YESL team in Asia Pacific Company of the Year Competition 2011 in HK

YOUNG Entrepreneurs Sri Lanka (YESL) member Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide presently in 123 countries has nominated YESL’s JA Company of the Year 2010 to compete in the Inaugural Asia Pacific Junior Achievement Company of the Year contest being held in Hong Kong from 17 to 19 January 2011.

Alpha Lyrae JA/YESL Company of Musaeus College competed with nearly 100 JA/YESL School Companies in Sri Lanka and was the winner of the Company of the Year 2010.

The Board Directors of the company comprising the following will make the presentation of their company at the competition: Madushi Perera – President/Team Leader, Chapa Perera – Marketing Director, Samurdhi Jayamaha – HR Director, Chamika Maddumarachchi – Finance Director and Kaushini Perera – Secretary.   

Dayani Edirisinghe, Attorney-at-Law and Chief Operating Officer of YESL, is accompanying the students as their chaperone. She will also represent YESL at the JA Asia Pacific Conference in Hong Kong.

YESL President Patrick Amarasinghe stated young entrepreneurs participating in a Global Entrepreneur Competition was a very good exposure and opportunity for children to have a feeling about the real world and how Sri Lanka can meet the challenges of a competitive global economy. We have teams from Sri Lanka competing in sports – athletics and other areas, but children competing on entrepreneurship is relatively new.

YESL continues to inspire and groom our children to succeed in a global economy with social responsibility.

The first Asia Pacific competition helps young people understand the role of business in the global economy by allowing students to organise and operate an actual business enterprise and market and sell a product in the real world.

The inaugural COY Asia Pacific will include 65 participants from 13 teams representing 10 markets including Guam (a US territory), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Turkmenistan.

The competition is jointly organised by FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company, and US-based JA Worldwide, the world’s largest organisation dedicated to empowering young people to own their economic success.

During the three-day programme in Hong Kong, student companies will be evaluated by a panel of judges comprised of entrepreneurs, academics, and representatives from the local business community. The participating student companies will be on display at a trade fair exhibition at Pier 7, Central Star Ferry Pier, on 18 January. The exhibition will be open to public.

All participants will also be eligible for the FedEx Access Award. This Award by FedEx rewards student companies who demonstrate the most potential to create jobs, grow small business, expand global development and improve the environment. Winners of the Company of the Year Competition and the FedEx Access Award will be announced on 19 January.

David L. Cunningham Jr., President of FedEx Express Asia-Pacific, said: “The competition celebrates the accomplishments of JA Company Programme students in the Asia Pacific region. During participation in the JA Company Programme, students start and run their own businesses with support from volunteers from their local business community. They develop and market a product or service with the goal of realizing a profit for their shareholders. The programme currently impacts more than 360,000 students a year globally.”

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organisation dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. For more, go to www.ja.org.