Marcella Bertoluci
JA Brazil
November 24, 2022
Meet Marcella Bertoluci, JA Brazil alumna and winner of the “I am JA” Video Contest in 2019 at the JA Global Alumni Conference. We connected back with her to see how her project is coming along.
JA Worldwide: Hi Marcella, tell us a bit more about yourself and your JA alumni journey.
Marcella Bertoluci: My name is Marcella, I am 22 years old and I live in the south of Brazil. I finished my studies in Business Administration this year and I have always loved the idea of understanding the business world and the universe of entrepreneurship. That’s actually why I ended up in contact with Junior Achievement. My school offered the opportunity to participate in one of the JA’s programs back in 2016, and for 15 weeks I lived the closest experience possible to what was being an entrepreneur. After that, I kept being active in the alumni group and due to that, I had multiple opportunities that gave me another perspective on my future. As a consequence, I was sure I would follow this entrepreneurial path for my career.
JA Worldwide: In 2019 you won the “I am JA video contest” at the first-ever JA Global Alumni Conference. What was your project back then?
Marcella: At the same year I participated in JA’s program, I had another amazing opportunity from my school. It was an event for the students of social project creation and I made my own. I was indeed inspired by JA to be the protagonist of my own story and as a consequence, I embraced the opportunity. My project was an initiative to help the adoption process of children and teenagers that had little expectations of having a new family. I gathered adults in the line to adopt these sheltered children in my old school with the support and partnership of the government. After 5 editions of the events since 2017, 7 kids got adopted due to this initiative. As a consequence, the government integrated the project into its official agenda.
JA Worldwide: How did your project change who you are, what’s new?
Marcella: I definitely became more proactive, responsible, empathetic, and resilient after this whole process. Unfortunately, I can no longer execute it as it was before in my city due to political and social concerns. However, I can still impact people in different manners, that’s definitely something that I have learned from all of this experience. No matter the circumstances we can always find ways to fulfill our beliefs. And of course, this project will be forever my baby and one of my greatest achievements.
JA Worldwide: What are your big dreams for the future?
Marcella: Currently I am trying to balance my work and a new project. During this whole journey, I have cross passed a lot of challenges concerning the adoption scenario and the financial sustainability of my previous initiative. Basically, a lot of families that were formed during these years didn’t adapt, therefore the families returned the children and teenagers to the shelters. I dedicated my completion of coursework to understanding what causes an impact in this family’s lives to avoid breaking them apart. With the knowledge, I gathered from interviews I have created a phygital game for foster families that builds stronger relationship in order to avoid the adoption devolution. With all that said, I aim to open a company with this initiative in the future and actually generating positive impact in these peoples lives.
Connect with Marcella and thousands of JA alumni on Gather, the JA alumni community.
Azad Ali
JA Sweden (Ung Företagsamhet)
Azad Ali’s path to entrepreneurship took a number of harrowing turns. As a 12-year-old, he escaped from Kurdistan, and after several years of dangerous travels, he finally ended up in Sweden, where he began training as a skilled carpenter.
Occasionally, he tested his skills by creating furniture and accessories for his own use. One such creation was a modern wooden lamp, which he developed not as a prototype to launch a business, but simply as a beautiful way to increase lighting in his home.
Then one day, a friend stopped by and marveled at the workmanship. “Where I can buy one of these?” the friend asked, admiring the lamp. Azad volunteered to make another one.
A second friend had the same reaction a few weeks later. Then a friend of a friend. Requests started rolling in.
Around the same time, Azad enrolled in the JA Company Program through Ung Företagsamhet (JA Sweden), through which high-school students form real companies, develop a product or service, market and sell the product, and assess their profits.
When it was time for Azad and his team to choose a product for his company, he knew just the thing!
Azad, with his prototype lamp, in 2018
The team called themselves Trälampor-UF, organized as a JA company. “I dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur,” Azad said. “Through Ung Företagsamhet, my entrepreneurial journey took off, and we started making these environmentally friendly lamps.”
The team ended up presenting, setting up a trade booth, and competing at the national JA Sweden Company of the Year competition in Stockholm, where he sold two lamps to Mikael Damberg, Sweden’s Minister for Industry and Innovation. The Minister later posted a short video on social media showing his new lamp and demonstrating how easy it was to assemble.
“I brought one of Azad’s lamps home,” Mikael says in the video, “and today, I assembled it. It went faster than IKEA.” As you can imagine, the video received plenty of attention online.
Azad was later selected to represent his region at a dinner at the Royal Palace with the royal family, all of Sweden’s governors, and another 180 invited guests, ranging from celebrities and sports stars to community leaders. The Swedish dinner is an annual event to celebrate Swedes—including Azad—who have made a significant contribution to society.
It was an overwhelming experience for Azad to visit the palace. “I never had a country. Where I come from, you are never exposed to the people who are in charge. When I left the palace, I cried. It’s an experience I will never forget,” Azad said. While at the dinner, Azad also had a chance to talk to Prince Daniel, who sits on the board of JA Sweden. They spoke for 30 minutes, and the Prince ordered one of Azad’s lamps.
