and, ultimately, the contest winner.

JA Americas alumni are currently building and executing strategies and plans to form alliances with institutes of higher education to forge an even stronger community; it has launched strategies to increase its presence on JA alumni network GATHER to 15,000 alumni, and nearly 7,000 JA Americas alumni have enrolled. It also launched the NEXA Leadership Award to both collect alumni success stories and enlist other alumni who wish to give back. Looking forward, JA Americas alumni group is planning a fundraising campaign by enlisting alumni who may serve as brand ambassadors for the organization.

JA Alumni Austria

In 2013, JA Alumni Austria hosted its first international event in cooperation with JA Alumni Czech. Today, JA Alumni Austria hosts four or more weekends and many meetups throughout the year. This number is only expected to increase. The board and the members of JA Alumni Austria continue to draft different event formats to fulfill the needs of national and international alumni and enhance the quality of the network. JA Alumni Austria also hosted the National Coordinators Meeting (NCM) of JA Alumni Europe from 2016 to 2018 and has significantly contributed to strengthening the European alumni network. It was also responsible for organizing the first-ever JA Global Alumni Conference in 2019.

The Soraya Salti Award 

The Soraya Salti Award recognizes JA leaders who are committed visionaries that push the boundaries to move JA forward in a positive way, particularly to bring systematic change to a country or region. The winner is innovative and able to engage a wide variety of stakeholders in order to advance social and/or economic progress in the areas where they live and work. This person also exemplifies the JA values of the boundless potential of young people, excellence, integrity, and respect in tangible ways. The nominees are . . .

Michéle Lionnet, JA Mascareignes (Mauritius)

Michéle Lionnet, Executive Director of JA Mascareignes, is a pioneer and an initiator. She strongly believes in the transmission of knowledge and experience and spares no effort to train, mentor, and share her expertise with her young colleagues, students, and other stakeholders. She is convinced that sharing does not put you or your job at risk but in fact makes you stronger and more efficient, because being surrounded by well-trained and educated staff will help take your goals further.

In 2009, following a public call for candidates, selected by a panel of professionals from prominent corporations in the local private sector selected and appointed Michéle to be the first Executive Director of JA Mascareignes (Mauritius). Her mandate was to set up the association, organize the board, identify potential sponsors, and get operations up and running. Financial and economic literacy was, at that time, unexplored territories in the country, and making them a part of common parlance required tremendous persuasion, patience, and perseverance.

Michele’s determination and unfailing optimism were key to the successful implementation of JA in Mauritius. For the first two years, JA Mascareignes was manned by only two staff members. After eight years of operations, JA Mascareignes now employs five full-time staff and has impacted over 60,000 young people and has trained over 2,000 teachers and volunteers.

The work done by JA Mascareignes has inspired the Ministry of Education to implement entrepreneurship classes in local schools as a subject. In 2014, after years of lobbying, JA Mascareignes signed an MOU with the Ministry of Education that allows free access to the organization in all the secondary schools of Mauritius.

Simi Nwogugu, JA Nigeria

Simi Nwogugu has been with JA for over 20 years. She began as a volunteer at JA New York when she worked at Goldman Sachs. Simi was profoundly impacted by JA’s activities in New York, leading her to start JA in her home country, Nigeria. She is not only the CEO of JA Nigeria; she is the founder. She served as JA Nigeria’s Executive Director for six years and as a board member for 14 years.

Simi embodies the values of JA, showing the boundless potential of young people. At age 24, she quit her job at Goldman Sachs to move back to her home country of Nigeria to set up JA operations there. At the time, dictator Sani Abacha had just died, leaving a severely damaged education system and an economy in recession. Simi believed JA was exactly what the country needed to inspire and educate young people to become change agents for Nigeria’s future. For three years, she set to work building JA operations in Nigeria, while also building a culture of philanthropy among organization partners and a culture of volunteering among individuals. Simi eventually left Nigeria for Harvard Business School but continued to serve as a board member, bringing programs from Harvard to JA Nigeria, including the Venture in Management Program.

With visionary leadership, incurable optimism, energy, passion, and can-do spirit, Simi has successfully forged partnerships and collaboration with public and private enterprises, social endeavors, international organizations to accomplish the mandate of JA Nigeria and impacting the lives of both in-school and out-of-school youth in Nigeria.

Milena Stoycheva, JA Bulgaria

Milena Stoycheva is an entrepreneur, CEO of JA Bulgaria, and Visiting Professor with the EIT Digital Master School in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Milena’s mission is to inform society about the benefits of entrepreneurship education, to support young people in developing their talents and to build their future. Milena is an executive with more than 20 years of experience in international organizations and companies, having also served as the Chair of the Global Member Council of JA Worldwide and Senior Adviser on Higher Education for JA Europe. She is the co-founder of the JA subsidiary company The Edge.

