10th August 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
JUNIOR ENTERPRISE GLOBAL FORUM MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING We, the countries and international associations of the Junior Enterprise Movement, recognise the importance of the Junior Enterprise Concept in shaping young business minds across the world. We believe that the mission of the Junior Enterprise Movement is to develop the professional skills – soft, technical and entrepreneurial – of students around the globe, to connect them and support their development, thus increasing their social impact. In this sense, we emphasise the importance of further promoting this mission, and bettering our Movement. Our aim is to ensure that Junior Enterprises are a truly global phenomenon, which is both – integrated and sustainable. This ambitious goal can be achieved by tackling a number of key challenges on our way. Today, at the Junior Enterprise World Conference (JEWC) 2014, during the first edition of the Junior Enterprise Global Forum, we agree to: 1. Represent and endorse the Junior Enterprise Concept as a global movement in our countries. 2. Promote and act towards sustainable growth of the Junior Enterprise Network worldwide. 3. Encourage and facilitate a deeper integration and more active interaction of the existing Junior Enterprises and national and international Federations and Confederations of Junior Enterprises. 4. Promote the Junior Enterprise Concept to third parties – both nationally and internationally – and encourage the active role of Junior Enterprises as part of the business ecosystem. As a result of our discussion, we have developed a set of recommendations for overcoming each of these challenges. These recommendations are addressed to ourselves, as well as to other current and future Junior Enterprise leaders.
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1. Represent and endorse the Junior Enterprise Concept as a global movement in our countries. Our work internally - within our countries and regions, with our Junior Entrepreneurs - is key to making the Concept more sustainable. In order to develop the tactical activities to promote the international movement, we need to understand the journey of a Junior Entrepreneur:
Handover
Lessons learned
Solutions and new developments
Learning fundamentals
Challenges in management and leadership
Our JE career starts with learning from previous teams and getting the grasp of our responsibility. As we evolve through the projects and other activities, we develop soft, hard and entrepreneurial skills. These skills are key in creating social impact in the future. We thus play an important role in the entrepreneurship education and experience of ourselves and our peers.
Our most important message as communicators on national and regional level is that we all have a common concept: the Junior Entrepreneurs will always be surrounded by inspiring, like-minded peers. In order to promote this message, we propose the following activities as examples of high-impact actions: 1.1 Develop a clear common message, which is easily accessible, comprehensible, memorable, and can inspire the minds of Junior Entrepreneurs. 1.2 Develop a list of clear benefits of the Junior Enterprise Concept as a global movement – to encourage our Junior Entrepreneurs to act and engage internationally. 1.3 Actively pursue the recognition of Junior Enterprises in national law – starting with the establishment of a dedicated company foundation status for Junior Enterprises. 1.4 Develop a set of high-visibility activities to promote the global concept: including events and on/off-line communication campaigns.
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1.5 Work actively with media to showcase the global impact of Junior Enterprises. 1.6 Improve relationship with universities, and cooperate with them actively.
2. Promote and act towards sustainable growth of the Junior Enterprise Network worldwide. Promoting the Junior Enterprise Concept to new countries and regions is key to ensuring the growth of our global network. There are many active and inspiring students who would greatly benefit from the Junior Enterprise Concept, and our social impact can be translated into the development of these future professionals, leaders and entrepreneurs. Our collaborative efforts can be viewed as a stream of activities, dedicated to spreading the Junior Enterprise Concept worldwide:
Create a framework of processes - to support the new initiatives with best practices, advice and benchmarks. This framework can be organised into a 'JE Bible' - a global handbook for emerging Junior Enterprises
Encourage the continuous engagement of national and regional members - to ensure the collaborative efforts and high impact
Promote the Junior Entrepreneur profile - thus creating inspiring role models, and showing that anything and everything is possible
Organise dedicated enlargement campaigns in the new regions and beyond, and fight for the recognition of the Junior Enterprise experience
Concrete and dedicated efforts should be invested in the following high-impact activities: 2.1 Pitch the Junior Enterprise concept already at the level of secondary education (and partner with other entrepreneurship organisations, with specific focus on high schools). 2.2 Open the existing and new Junior Enterprise conferences and events to nonmembers, as this is where Junior Entrepreneurs all around the globe draw inspiration, exchange and develop ideas for future collaborations.