Trälampor-UF was reorganized in 2018 into an individual company and changed its name to AXD, which stands for Azad eXciting Design. Azad, now 25, continues to grow AXDSweden, which has branched into new lines. “I have broadened the range at AXDSweden,” Azad told us. “We currently have six employees and a premises of approximately 3,000 sq meters, where our employees manufacture furniture, interiors, displays, and shop fittings, and also offer contract manufacturing.”
Azad in 2022, at the AXD Sweden headquarters.
AXD Sweden and Azad recently won the 2022 ICA Entrepreneur Award “Local Hero of the Year—Junior” from among 200 nominees and five finalists. The award brings a prize of SEK 100,000. ICA, a major food retailer, created the annual award to pay tribute to committed residents who moved to Sweden and inspire others to take similar initiatives. "Azad Ali has proven to be an entrepreneur through and through,” the award committee said. “With solid craftsmanship and a sense of business, his AXDSweden has grown and become a significant player in Nybro, Sweden, where he is also a local role model for many young people." Azad added, “The prize sum will be used to develop our web presence and eventually open up an online store that will also target private individuals. The AXDSweden brand will be bigger!”
Azad also tries to give back by mentoring and supporting Swedish youth: “A lot of entrepreneurs helped and supported me on my journey,” he says. “And now I see, in so many other young people who have emigrated to Sweden, the same will and interest I had in running a business.”
Like so many of JA’s 100+ million alumni, Azad Ali is making the world a little bit brighter.
Nadia Ladak
JA Canada
November 22, 2022
Earlier this month, David Meltzer’s 2 Minute Drill aired an episode exclusively featuring JA alumni contestants from six JA locations:
JA Austria alumnus Amin Faziani, founder of Preswipe
JA Uruguay alumna Andrea Herrera, CEO of Quiral
Junior Achievement of Northcentral Ohio alumnus, Gavin Williams, CEO of FinLit
JA Canada alumna, Nadia Ladak, co-founder and CEO of Marlow
UF Sverige (JA Sweden) alumna Sara Tengvall, founder and CEO of Belreis
The six contestants each had two minutes to pitch their businesses to David and a panel of judges: Jayson Waller, entrepreneur, investor, business growth consultant, author, and host of podcast "True Underdog"; Rory Cutaia, founder and CEO of Verb Technology Co.; and Rob Gill, founder and Director of EPIC Financial Strategies. In the end, Nadia Ladak won over the judges with her pitch for Marlow, a tampon company that’s revolutionizing menstruation products. We sat down with her to learn more about Marlow and her experience with JA.
JA Worldwide: Hi Nadia, congratulations on winning US$50,000 on the special alumni episode of 2 Minute Drill! Tell us a bit more about who you are and what Marlow does.
Nadia Ladak: Hi! I am the co-founder and CEO of Marlow, a menstrual-wellness brand that launched the first-ever lubricated tampon experience. We want to empower menstruators to take charge of their menstrual health with comfortable products and reliable education. Inserting tampons is not always the most comfortable process, especially on the first and last day of a period when the flow is lighter. For some, this process is even more uncomfortable including first-time menstruators, individuals with medical conditions such as vaginismus, and those with higher levels of vaginal dryness. We combine 100 percent organic cotton tampons with a water-based lubricant to create a smoother, more comfortable insertion process. The products can be purchased on our website and are also delivered on a subscription model so that you never run out of products. Beyond our innovative product, our mission is to reduce the stigma around menstrual and sexual health. We’ve built a community of over 50,000 menstruators through easily digestible education and online conversation. With this, it is our goal to begin to normalize menstrual and sexual health as key aspects of overall wellness.
JA Worldwide: How did you come up with your business idea?
Nadia: Marlow started in our fourth year of university as part of an entrepreneurship capstone project. Our professors asked us to identify a problem that we were passionate about solving and, after reading an article about how the modern tampon hadn’t changed significantly in the last 90 years, my friends and I (who are now my co-founders) were immediately drawn to the menstrual health space. We started to dive in and realized that there were several problems to solve, including the limited product innovation, overly feminine and outdated marketing, and lack of community, conversation, and education. The primary issue we decided to tackle was the painful insertion of tampons. My co-founder shared that she had a lot of pain when inserting tampons. She’s an active individual and a swimmer and felt that pads, her only alternative, limited her in her daily active lifestyle while on her period. She went to the gynecologist to try to find a solution, only to be told to “spit” on her tampon. We were shocked and knew there must be a better way to solve this problem, which led us to creating the first-ever lubricated tampon.
JA Worldwide: How did the JA program in Canada influence your entrepreneurial journey?
Nadia: JA gave me an early taste of what it was like to pursue entrepreneurship. I got to learn about all the aspects of starting a business in a low-risk environment, supported by mentors. Now, being a mentor myself, I’m so excited to give back and inspire other students to love entrepreneurship and solve problems that they’re passionate about.
JA Worldwide: What are your big dreams for the future?
Nadia: Our north star is to build the category-defining brand in menstrual care to ensure that no menstruator is held back because of their period. We want to empower menstruators to live life on their own terms and to have access to reliable education and the knowledge to take charge of their menstrual health. We want to continue to push the standards for products and create comfortable solutions. We believe lubricated tampons will become the “new normal”. Imagine if from the start, lubricated tampons were introduced to the market, it would be silly to use a dry tampon when smoother and more comfortable options existed. So, similar to how Kleenex became synonymous with tissues, we want Marlow to be synonymous with the new normal of lubricated tampons, allowing individuals to actively participate in their lives, regardless of the time of the month.
