Jaye Malta Entrepreneurial Movement celebrates 30 years of inspiring young minds

“The value of education lies in empowering individuals to make informed choices based on their values, skills and interests” was the main message delivered at the Rabat Middle School during the launch of the Jaye Malta Entrepreneurial Movement.

As part of the organisation’s Celebrating 30 anniversary campaign, the Minister for Education and Employment introduced the latest educational programme offered by Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Malta Foundation called Economics for Success to a classroom of 12-year-old students who, next week, will be choosing their subjects to proceed into secondary school.

The programme is designed to help young students understand that the choices they make will help determine their career choices and that these should be based on inherent characteristics that drive and inspire them.

The Economics for Success programme provides interactive activities that engage students with the subject matter and is brought to life by the experience of business facilitators who can contribute to the decision-making process by providing direct insight into the world of work.

A thought that resonated with Minister Bartolo who added: “[w]e live in a complex world, and if we empower them (students) to have only the skills that formal education gives them, cut away from reality, it is not enough […] Having this kind of events, bringing people from outside, bringing people from the world of business, having them volunteer, having them here talking to our students helps contaminate education with reality, which is so important. I am really grateful for initiatives like this [Jaye Malta’s Entrepreneurial Move- ment] because the best education is the one that prepares our students for the real world.”

Since 1988, when the organisation was established as Young Enterprise, over 9,000 young, aspiring entrepreneurs have experienced what it means to start and run their own mini-business as part of the post-secondary Company programme. Today some of Malta’s foremost business owners and industry champions can call themselves Jaye Achievers, having spent their first year in sixth form planning to take over the world with their business idea.

Thirty years down the line, the organisation, renamed Junior Achievement Young Enterprise following the merger between Junior Achievement World Wide and Young Enterprise Europe, is celebrating the evolution of entrepreneurship education in Malta, the Jaye Way. With an increased emphasis on labour market skills and occupational requirements, Jaye Malta has introduced experiential, learning by play and learning by doing programmes across the educational spectrum; starting at Year 4 for students aged seven and eight all the way up to Tertiary education.

Young Kayleigh, attending St Nicholas College Rabat Middle School, on reflecting on her Jaye Malta experience commented that “this was a very interesting day because I learned a lot of new things which will help me with my decisions in the future. The [business] volunteers that gave us all the information were very inspiring.”

Jaye Malta CEO, Julian Azzopardi stated that: “It is a great pleasure to see youths respond so well to the experiences shared with them by the minister and our business facilitators as part of the activities Jaye Malta is organising to promote entrepreneurship education in local schools. I would like to thank the minister for his support and all our business volunteers who bring to life the material prepared for the learners. This is a landmark year for Jaye Malta as we are Celebrating 30 years of providing such experiences to young budding entrepreneurs and we couldn’t do it without all the volunteers and companies who commit themselves to this movement. We therefore look forward to 30 more years of inspiring young minds the Jaye Way.”

During the Entrepreneurial Movement activities, business facilitators will deliver a series of educational programmes to 3,000 students across Malta. For more information on the Celebrating 30 anniversary activities contact Jaye Malta on 2124 5054, info@jayemalta.org, visit www..jayemalta.org or www.facebook.com/JayeMalta