Milena Stoycheva has won many awards, including the US Ambassador’s Award for Women Leaders in Bulgaria, Ford Motor Company Fellowship for Community Leaders at Columbia University, and Metlife Entrepreneurial Award, among others. She serves on several EU and national committees and expert groups in the field of higher and secondary education, innovation and entrepreneurship and is a member of the Council of Women in Business, American Chamber of Commerce, and more.

Under Milena Stoycheva’s 22 years of leadership, JA Bulgaria has been a leading educational organization in Bulgaria, a member of the JA global network with an established reputation for providing innovative education to students from kindergarten to university.

Jarle Tømmerbakke, JA Norway & JA Europe

Jarle Tømmerbakke, one of the founding staff members of JA Norway (Ungt Entreprenørskap), served as CEO from 1997 to 2010. During his time at JA Norway, Jarle built the organization’s national office, developed programs, contacted national authorities and partners, and established regional offices to take the programs into schools.

In his period as the CEO, JA Norway grew to cover the entire country and offer programs from primary school to higher education. Today, JA Norway serves 150,000 students per year in more than 1,500 schools with 15,000 teachers and more than 20,000 volunteers from both the private and public sectors. As part of his work with JA Norway, Jarle and his staff also developed programs that have been implemented in other national JA organizations and as part of JA Europe’s programs.

Though Jarle left JA Norway in 2010, he has continued to work for JA Europe as a Senior Advisor. He has been involved in projects in Uganda and has worked on research and the impact of entrepreneurial education. He has worked with national JA organizations and with governments to establish entrepreneurial education and competencies as an important part of the education systems.

To date, Jarle has dedicated 22 years of his life to JA. In that time, he has had a significant positive impact on both the system for entrepreneurial methods in the Norwegian school system and beyond, including around Europe and in Uganda. His continued work at the European level through the European Entrepreneurship Education Network (EE-Hub) is increasing understanding and competence and paving the way so that future young people will get new opportunities.

Ayna Bayramova, JA Turkmenistan

Ayna Bayramova helped found JA Turkmenistan in 1996 and has served at its Executive Director since 2002. She has witnessed first-hand the organizational development of JA Turkmenistan, gaining and strengthening positive image and recognition at the national and international level. Ayna's negotiation and presentation skills allowed JA Turkmenistan to set strong partnership relationships with international organizations, such as USAID and UN agencies, as well as a number of local NGOs and business organizations. Overcoming unfavorable conditions and economic and financial challenges, Ayna led JA Turkmenistan to become a sustainable office that reached more than 45,000 students in the last academic year alone (quite significant number for a country with a population of 5 million).

Owning skills and abilities like strategic and creative thinking, negotiation, communication, presentation, and project management skills, adaptability, insistence, and attention to detail, Ayna is highly respected by colleagues and partners due to her honesty, ethics, loyalty, and tolerance. Her dedication and passion for her job have made her a role model for many young participants in JA Turkmenistan. With her broad experience as a trainer and educator, Ayna has made significant contributions to economic and entrepreneurship education of Turkmenistan.

Vivian Lau, JA Asia Pacific – Winner

Vivian Lau, CEO of JA Asia Pacific, is a committed, visionary leader who leads by example. Vivian first became involved with JA as CEO of JA Hong Kong. After 10 years, she took up the position as interim CEO of JA Asia Pacific, eventually becoming the permanent CEO and President. Vivian secured the charity status of JA Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, then to develop the breadth and depth of the regional operating center’s programs and capabilities, increasing the staff size from less than one full-time employee to a total of four full-time staff. Additionally, the number of JA locations in Asia Pacific has grown from 14 to 18 in five years.

Vivian's entrepreneurial mindset has enabled her to transform the JA Cha-Ching Program into the Cha-Ching Curriculum. Started in 2016, the Cha-Ching Curriculum is now delivered in six countries with a goal of reaching 1 million students by 2020. The exponential growth achieved through the train-the-trainers model for this program supported all involved members and has extended their student reach at a rate they did not think was possible.

In 2018, Vivian established the first JA Asia Pacific Regional Leadership Conference, gathering members from the 18 locations together to learn new technologies and design thinking in Singapore. She also started the Leadership Conference Awards dinner, which recognizes the outstanding work achieved by the JA members on the ground, from compliance to growth and regional collaboration. Vivian is beloved by staff members from local offices to the regional operating centers, and she has been pivotal to the growth and strategic positioning of JA Asia Pacific.