Watch the JA Alumni episode of 2 Minute Drill—and all the other episodes, too—for free on davidmeltzer.tv.
Afrah Shuja
INJAZ UAE
In May 2022, David Meltzer’s entrepreneur pitch show 2 Minute Drill aired an episode featuring six JA alumni from around the world: Alyssa Le, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas (USA) alumna, Founder & CEO, Locket; Ida Johansson, Fonden for Entreprenørskab (JA Denmark) alumna, Founder & CEO, Turn Consulting; Kordian Caplazi, Young Enterpise Switzerland alumnus, Co-Founder, Rimon Technologies; Love Dager, Ung Företagsamhet (JA Sweden) alumnus, Founder & CEO, NextGenGov; Mykolas Aškelovičius, Lietuvos Junior Achievement (JA Lithuania) alumnus, Co-Founder, Yuffi; and Afrah Shuja, INJAZ UAE alumna, Founder & CEO, CorteX Wellness.
On 2 Minute Drill, contestants have two minutes to pitch their business to a panel of powerhouse businesspeople for the chance to win a cash prize of US$50,000. The alumni episode featured Verb Technology founder and CEO Rory Cutaia, Trade and Travel founder Teri Ijeoma, Powerhome Solar founder and CEO Jayson Waller, and show host and JA University Chief Chancellor (and fellow JA alumnus) David Meltzer. Unsurprisingly (at least to us), the six alumni blew the judges away with their pitches.
So . . . who won the US$50,000?
Afrah Shuja!
“I founded CorteX Wellness after learning about how many people are suffering from psychological disorders and mental health issues at school in particular,” Afrah said, “especially after witnessing, you know, how the pandemic affected my friends in my immediate circle. I decided that it's important to build something to help them.” CorteX Wellness provides direct lines of communication to therapists and counselors for students ages 10–18 years old in UAE. Users can also join interest groups, find additional resources, and sign up for events through the platform. “I've been doing this for a year now,” said 18-year-old Afrah. “You know, I want to really test my potential and see what my limits are, and then push those even more. Just put it in my all every day and see where it takes me.”
Afrah’s Pitch
“Fifteen-year-old Sarah was upset about her low grades, but she kept it to herself. Nobody knew until she died by suicide, leaving her friends and parents grieving. And she is not alone. In fact, approximately one in six youth reported making a suicide plan in 2019. And it’s not that schools just don’t care about this. They don’t have the infrastructure in place to do so adequately. I noticed that affecting my friends. So I built a website to facilitate remote counselor communication. And with its success, I realized I could do so much more. Fast forward, and that project is now accompany: Cortex Wellness. We’re digitizing school wellbeing-support systems. For example, in the place of super long and boring psychological surveys, we’re gamifying those online. You can book a school counselor appointment and find help with the privacy and ease student like Sarah deserve. We are currently pre revenue having just launched our MVP and R&D that follows with 84% of students saying that having Cortex at their school would have helped them with a mental health issue. We toured schools an annual fee and our milestone market in the GCC is valued at $2.21 billion. We’ve received over 11 recognitions including first place at the Harvard Innovation Challenge and Company of the Year by INJAZ UAE. We plan to service 10 to 15 schools this year. I acknowledge I’m only 18 years old, but I surround myself with awesome people. I’m joined by my former business teacher and school wellbeing researcher full time as well as an advisory board with experts and executives. This is not only a huge market gap, but one that we have a social responsibility to fill. With the $50,000 we will have the seed necessary to scale our tech and help schools better actively prevent tragedies like Sarah’s from happening ever again. Thank you.”
Afrah and her team developed Cortex Wellness during their time in the JA Company Program with INJAZ UAE, and they won the national Company of the Year competition. Additionally, the company won first place in the Harvard Innovation Challenge and Abu Dhabi University’s Entrepreneurial Challenge, and it is part of the United Nations SDSN Youth Project and startAD incubator at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Check out Cortex Wellness for yourself and give it a follow on Instagram!
In addition to the US$50,000 in cash and prizes awarded to the winner, each episode features the JA Impact Award. This award is given to the contestant whose company demonstrates the greatest social impact. The recipient of the Impact Award is selected based on their mission-driven values and has the opportunity to align with JA Worldwide to our alumni network, driving awareness to their brand through millions of entrepreneurs around the world. The award also comes with a US$1,000 donation to JA Worldwide in that contestant’s name. But, of course, with this special episode came a special surprise for all six contestants and for JA . . .
“I am so impressed by all of the contestants,” David Meltzer said, “that I'm going to make a donation in the name of each of the contestants. Because it's so impressive and the issues that they're addressing are so important. And I encourage anyone out there that watches this episode, we support Junior Achievement because if anything is going to be a testament to what that program does for our future.”
Watch the special JA alumni episode of 2 Minute Drill below or on davidmeltzer.tv.
Elena Tosheva
JA Bulgaria
Elena Tosheva joined the JA Worldwide Board of Governors in 2020, but she was associated with JA long before that. Born in Bulgaria, Elena participated in the JA Company Program as a teenager, which was her first introduction to the world of entrepreneurship. Passionate about building high-impact communities and empowering people to create and innovate as entrepreneurs, she has worked in tech, NGOs, and academia, striving to create scalable solutions for today’s most pressing challenges.