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2.3 Organise Junior Enterprise events in non-member countries and regions in order to attract local talent. 2.4 Run a worldwide marketing campaign, supported by all countries and regions – promoting our global mission and messages. 2.5 Run a mentoring programme for new and emerging Junior Enterprises and Junior Entrepreneurs. 2.6 Run a coaching programme and encourage the JE2JE collaboration in raising new Junior Enterprises. 2.7 Develop global public affairs activities and fight for the global recognition of the Junior Enterprise Concept by external parties – thus encouraging students to be a part of an established movement.
3. Encourage and facilitate a deeper integration and more active interaction of the existing Junior Enterprises and national and international Federations and Confederations of Junior Enterprises. Junior Enterprises already collaborate across three continents, and it is of vital importance that we maintain and further enhance our dialogue and interaction. A set of activities must be developed on global level to ensure this engagement: 3.1 Develop an online platform, where Junior Entrepreneurs from around the world can exchange their challenges, solve problems together, map their skills and work actively towards becoming more engaged and professional. 3.2 Facilitate tailored discussions and exchanges during national and international meetings: cluster meetings (by industry/sector and/or by position within the Junior Enterprise). 3.3 Develop and publish an international magazine for the global movement, which both – introduces and discusses issues in different countries, but also showcases the common activities and collaborations across our global movement. 3.4 Continue to organise the Junior Enterprise World Conference (JEWC), and aim to bring together Junior Entrepreneurs from as many countries as possible. 3.5 Produce a documentary about the global Junior Enterprise Movement with inspiring role models, stories and projects. 3.6 Organise a Junior Enterprise Concept Communication Contest to engage Junior Entrepreneurs in the promotion of the global movement.
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3.7 Create and dedicate Global Awards for Junior Entrepreneurs – to showcase their tireless work, effort and projects. 3.8 Engage Junior Entrepreneurs from different countries in a Global Challenge – and encourage them to work, engage and compete with each other. 3.9 Organise a Junior Enterprise Worldwide Day – a dedicated day every year, when Junior Entrepreneurs from across the world can celebrate our great global Movement.
4. Promote the Junior Enterprise Concept to third parties – both nationally and internationally – and encourage the active role of Junior Enterprises as part of the business ecosystem. Our efforts must be dedicated not only to the work with Junior Enterprises, but also to showcasing this hard work externally. We need to ensure that in the future the Junior Enterprise Concept will be well-known by the public, private and civil society, and our impact will be recognised. Work must be conducted in several different areas to ensure the brand recognition of the Concept: Representation and Partnerships 4.1 Continue to invite high-impact speakers to our national, regional and global events – including politicians, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and others, and use them as ‘ambassadors’ of our Concept to their organisations and sectors. 4.2 Create advisory boards on Junior Enterprise, Federation and Confederation levels with high-impact individuals, who support the Concept and the Movement, and can add credibility to our activities. 4.3 Establish partnerships throughout the entire entrepreneurial education pipeline: Primary & Secondary Education Higher Education Active Entrepreneurs 4.4 Actively purpose the recognition of the Junior Enterprise concept in the legal framework of different countries. 4.5 Develop white papers and proposals in the field of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education to be communicated to politicians and business leaders – thus expressing our vision of developing young people.
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Communication and Public Relations 4.6 Develop a platform and dedicated targeted efforts towards connecting and interacting with alumni – as they can endorse our concept to their new organisations, sectors and circles. 4.7 Aim to be constantly present in the media and create buzz around our Movement and activities. 4.8 Organise Junior Enterprise trade fairs for the different offerings and activities of our members – as a way for them to acquire clients, develop projects and collaborate. Research and Alignment 4.9 Use the Global Forum to generate global research and reports that would help us validate and promote the Junior Enterprise Concept. 4.10 Present and communicate the global Junior Enterprise Movement in every national, regional and international event, and encourage our Junior Enterprise to include a brief on this in their handovers.
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We further agree that our progress on tackling these challenges will be evaluated and revised during the next Junior Enterprise Global Forum due to take place during JEWC 2016. Until then and beyond, we commit to promote the mission of the Junior Enterprise Concept and act responsibly and effectively on behalf and for the benefit of our Junior Entrepreneurs. Signed in Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday, 10th August 2014
BDSU, Germany
Brasil JĂşnior
CEJE, Spain
CNJE, France
JADE, Europe
pp JADE Austria
pp JADE Belgium
JADE Italia
JADE Poland
pp JADE Portugal
JADE Romania
JADE Switzerland
UniPartners Nederland
WBC, United Kingdom
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JET, Tunisia
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