Team Shatla: One-Stop Shop for Plants

INJAZ Al-Arab JA MENA | INJAZ Oman

Shahad al Hasani, Sarah Al Zaabi, Zainab Al Lawati, Ahmed Al Lawati, Hashim Mustafa

Houseplants and outdoor plantings are difficult to come by in Oman, especially in urban areas. Nurseries are not close-by, offer only a small number of products, and are usually understaffed, all of which makes finding plants is a challenge.

To tackle this issue, INJAZ Oman students conceived of, designed, and opened The Shatla Store, a website that brings nurseries within reach through edutainment (browsing  the site is a well-designed plant learning experience), online ordering, and home delivery. The gardening box that arrives included specific seeds that will grow into the exact right houseplant, a well-designed mix of dirt, a handheld shovel, and entertaining care instructions . . . everything Omanis need to grow the houseplants that fit their lives.

The road to creating The Shatla Store wasn’t easy. With the mounting pressures of high-school—especially with college looming and the importance of performing well in classes in order to open up scholarship opportunities—two critical team members left the company. When that happened, the rest of the team considered doing the same. 

Instead, demonstrating the resilience that makes JA so necessary in youth education, the remaining team returned to its original vision, developed a new business plan, and then undertook a marketing campaign that resulted in a 75% increase in sales.

Today, Shatla manages over 1,000 different plant species and, thanks to relationships with nurseries all over Oman, makes local pick-up possible. As their customers grow products from seeds to plants, Shatlas has its eye on the future, which includes landscaping, irrigation systems, Shatla-branded nurseries, and expansion beyond Oman.

Team NagroTech: Fresh Vegetables in Eswatini

JA Africa | JA Eswatini

Sivesetfu Bhembe, Sibongakonkhe Dlamini, Lindelwa Zindela, Nkhosinathi Dlamini

NagroTech was founded as a JA Eswatini company to solve three challenges: the low availability of vegetables in the Kingdom of Eswatini; inflation in the costs of vegetables, when they can be found; the lack of land faced by most residents, making growing their own vegetables nearly impossible.

NagroTechPTY turned to hydroponic gardening, which is designed to use water—rather than soil—as the medium for growth, along with liquid nutrition that’s made up entirely of local compost from kitchen leftovers. The system is both mobile and decorative, making it perfect for urban and suburban residents. 

JA students designed a system that is simple for the user: plant the seeds in the provided tubing, and add the liquid nutrient. From there, fresh, crispy, nutritious vegetables can grow in any size dwelling, even a small apartment.

Team Evo: Eco-Friendly Straws

Junior Achievement USA

Alyssa Le, Richard Chan, Megan Konvicka, Jeran Kong, Kayla Awadin

As Houston, Texas, began to experience plastic-straw bans that were meant to lower plastic consumption, Team Eco from JA of Southeast Texas went looking for an alternative. Enter ThreEvo, an eco-friendly, easy-to-carry kit made up of bamboo straws, a cleaner, and a case. 

“Plastic straws are the eighth-leading plastic pollutant,” says CEO Alyssa Le, “yet we use them all the time. Especially high schoolers. We love going out to study, going out to hang out, so we really wanted to find a solution that would genuinely make an impact.”

The team sourced bamboo and brushes, and then went to work drilling, cutting, and sewing components that went into the recycled case, keeping a close eye on product quality by being active in the manufacturing process. 

Although the initial business plan called for partnering with popular restaurants and fast-food chains—relationships that Evo successfully navigated—the pandemic created a need for a more private option, so they started selling ThreEvo through an online commerce site, using social media and promotions to drive users to the site.

Team Revival: Seeing Value in Discarded Plastic

JA Asia Pacific | JA Singapore

Tina Jiang, Sam Liu, Carlota Pinker Rego, Dhruv Sharma, Guanju Wang, Jackson Wang, Kevin Yu, Terry Zhang, Coco Zhou

Advertisers in Singapore use plastic banners to draw attention to products and events, ranging from restauraunt offerings to concerts. But once each non-recyleable banner has played its part, it’s discarded. Or at least it was, before a  JA Singapore team got involved.

Team Revival saw potential in the strong, waterproof, free materials in each banner and set about looking for a way to repurpose them. The result is the Versa bag, wearable in three ways: over the shoulder, as a cross-body bag, or as a backpack. In just the first few months of production, Revival kept more than 40kg of banner waste out of Singapore landfills. And they intend to keep climbing higher.

When developing its business plan, Team Revival made a decision to use only public transportation to deliver products, in order to further reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Then, Revival partnered with a local nonprofit in two ways: the team outsourced labor to the marginalized community members served by the nonprofit, workers who are in need of demonstrable skills in order to re-enter the workforce. Second, Team Revival gives a portion of each bag’s profit to the nonprofit.

Banners kept out of landfill. A low carbon footprint for delivery services. Marginalized community members gaining skills. And a donation for every purchase. 

Revival is saving Planet Earth, one bag at a time.

Team Bubbles: Connectivity for Struggling Students

JA Europe | JA Denmark (Fonden for Entreprenørskab)

Nicklas Stokholm, Christian Ørum, Kevin Albin

When Team Bubbles—made up of Nicklas Stokholm, 19, Christian Ørum, 18, and Kevin Albin, 20—came together in a high-school innovation class at Herningsholm Erhvervsskole & Gymnasier, they saw an opportunity to start an innovative JA Company Program, a collaboration between the school and JA Denmark (Fonden for Entreprenørskab). 

The idea for Bubbles originated with Christian, as he watched his sister struggle with ADHD. “She was the inspiration, but we soon realized it was not only my sister who was affected by this,” Christian says. “A lot of other students were influenced by it, including many other diagnoses that inhibited their ability to focus in class.”

Bubbles improves communication between educators and students who suffer from attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). Students wear noise-cancelling headsets that eliminate audio distractions while, at the same time, creating a direct line of communication between teacher and student, with a goal of improving academic performance. 

Although all three were set to attend college, Christian, Nicklas, and Kevin decided to tap a gap year—or Sabbath year, as it is known in Denmark—to continue working on Bubbles. “All our time has been dedicated to Bubbles, so we’re able to help a lot of children. In fact, we’ve just hired our first employee!

Team Nina: Safe Drinking Water for Peru

JA Americas | JA Peru

Ariana Bettocchi, Fiamma Bahamonde, Isabella Romero, Daniela Escribens, Michelle Leigh, Emma Cilloniz, Daniella Becerra, Camille Rouillon, Luciana Córdova, Camila Salmón

Tamara, who lives with in western Peru with her family, wanted help: Her little brother had developed typhoid fever from drinking polluted water from the Rímac River, the only source of water available to their family. His life was at risk.

Ten Peruvian teenage girls stepped in. Research showed that two billion people around the world lack safe drinking water, resulting in nearly 100 deaths every hour, so they focused their JA Peru company—named Nina—on developing an inexpensive water-filtration system. Designed and 3D printed by the team, the result is Yaku, a portable, sealed, stainless steel one-liter bottle that filters 99.99% of water’s impurities and is priced 40% lower than its competition. Each bottle also features a Peruvian-themed graphic design.

Recognizing that a one-liter personal water bottle won’t make enough of a difference for most households, Team Nina sought out paid investors to help expand into a larger product, called the Mayu. This backpack version enables filtration and purification of enough water for a family of four and can be worn to and from rivers and other water sources. Rather than sell the Mayu, Team Nina donates one for every ten Yakus sold, and is looking to expand beyond Peru, once needs there are met.

The goal: To save lives, including that of Tamara’s brother.