Today, Elena is Brand Marketing Manager at Google, where she builds greater trust and stronger relationships with key opinion formers and partners across the EU. She leads the Brand and Reputation strategy in Brussels on key topics and helps to shape Google’s company-wide programs across Europe.
Before joining Google, Elena was part of the startup team behind City.AI, a platform for applied artificial intelligence. As the Global Head of Community, she built the global network, spanning across 70+ cities on six continents with thousands of active members from academia, business, and governments. Previously, she oversaw the Techstars Startup Programs across Europe and has supported the growth of startup communities in 140+ European cities.
““I was very lucky to be part of a JA program as a teenager. I wish for all young people to have a similar opportunity. My JA experience helped me cultivate constant curiosity, while building up my self-confidence and resilience early on. I believe that JA empowers the new generations to build a better world. And I am thrilled to continue supporting its ever-more relevant mission by joining the Board of Governors.””
Elena has been an active JA alumnus and volunteer since 2006. She served as president of JA Alumni Europe from 2012–2014 and is an active JA Alumni Honoris member. A group of JA alumni from Europe who have achieved something extraordinary in the fields of entrepreneurship or business or within the JA alumni network, Honoris aim to improve the recognition of the JA alumni brand and to continue giving back to JA as mentors, advisors, volunteers and donors. In 2019, the Honoris gifted €55,000 to JA Worldwide in recognition of JA’s Centennial.
As a member of the JA Worldwide Board of Governors, and the first to fill the JA alumni member seat, Elena represents JA alumni around the world and brings both student and alumni perspectives to the decision-making table. She also serves on the JA Board Marketing Committee.
Aya Yousef
INJAZ Lebanon
INJAZ Lebanon alumna Aya Yousef, a nominee for the first-ever Global Student Prize and architecture student at the American University of Beirut, spent time as a child in a refugee camp. We’re truly inspired by Aya’s journey, and we think you will be, too.
JA Worldwide: Given your own experience, what are some of the biggest challenges facing children in refugee settlements, especially in terms of Global Goal 4, Quality Education?
Aya: The biggest challenge facing young refugees is a lack of access to proper education and what that does to their mindset. But another major issue is the architecture and infrastructure of camps, which lack open, green spaces, and this led to my current major.
In 2016, I started the first-ever coding club at my school, in which I shared my knowledge and experience in coding with around 20 students who were willing and eager to learn something new. I wanted to reach students with a similar background—who had lived in a refugee settlement—because I didn’t think they would have learned to code in a settlement, yet that knowledge can open up so many opportunities and revolutionize a student’s mindset.
I started noticing that these students also lacked access to resources about attending universities and earning scholarships in Lebanon. I had already been researching this information for myself and decided to start sharing these opportunities. I became part of an outreach team to spread the word about educational opportunities at the best universities in Lebanon. I partnered a year later with two other change makers with the same vision and mission, and we co-founded ToRead to increase the scale of our outreach.
JA Worldwide: Can you tell us more about ToRead?
Aya: ToRead works on bridging and filling the gap between high school students and universities/scholarship foundations. It is an online platform that allows high school students to search, filter, and compare university and scholarship options in Lebanon and abroad. They can compare all university options in Lebanon, check applying criteria, and available services and programs. They can also find scholarships and other opportunities they are eligible to apply to.
Today, I am no longer an active program manager; however, prior to leaving, my co-founders and I were able to register it officially as a company and even win several awards, including the Soraya Salti Best Company in the Arab World in Youth Entrepreneurship Forum 2020, the MasterCard Excellence in Technology Award in 2020, the INJAZ Lebanon Company of the Year Award in 2020, the Asfari Challenge for Social Innovation in the education sector in 2020, the incubation support by Nawaya Network 2019, and more.
JA Worldwide: What led you to choose architecture as your major?
Aya: Once I saw the architectural challenges of refugee settlements (and, now, planning a better camp is on my bucket list!), I wanted to make it my focus of study. Architecture opens the eye and widens the mindset, changing how you think about a building, the space around it, its users, the city it’s located in, and more. Architecture has changed my vision of the world and my personal mission to the humanity.
Architecture opens the door for many opportunities in various fields, because it’s about more than buildings. What I have found most interesting in my academic journey is how the design skills I’m learning are integrated with graphic and digital design, social media, animation, filmmaking, and more. The architectural journey doesn’t stop! For example, I never imagined I would find myself working on an agricultural architectural prototype, tackling food insecurity and roof gardening. Architecture is a starting point; a tool to be pushed beyond its usual limits.
JA Worldwide: What do you remember most about participating in the JA Company Program?
Aya: Right after we started, we were in mentorship sessions, developing our startup, preparing for the pitch and demo day. From there, we got to specialize and build our business. We competed on the national level, and then moved on to the INJAZ Al-Arab competition with 13 other countries. We had so many new experiences and success, and also networked and connected with mentors and other students.
