Ugo Aliogo
Winners have emerged at the Junior Achievement (JAN) Nigeria National Competition 2022 that was held in Partnership with FirstBank Nigeria.
The winners include: International School, University of Lagos; Queen’s School, Ibadan; Top Faith International Secondary School, Akwa-Ibom; and Special Education School, Tudun Maliki.
Speaking at the event, the Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, at First Bank, Folake Ani-Mumuney, emphasised that the initiative aims at empowering secondary school students to build fulfilling careers and be financially conscious from a young age.
This, she pointed out would help young people gain the tools and knowledge to make effective, informed financial management decisions and achieve long term financial independence.
She said through the initiative and FirstBank’s partnership with JAN, over one million young Nigerians have been impacted as they have continued to strategically drive sustainability practises through the innovation and participation of students in the JA Company programme.
According to her the bank remains committed to engendering an entrepreneurial mindset in children and young adults thereby fostering their creativity, wealth creation and management skills and ultimately, nurturing the kindness culture and corporate responsibility and sustainability involvements.
“The overarching goal of the Junior Achievement Company Program to empower young people to own their economic success by enhancing the relevance of education, is in tandem with FirstBank’s FutureFirst Initiative, which is our financial literacy, entrepreneurship and career counselling programme. It was established to promote financial inclusion amongst the youth,” she said.
In her remarks, the Executive Director, Junior Achievement Nigeria, Foluso Gbadamosi, said: “Our mission towards inspiring and transforming young people with the skill sets and mindsets needed to help them thrive in a global economy has been both challenging and exhilarating. We are extremely grateful to everyone who has made today possible. We are proud of these young leaders and their growing capacity for innovation which we believe will take Nigeria to the next level.”
Meanwhile, the overall winner of the competition was the Green Apex student company from the International School, University of Lagos that produced a biodegradable sanitary pad for women.
The first runner up was the Nexus Queen’s Creation student company from Queen’s School, Ibadan that developed a decorative led lamp structured with 80 per cent carton.
