International Analytics Company Hotjar aims to empower young up-and-coming entrepreneurs by donating €10,000 to the 'Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Malta Foundation' (JAYE Malta).
The gesture is a somewhat personal one for Hotjar co-founder and CEO David Darmanin (who insists on being addressed as David) whose first taste of the business world occurred when he was Managing Director of Omicron, a JAYE Malta Company which went on to become the National and European winning team back in 1998.
"I come from a family of non-business people so participating in the 'JAYE Company Program', was my first ever experience of the business world." David explained, "It gave me the opportunity to try my hand at taking business risks in a structured and controlled environment, where new ideas were encouraged and supported."
Julian Azzopardi, CEO of JAYE Malta added that young people participating in the 'JAYE Malta Company Program' benefit from an invaluable experience which enables them to discover their own strengths and build on them accordingly.
"We are helping to cultivate tomorrow's business talent and the support of today's businesses is crucial to our success. We would like to thank Hotjar for this generous donation and for being such a valued supporter and ambassador to JAYE Malta."
David recalls one important lesson he learnt through his participation in the 'JAYE Malta Company Program'. "People underestimate how challenging it can be to work in a team, and learning to bring the right people together is a fundamental skill which I started to develop during my participation in the 'JAYE Malta Company Program', and which I continue to cultivate today with Hotjar."
He added, "To many people's surprise Hotjar is more a 'people business' rather than a 'software business' and we attribute a lot of its success to our ability in choosing the right people to join our team."
Apart from David, The Hotjar founding team comprises of Jonathan Vella, Marc von Brockdorff, Johan Malmberg and Erik Naslund and the company is made up of a team of 50 people spread across 14 countries, servicing over 250,000 websites worldwide.
"We are thrilled about having reached €10 million in Annual Recurring Revenue, however for us, the biggest achievement is having over 250,000 websites benefitting from our services." David continued to say, "We are also extremely happy to be in a position to share our story and inspire young people and also encourage more businesses to reach out and support this worthy initiative."
Julian Azzopardi added that funding is essential for JAYE Malta. "Being a non-profit organisation, contributions are very important to us, as they help ensure that we have the resources required to support the JAYE Malta initiatives and continue helping today's youth reach their full potential."
David concluded by saying that he attributes part of his success today to having participated in the 'JAYE Malta Company Program' almost 20 years ago. "My message to young people is, if you have an idea, go for it. Even if it fails, you will learn something from it which will help you in the future." He added "If you have the opportunity, participate in the programs offered by JAYE Malta as it could be the crucial head-start you need for your future in business."
For more information on how you can support JAYE Malta log on their website jayemalta.org or contact them on [email protected].