Apio Sarah Ongom
JA Uganda
Apio Sarah Ongom heard about the JA Superfan Contest—launched by JA Worldwide to highlight the 2020 virtual Boston Marathon and associated fundraiser—during the summer of 2020 from her home in Kampala, Uganda, where she had been expanding her workout routine. Before the pandemic, Apio Sarah found that she would get busy and postpone her workouts, although she still managed to run twice a week and set aside some time for short yoga workouts at the end of each day. COVID-19, however, brought both restrictions and more time, and each contributed to Apio Sarah’s increased exercise routine. She lengthened her yoga workouts, ran longer and more often, and spent her early mornings and late afternoons walking to and from her apprenticeship, about 4 kilometers each way. She was no longer skipping workouts, so a contest that gave points for exercise was a perfect fit.
A business-administration student at Makerere University Business School, 24-year-old Apio Sarah first got to know JA in February 2020, when she heard about a campaign called “Tide Turners: Africa Beats Plastic,” organized by JA Africa and the United Nations Environment Programme. She liked and followed JA Africa’s Facebook page to learn more about plastics and their role in pollution, and then signed up to participate. “The whole campaign period was amazing,” Apio Sarah recalls, “and I emerged as the overall winner. (Also flip to pages 12 and 13 of the campaign report, below, to see her feature.) After that, I signed up for JA Africa’s newsletter and that’s how I learned about a bigger body called JA Worldwide. I later followed JA Worldwide on Facebook and Twitter and signed up for a monthly newsletter,” where she learned about her chance at being crowned JA’s Biggest Superfan.
Through the JA Africa Tide Turners campaign, Sarah learned skills that aren’t taught in a traditional classroom. She advocated on behalf of the environment, using her voice for a positive change and learning creative ideas for how to make money while recycling plastics. “I also got exposed to other meaningful ways of environmental protection,” she says, “which I believe will enable me to become an advocate for the environment at all levels. JA Africa allowed me to speak at the Online National Youth Summit Plastic Tide Turner’s Challenge 2020, organized by the United Nations Environment Programme in India (view below) in June. I am super proud to be part of JA.”
Sizolwethu Maphanga
JA Eswatini
At only 18 years old, JA Eswatini alumnus Sizolwethu Maphanga became an award-winning CEO, a voice for youth in her country, and a rising force in the African technology sector.
Sizolwethu Maphanga’s participation in the JA Company Program enabled her to transform her appetite for tech into a burgeoning career. In 2018, she co-founded JA student company Nazware Innovations, which created IVOTE, an app that eliminates lines and other delays and ensures accuracy and transparency during the voting process. Under her leadership, her student company won second place at the JA Africa Company of the Year Competition, and Sizolwethu received both the Christi Maherry CEO Rising Award and the JA Africa Employability Award. The company continued to grow after the JA Company Program. In 2019, Sizolwethu shared, “We have been approached by our government, which wants to use the voting system for national elections in four years.”
She went on to participate in the African Girls Can Code Initiative’s first coding camp for girls in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A joint initiative from the African Union Commission, UN Women, and the International Telecommunications Union, the four-year program teaches girls digital literacy, coding, and personal development skills. The initiative held a contest to select a logo idea from among its students, and judges selected Sizolwethu’s design.
Not only did the logo design competition cement her place in the initiative’s history, it also meant an invitation to meet one-on-one with UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who believes the inclusion of girl and women in tech jobs is essential. Sizolwethu called meeting the Secretary-General “one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. Meeting the Secretary-General, the person who is at the top of the UN, was one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”
In 2020, as a featured speaker at a commemoration ceremony for International Youth Day, Sizolwethu said young people in Eswatini—a population numbering around 700,000—“simply need a listening ear, resources, and a little bit of faith.” In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic raging at the time, she addressed the challenges young people in Eswatini faced, especially the 46.55% youth unemployment rate and the prevalence of HIV among girls ages 15–19 years. “I believe the youth are fresh, vigorous, and innovative,” she said. “Their ideas, combined with the experience of the older people, can help bring about impactful economic activity in the country.”
Today, Sizolwethu continues the career in technology she began with the JA Company Program and Nazware Innovations. With aspirations to start an agriculture technology company, she seeks to transform the agriculture sector by developing software and equipment for farmers. “The goal is to make people more productive in their agricultural activities through the use of my technology products,” she said. “The services will range from security-like tracking devices for livestock, digital marketing and IT equipment production.”
We can’t wait to see what she does next!
Mabel Simpson
JA Ghana
Story by Helenah Swedberg; photos by Kate Carlton
The droning sound of sewing machines rises from the small workshop next to Mabel Simpson’s house. She sorts through a stack of African-print fabrics, while her two employees stitch together colorful laptop bags, handbags, backpacks, shirts, and cushions. One of the sewing machines once belonged to Mabel’s grandmother, and it has supported Mabel since she quit her office job over a decade ago to to launch mSimps, her own fashion brand.
“I love art, but my previous job had nothing to do with it,” Mabel says. Although making a career out of art is unusual in Ghana, Mabel studied visual arts in school, and it was there that she also learned to run a retail operation, though JA. Her school had a “JA Shop” on campus, and students were responsible for all aspects of managing the store, including keeping it running and profitable, learning the basics of business.
Mabel took those skills and poured them into the mSimps shop in Accra, Ghana. “The most important thing I learned from JA was business management,” Mabel says. “I’m really grateful for that opportunity. I don’t know if I would have managed to do all this without that experience.”