César Asiático, JA Dominican Republic

César Asiático has served as CEO of JA Dominicana since 2009. Under his leadership, JA programs in the Dominican Republic have seen staggering growth, reaching 25,000–35,000 people every year. He has also been instrumental in attracting and securing corporate interest, including sponsorship, to the organization. Under his leadership, JA Dominicana has been recognized as the best Social Responsibility program in the education field, and

Cesar has designed innovative programs with the philosophy and methodology that business leaders look for in partners. He has implemented a transformative leadership model based on the promotion of education to generate economic and social development in the Dominican Republic with special emphasis on young people and women. Cesar has been essential to building new capacities to empower people and communities in vulnerable situations, encouraging and building an entrepreneurial ecosystem to overcome poverty. Cesar’s recognized leadership in Dominican Republic and his capacity to form alliances between the private and public sectors has been powerful and admirable.

The JA Lifetime Achievement Award 

The JA Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a JA network professional who has significantly contributed to the growth and impact of JA programs in his or her country. Nominees must have at least eight years’ experience with JA, serve in a member nation’s chief executive position, and must have demonstrated student growth (in either student experience numbers or contact hours) in each of the past five years. This year’s incredible nominees are . . .

Jānis Krievāns, JA Latvia

Jānis Krievāns has served as CEO of JA Latvia for eight years. Having previously worked for the organization as a project manager, and prior to that as a JA student, Jānis is a motivated and responsible leader who is focused on development. Under his leadership, JA Latvia has grown significantly, and over the last five years, JA Latvia has reached 30 percent of schools throughout the country, and more than 50 percent of Latvian students are able to take part in JA programs.

As a project manager, Janis contributed to the creation of the International Student Company Festival (ISCF), which gathers more than 100 student companies from around Europe each year. Under Janis’s leadership, JA Latvia has become more involved in international projects, creating transnational projects such as Central Baltic Enterprises without Borders and taking part in other international projects that aim to analyze the entrepreneurship opportunities for students. Janis has also been a leading force in the development of the largest business conference for students and teachers in Latvia, #DaretoWin, gathering more than 5,500 participants in 2019. This unique platform aims to inspire and encourage students to implement their ideas and learn what it takes to create and launch a business.

Eka Gegeshidze, JA Georgia

Under the leadership of Eka Gegeshidze, JA Georgia has thrived. Eka first encountered JA as a young adult. She recognized the organization’s potential to transform her country, which struggled in the post-Soviet era. Despite political turmoil, Eka always tries to spread entrepreneurship and financial education and the youth of Georgia, preparing them for a strong future. Credited with the creation of original JA program materials in Georgia, Eka brings real-world business and academic experience to her role as Executive Director.

Out of more than 200 applications for the position of Executive Director in 2002, Eka stood out. She led JA Georgia through an extremely successful first year, and harder subsequent years, with unflinching confidence and resourcefulness. After its first five years, more than 100,000 young people in Georgia had completed a JA course in entrepreneurship, applied economics, or business ethics. Eka is an exceptionally resourceful, enthusiastic, and innovative person with strong leadership skills. An extraordinary teacher, she is always just as eager to listen and learn as she is to share her own knowledge.

Ayna Bayramova, JA Turkmenistan

Executive Director of JA Turkmenistan Ayna Bayramova has made a significant contribution to the organization and to Turkmenistan as a whole. She has contributed to the development of economic and business education in the country, and overseas material, financial, and human resources for the successful implementation of JA programs in Turkmenistan. She has strong social, communication, and negotiation skills and an ability to work effectively with government and business structures.

The scope of Ayna’s work is not limited to the organization or the framework of JA programs. She pays special attention to tracking the employment of JA alumni in Turkmenistan and organizes special training, internships, and mentorship opportunities for young people. Today, the JA Alumni Club includes hundreds of alumni of various JA programs in Turkmenistan. Alumni actively participate as volunteers in various social events and activities, and they attend international events organized by JA Worldwide.

Among her many accomplishments, Ayna raised over U.S. $3 million in 2017 to increase the volume and quality of JA programs, including student internships at private companies, the introduction of digital technologies into the process of youth training and digitization of work of JA Turkmenistan office, and more.

Stefania Popp, JA Romania – Winner

Stefania joined Junior Achievement Romania in June 1997. The organization has developed and thrived under her leadership. She helped establish a partnership with the Ministry of Education and a complete K–12 package for public schools based on JA programs for applied economics, entrepreneurship, finance, and employment skills education. This now reaches more than 230,000 students each year.

Stefania not only significantly contributed to increased growth and impact of JA programs in Romania but made it possible for JA Romania to become one of the biggest and most reliable NGOs in the country. Due to her tireless work, creativity, tenacity, and commitment, nearly one-quarter of a million students enroll in JA programs every year, and JA programs have become part of regular classes in over 2,000 Romanian schools.

Stefania’s management and expertise exceeded the expected level of performance and improved business community participation in JA. She has built strong relationships and facilitated a great understanding of JA mission and initiatives. Her outstanding flexibility and enthusiasm, professionalism, and responsibility have created a thriving environment for JA projects and initiatives in Romania.

Congratulations to each and every nominee for the 2019 JA Awards!