Learning by doing is the principle by which all students should develop their careers and this is the main bulb that gives light to The Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Malta. This programme, the awards for which took place last week, is the best mirror in which to see the future of Maltese business. By encouraging young people in the 16 to 18 age range to run their own companies, the programme not only gives them valuable experience but also brings out in them the skills, character and strength to think as a team and be creative.

Students’ teams have worked as companies for the past 10 months, during which they had to tackle day-to-day work goals such as working as a team, planning, financial control, taking responsibility and the need for commitment to quality. During that period, 11 companies had to write a final company report, set up an exhibition stand and attend an interview with a panel of judges. The final stage was a business presentation of four minutes in front of an audience that was not only seeking to view and assess their product, but was also “proud of their achievement”. Manager of Junior Achievement Malta Lorna Farrugia, also said: “This achievement is the successful result of hours of work that all the team members put in”.

There were innovative proposals and well elaborated upon projects, but not all of them could be awarded one of the 12 awards presented that evening. Some of the companies created products that were clearly oriented to promote environmental awareness such as Symec, an enterprise from St Martin’s College, which designed a notebook made of recycled paper; and Glazed, a company from St Aloysius College, which produced boxes made of reused materials with the aim of transforming waste into green products. There were also companies that centred on promoting Maltese culture and traditions such as Rhymed, and its book Taqbiliet Maltin Ghall-Kbar u z-Zghar. Other organisations produced articles focused on improving life in the home such as Triplezero from St Aloysius College, which brought together the most commonly used kitchen utensils in order to get rid of the messiness of cooking, or Simple Solutions, from Junior College, whose dryer balls were created to reduce electricity bills by 25 per cent and whose HR Manager, Jean-Pierre Attard, highlighted “the importance of overcoming all the hurdles that we faced while developing our product, from which I learned a lot, so I can see myself as an HR Manager in the future”.

However, awards were presented to the five companies that were considered to have achieved excellence in a particular field. One of them was Re-Cre8, from St. Aloysius College, which won two awards and whose product reminds people that their plants need watering by lighting up when the soil is dry. Winning the same number of awards was the work developed by 3squared, also from St Aloysius College, whose creation was complex software that allows users to send a text message by scheduling the date and time they wish to send it. Koncentrik and Blazco, both from St. Aloysius College, also won awards. Koncentrik was awarded for its eco-friendly earphones case made from used ice tea plastic bottles, while Blazco won The Farsons HR & Operations Award with its sustainable alternative to firewood without harming the natural environment. This award was presented by Foundation for Human Resources Development CEO Joe Gerada, who emphasised the fact that the idea behind the awards is to recognise “people who have a dream and, no matter what, will never give up”.

Nevertheless, Rewined was the overall winner that evening. The Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise Company of 12 students from De La Salle College collected six awards, the HSBC Company of the Year 2010 award among them, for its product made of recycled wine bottles, which are flattened under very high temperatures and used as a platter or spoon rest. The members of the team received their award from Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Land Jason Azzopardi, who said that the ceremony was the best mirror through which “we are shown the business of tomorrow”. Rewined will represent Malta at the European Company of the Year awards in Cagliari, Sardinia, from 20 to 23 July.

Angel L. Martinez is a Spanish journalist at the Foundation for Human Resources Development.