But being an entrepreneur can be a lonely path. “Few people understand it,” Mabel says. “They think you can wake up anytime and work anytime, and that you make a lot of money. But as an entrepreneur, you are always paying other people. You only survive if you have financial discipline.”
She wants to be an advocate for art and let young people know that they can make a career out of their artistic passions. “Some students want to study visual art, but their parents force them to pick something else,” Mabel says. “Art is underappreciated, but the key is knowing how to turn your passion into a paying job.” Mabel remembers a former mentor once telling her, “Art won’t pay you; business will pay you.” She now shares this advice with all the young art lovers she meets.
““You need both a creative mindset and business know-how. JA gives you all of this.””
Update to our original story!
Since our visit to Mabel’s shop in 2018, she has expanded to a large online store. You can find her product at https://msimpsgh.com. MSimps also now provides the opportunity for students to have internships during vacations to enable them have hands on knowledge, skill, and experience. Mabel also partners with Soar Global Foundation, an NGO dedicated to children education and community development, by organizing reading clinics for children in orphanages and underperforming schools and raising funds to stock books in school libraries across Ghana.
Team Shatla: One-Stop Shop for Plants
INJAZ Oman
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 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
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 Singapore
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 Denmark (Fonden for Entreprenørskab)
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 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.
Team Balda Taiba
INJAZ Yemen
INJAZ Yemen navigated checkpoints, impassible roads, and war-ravaged cities to bring a student team to MENA’s top youth-entrepreneurship competition in Oman
When Majid Al-Shammiri first heard that the INJAZ Al-Arab Young Entrepreneurs Celebration (YEC) would be held in Oman, he knew it was the closest the competition would ever come to his home country. In better days, the trip was a three-hour flight. But traveling from Sana’a, Yemen, to Muscat, Oman, would require three solid days of travel, mostly by car, as Majid, the student team, and their mentor circled well around the country’s most dangerous roads and checkpoints.
Yemen, currently ranked as the most dangerous place on earth, has been engaged in a civil war for more than six years. Yet INJAZ Yemen, which operates out of a modest location in the capital city, served 28,000 students in 2020, thanks to a small but dedicated group of employees and volunteers.
Majid’s Story
Born in Taiz, Yemen, Majid moved to Sana’a with his family when he was seven years old. By the time he finished high school, he had come to love the 7,000-year-old city, full as it was then of shops and cafes, and home to Sana’a University.
Majid’s last year of university, 2011, also marked the famous Arab Spring, and Yemen was one of the first countries to experience the exhilarating—and destabilizing—protests, following the first uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. After a mostly peaceful few months of political turmoil, Yemen began 2012 with a new president and a renewed hope in democracy.
That was also the year that Majid was offered the opportunity to relaunch JA operations in Yemen. He had other job offers but wanted to bring JA’s hands-on programs to his home country. Success quickly followed: In both 2012 and 2013, INJAZ Yemen made impressive showings at the YEC. But conditions within the country steadily worsened until a civil war erupted in late 2014.
A Country at War
At first, Majid and his countrymen were hopeful that a peace agreement would quell the violence. But that lasted only a few months. By the end of 2015, the INJAZ location suffered damage during an airstrike, and Majid considered, for the first time, shutting down the operation.
But his students simply wouldn’t let him give up. Keenly aware of how much they need the skills to prepare them for employment and entrepreneurship, INJAZ Yemen students insisted on taking the risk and continuing to learn.
The new building allocated to them was undamaged but far from a home for staff, volunteers, and students, creating challenges due to gasoline shortages and increasingly frequent checkpoints. These factors also increased the challenges that Majid and his staff and students faced, especially when traveling. For the INJAZ Yemen Company of the Year team (called Balda Taiba) to travel to Oman in the middle of a civil war now seemed a remote possibility.
In late 2019, after Majid negotiated for months to secure passports and visas for his students, Team Balda Taiba set off for Oman on a warm Wednesday afternoon. The first part of the journey, from Sana’a to Marib, had been a two-hour car ride in pre-war days. But it took the INJAZ Yemen team 14 hours, as they were forced to travel on a secluded mountain road that avoided checkpoints and other dangers.
From Marib to Seiyun was another eight hours in the car. From Seiyun to the Oman border took another 14 hours, this time through the desert, finally arriving at 6am on Saturday. The team had been on the road for two and a half days, with just seven hours of breaks.
Once in Oman, they traveled by car to Salalah, slept for a few hours, and then boarded a plane to Muscat, arriving late Saturday night. The competition would begin the next morning. They had made it.
Coffee, Camaraderie, and Competition
The INJAZ Al-Arab YEC is a well-oiled machine. In addition to presentations and interviews with judges, each team is assigned a trade-show booth, which they arrange in whatever way they believe will elicit the best response from judges. For Team Balda Taiba—all students at Sana’a University—the theme was coffee, the product that the company processes, infuses with local flavors, and sells, along with other hot beverages. At the trade show, the team set up carafes Judges and other VIPs who visited the team’s trade booth received a hot, spicy sample beverage, and then were pitched on its unique flavor, its affordable cost, and how there was no doubt that Yemen produces the finest coffee in the world.
““Our work is to open the minds of the youth of Yemen. For they will lead the way.””
