By Lydia Ngwakwe
First Bank of Nigeria Ltd., on Tuesday partnered Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) to implement the 22nd National Company of the Year (NCOY) competition.
Mrs Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, FirstBank, said in a statement that the goal of JAN was to inspire senior secondary school students to start and run their own business(es), develop a product or service, and market their brand.
She said the annual flagship programme, which would hold Oct. 13, last held physically in 2019.
She said altogether, 12 winning student companies from the Regional Company of the Year competition would compete for the National Company of the Year award sponsored by the bank.
According to her, the winner of the National Company of the Year competition will proceed further to represent Nigeria at the Junior Achievement Africa’s Company of the Year competition.
“With the support of seasoned volunteers, students come together to form a company, choose a business name and elect company officers to oversee the operations of the company for the program duration.
“These activities help them hone some in-demand skills like creativity, accountability, teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, critical thinking and public speaking needed to succeed in this competition and thrive globally.
“In the end, the student companies present the results of their enterprise before a panel of judges,” she said.
Ani-Mumuney commended JAN for organising the 22nd edition of the National Company of the Year Competition.
She said the competition had been impactful in promoting the entrepreneurship skills, spirit and talent innate in school children, whom were unarguably the leaders of tomorrow.
She said,”our sponsorship of the National Company of the Year competition aligns with our FutureFirst initiative driven to promote financial literacy, entrepreneurship and innovative development and career counselling of school children at an early age.
“We are excited to be part of the entrepreneurship journey of all representatives of the participating teams and we wish everyone the best.”
The 12 student companies competing at Junior Achievement Nigeria 2022 National Company of the Year are: Green Apex student company from International School, University of Lagos; which produced a biodegradable sanitary pad for women.
Champion Squad student company from Taidob College, Asero, Ogun State, produced the wearable totes made from a revamping process of used clothes with creative and fashionable local adire.
Nexus Queens Creation student company from Queens School, Ibadan developed a Decorative led lamp structured with 80 per cent carton,among others.
Mrs Foluso Gbadamosi, Executive Director, Junior Achievement Nigeria, said, “We are glad that the National Company of the Year competition will once again be held physically after two years of holding virtually.
“We are eager to see the tremendous business solutions and enterprises that our young leaders have doggedly built.
“More than ever, it is extremely important to equip young people for a global economy and we are grateful to selfless minds in the form of people and organizations who have partnered with us on this mission.”
The executive director thanked First Bank for its continued support in building young leaders.
JAN is part of Junior Achievement Worldwide (JAWW), the world’s largest and fastest-growing non-profit economic education organisation with a 120-country network.
Since its inception in 1999, JAN has reached over one million students in over 20,000 classrooms in the 36 states across the country and the FCT through over 5000 volunteers.
As part of a global network, JAN can leverage resources and expertise to deliver localised cutting-edge experiential programmes built on JAWW’s three pillars of work- Readiness, Entrepreneurship, and Financial literacy, to in- and out-of-school youths, ages five to 27, free of charge. (NAN)