When one visitor, a native of Brazil, stopped by, suggesting that, perhaps, Brazilian coffee—not Yemenese—was the best in the world, a member of Team Balda Taiba laughed out loud, and said, “Oh, you Brazilians. Just like the Kenyans. You always think you have the best. But wait until you taste the real thing!”
She was right. The judges thought so, too, and on the last day of the YEC, Team Balda Taiba was awarded the prestigious Citi Foundation Client Focus Award, a coup for the team and their mentor, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Isti, as well as for Majid and his staff. Suddenly, the 50+ hours of dangerous travel seemed worthwhile.
Two Yemens
The sheer joy of the team as they rushed across the stage to receive the award is, perhaps, the most illustrative contrast between the Yemen described in international news stories and the Yemen that Majid experiences every day. One is a story of suffering and loss, ranging from extreme food insecurity to demolished city blocks to shortages of everything from gasoline to teachers. The other is a story of exuberance, resilience, and—most of all—hope.
But, as Majid would tell you, they’re the same Yemen. One reflects the present; the other, the future.
Sarah Talbi
INJAZ Algeria
by Sara Hammoud, Gather Reporter for MENA
Thanks to Algerian entrepreneur and JA alumna Sarah Talbi, cleaning your plate at the end of the meal is no longer enough. Now, your plate is part of the meal. Sarah, a 22-year-old food engineer, is the co-founder of Genewin, a startup with a mission to replace plastic plates and cutlery with edible and biodegradable versions. Through her patent-pending product, Sarah sources wheat bran, a part of wheat that is usually thrown away by bread makers, to manufacture Genewin’s products: plates, bowls, cups, flatware, and more.
““The worst enemy of yourself is yourself. The most difficult challenges to overcome are the ones we carry internally.””
It took hundreds of hours in the lab to develop a product that starts biodegrading as soon as it touches soil or water and that is edible. (Compare this to several centuries required for plastic products to biodegrade!) Genewin’s first prototype was tested with team members and university professors.
By January 2020, the prototype was assessed to be safe for both the consumer and the environment, and Sarah applied for a patent to protect the formula and the process of manufacturing. She expects to be granted the patent in 2021, giving her 20 years of protection in Algeria, which can be extended to other countries through the collaboration that exists between the Algerian government and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
“It all started with the JA Company Program,” Sarah says, thinking back to her time with INJAZ Algeria, when she decided to combine her newfound business skills with her engineering background to create a successful startup.
Her JA team, which was made up of 20 students working in the food industry, came in second at the INJAZ Algeria Company of the Year competition. That singular experience brought out the entrepreneur in Sarah, and began building both her confidence and skills. She adds that being a young female entrepreneur in the MENA region is challenging, because women are often not taken seriously in the business world. But her INJAZ mentors did. They treated all students equally, regardless of gender.
Today, the Genewin team all have backgrounds in food engineering and business and are targeting Algeria youth, with green consumption patterns, as their target market. Over time, they also hope to lower costs though economies of scale by expanding to other countries in Europe and in the Arab world. And Genewin continues to research improvements in the shelf life of the product: It’s currently six months before opening the package and one month after opening.
But Sarah’s longevity in the business world is practically a guarantee given all that she has already accomplished. Sarah encourages young people like her to dream big and work hard toward their goals. Bran may be the main ingredient of Sarah’s product, but ambition and passion are the ingredients of her success.
““It all started with the JA Company Program.””
Arya Yurdacan & Öykü Ulusay with Entella Co.
JA Turkey
“Wouldn’t it be great to see a startup from the JA Company Program become one of the world’s leading companies?” asks 20-year-old JA Turkey alumnus Arya Yurdacan. She speaks with a confidence that belies her age, especially when the subject is her JA student company, Entella Co, winner of the JA Europe Company of the Year competition and the FedEx Access Award.
When team members first came together in the JA Company Program, they sought a solution to a significant problem in Istanbul: marine pollution. But the answer didn’t come easily. “Being a team is difficult, because everyone has different ideas but we need that one solution,” Arya says. “We are 10 people, and that means 10 different ideas.”
““Everyone, everything is linked to each other. One movement affects the others.””
“And we have 10 different backgrounds,” added Öykü Ulusay, Head of Sales and Marketing. “We failed so many times. But we failed as a team, not as individuals.” Öykü, a high school senior, who encountered one of the highest highs possible in JA in 2019, perfectly articulated one of the hallmarks of this organization: resilience. In a year of global tumult, Entella Co endures.
As if juggling school schedules and work weren’t enough, Arya, Öykü, and the Entella team are pursuing patents for their marine filtration system, Mareen, and looking to scale up. Meeting with angel investors to grow the business, securing patents for their design, and finding new battles to fight in the oceans, especially due to the presence of disposable face masks in waters. They’re also giving back to current JA Turkey students, volunteering as mentors for the up-and-coming entrepreneurs following in their footsteps. One of Arya’s biggest aims is to improve lives through innovative solutions and to empower and inspire people to dream big. “Balancing one’s innovation, knowledge, and hard work with values, passion, and dedication creates leaders best equipped to change the world.”
“But entrepreneurship is not easy,” she continues. “One day everything goes perfectly and the next day everything may be ruined, but the important thing is to be able to motivate yourself and keep going.” With this mindset and this leadership, our bet is on Entella Co turning into a world-class business.
In August, Arya was elected as one of the 20 Most Talented Entrepreneurs Under the Age of 20 in Europe’s “20 under 20.” She is also honored to work with the Oceans Youth Council and contribute to promoting World Oceans Day.
““We failed so many times. But we failed as a team, not as individuals.””
Bill Schawbel
Junior Achievement USA
Early in 2019, JA received exciting news: We had qualified for two charity entries in the 2020 Boston Marathon, representing a significant fundraising opportunity. William (Bill) Schawbel—founder and CEO of Schawbel Companies, Wharton graduate, JA alumnus, JA volunteer, chair of the 2019 JA Centennial Gala, and all-around JA supporter—had decided to run the marathon in celebration of his 80th birthday and secured the two entries, which are managed by John Hancock. The other entry went to Leo Martellotto, President of JA Americas, IronMan triathlete, and JA alumnus.
““I believe it’s entrepreneurial to give back, whether with time or money.””
Then along came COVID-19.
The marathon was postponed to September, but later changed to a virtual event. Registered runners completed the 26.2-mile run on their own and reported the results. Participants could run around their neighborhoods, put in miles on treadmills, or travel to another location to run, as long as they practiced COVID hygiene. Participants even had access to a virtual marathon expo and an app for family and friends to follow along.
An experienced marathoner, Bill would run the Boston Marathon for the seventh time, but this time at his home in Needham, Massachusetts, USA, completing the entire marathon on a treadmill. Blessed with an exceptional workout facility on his property, Bill arranged for supporters to cheer him on, rotating every hour and watching from a safe distance. And he and Leo raised over US $125,000 for JA.
Bill, an inspiring lifelong entrepreneur, lived and breathed JA while a student at Boston Latin School. “In 1956 or 1957, when I was involved in JA,” he says, “I was president of my JA company. We had to deal with banks, get a product to market, and get investors. This experience was not that much different than experiences later in my career, when I also had to deal with financial institutions, create new products, and manage accounts receivable and accounts payable.”
““Have a vision outside of your neighborhood. There are opportunities outside of your city, your region, and your country. Reach out and see what’s happening in the rest of the world, because you might find there are more opportunities outside than at home. But get involved locally, too.””
Now entering his ninth decade, Bill remains an active supporter of JA Worldwide and Junior Achievement of Northern New England. He has served on the JA of Northern New England Board of Directors for over 15 years as Board Chair, Executive Committee member, and Advisory Council member. Bill now serves on the JA Worldwide Global Council, and he continues to make a difference locally as a JA of Northern New England Board Emeritus.
“JA is very, very valuable for the economy in general and for underserved people in particular. JA enhances what students learn in school, through which JA students realize that, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’”
Tonatiuh Gomez
JA México
Back in high school, Tona Gomez attended the JA Mexico FIE Entrepreneurship Camp, never believing it would change the course of his life. But while he was there, surrounded by other students who had passion and vision, he decided he would do whatever it took to accomplish something big with his life. He didn’t know exactly what, but his participation in the FIE Talent Show and his journey in dance would set the stage for the inspiring career that would follow.
Today, as a principal dancer with the San Diego Ballet Company who trains an average of seven hours per day, Tona credits JA with developing the work ethic, emotional maturity, leadership, and humility required to pursue an emotionally and physically demanding career in the ballet.
““I fell in love with ballet because it wasn’t easy. The challenge is to bring your best performance wherever you are.””
He also learned resilience through JA, a trait that allowed him to not lose hope after being rejected twice by the National Center for the Arts in Mexico City (one of the most important schools in Mexico), after sustaining a serious injury that prevented him from any physical activity for over two years. Once Tona had fully healed, he had missed the age cutoff for any of Mexico’s national dance schools . . . that is, until the Superior School of Music and Dance in Monterrey extended its maximum age, and Tona came in just under the wire. He was accepted and trained extensively for one year, during which he would eat, breathe, and sleep ballet. From there, he was offered a scholarship to The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, which opened an even bigger world of opportunities, given its close proximity to New York City. Tona started traveling into the city regularly to watch ballets and go on auditions.
Although ballet is Tona’s passion, his heart is that of an entrepreneur. Throughout Tona’s training and professional dance career, he has been developing business ideas and projects with a social impact, specializing in the arts and creative industries. Prior to this, he already had one successful venture under his belt: While Tona was in college earning a B.S. in marketing, he co-created a fast-food operation that transformed a food cart (usually used to sell hot dogs or burritos) into a salad bar called Fresh & Green. When a friend wanted him to start a second location, Tona began franchising the operation, eventually creating more than 30 locations throughout Mexico.
For now, though, Tona gives the ballet company and his nonprofit organization his full attention, especially since the pandemic has given him a chance to heal from herniated discs he suffered in a late 2019 performance of The Nutcracker. At the time, just before the pandemic, doctors weren’t even sure Tona would be able to dance again. But with performances cancelled for months on end, Tona took time to heal and was surprised to find that his strength, stamina, and flexibility fully returned for the 2020 Nutcracker.
What does the future hold for Tona? He intends to keep growing in ballet, extending his entrepreneurial projects, and, perhaps, even try his hand at other performing arts ventures, such as acting. But, thanks to JA, there’s one thing he’s sure of: There will be many more startup businesses in his future.
Justin Valdez, Gather Reporter for the Americas, contributed to this story.