Success stories 2016

SUCCESS STORIES BOOKLET 2016

Inspiring the next generation of business leaders

JADE The European Confederation of Junior Enterprises JADE is the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises. Our mission is to encourage entrepreneurship in Europe by fostering a unique concept: the Junior Enterprise, a non profit business managed solely by students that invests its earnings into its own development.

By integrating a network of 280 Junior Enterprises in 14 European countries and supporting the growth of its 22,000 members, JADE is one of the most powerful European youth organizations that fights skills mismatch and creates great potential for a more entrepreneurial society and active citizenship.

What is a Junior Enterprise?

A Junior Enterprise is a non-�profit civil social organization, formed and managed exclusively by undergraduate and postgraduate students of higher education, which provides services for companies, institutions and society, under the guidance of teachers and professionals with the goal to consolidate and enhance the learning or their members. Junior Enterprises are similar to real companies, counting with the principles of corporate governance like management council and executive board, and own regulation.

Outside Europe, Junior Enterprises are present in around 40 countries, with over 40,000 Junior Entrepreneurs in the world.

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EDITORIAL Students fostering entrepreneurship. Since 1992 The Success Stories booklet aims at inspiring the next generation of business leaders.

Alice Boulé

Success Stories Project Manager

Daniela Runchi

JADE President 2016

For us, Entrepreneurship refers to an individual ability to turn ideas into actions.

The entrepreneurial competences includes therefore transversal skills and attitudes as well as more specialized knowledge and business skills. In a broad sense, entrepreneurship should be considered as a mindset that supports everyone in day-‐to-‐ day life at home and in society.

In order to inspire entrepreneurship, we have to look closer at role-‐models, and learn from them. This is what Success Stories is about.

Dive in, and meet former junior entrepreneurs that turned what they learnt in their JE in a successful career!

Check out the digital version for more stories and web exclusives.

Go to www.jadenet.org and look for Success Stories.

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SUMMARY Understanding entrepreneurship Introduction: Martin Schulz on Junior Enterprises

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Success Stories Startup Europe – Isidro Laso

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In-‐Recruiting – Azzurra Giorgio

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Innext – Stefano Tommasi

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Crossvertise – Thomas Masek

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Graphwear – Antoine Galand

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Genevaboats – Balthazar Witzig

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PwC – Oier Martinez Violet

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Europa Investimenti – Giacomo Pastore

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Landings.Jobs – Mario Tarouca

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Glookast – Nuno Morais Da Silva

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Imperial Tobacco – Lorenzo Uberti

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Isee / Groupon -‐ Johan Moonen

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Brasil TO -‐ Ryoichi Oka Penna

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Contacts

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FOREWORD

Martin Schulz

Dear European Confederation of Junior Enterprises, Dear JADE, SMEs are the first private employer in Europe and a chance for our continent: they are the driving force of our European growth, in Europe and for Europeans. Let's look only at our common digital market: it is an enormous opportunity for our continent and the new generation of entrepreneurs has all the tools, knowledge and will to lead in this market, in Europe and further.

That's why I want to congratulate JADE for its involvement in encouraging entrepreneurial skills in Europe. Thanks to you, more than 280 junior enterprises in 14 European countries bridge the gap between academia and the real market. In addition to their studies, 22.000 students are practically involved into the running of non-�profit SMEs in Europe: that is an impressive number of young Europeans learning how to become entrepreneurs, and moreover discovering social entrepreneurship.

Thanks a lot for your commitment and keep up with the good work.

Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament

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ABOUT Isidro Laso Isidro Laso works for the European Commission in the area related to innovative businesses, currently leading the Commission’s initiative to support startups called “Startup Europe”. Startup Europe’s aim is to turn Europe into a “Startup Continent” where all startups and stakeholders are connected. Mr. Laso is especially working on regulation and policy development related to building this ecosystem.

What was your role in your Junior Enterprise and what did it teach you?

“I created the JE called AgriJunior in the agronomic engineering school of technical university of Madrid (﴾Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)﴿ 20 years ago. It was my first experience in creating a legal entity, that I run for 3 years; in the end we had more than 40 students working for different companies: it was a gig thing! Thinking about what I learned with respect to university, I’d say: § How to set up a company § How negotiate with other businesses, or motivate students to work § Getting a hold of the most interesting technical developments back then and today -‐ geographical information such as ESRI and Google Maps (﴾one of our clients worked in this field)﴿

How did you think about starting your own business? Why in this field?

After university, after experiencing funding a Junior Enterprise and getting contracts with clients, I was attracted to entrepreneurship and decided to try.

I founded a software SME working on automatic green houses and interactions with sensors and actuators -‐ very innovative at the time. I was an engineer working in the area of agriculture and the most innovative ideas were related to green houses and hydroponic crops, which is what my company did (﴾calculation composition of water and taking nutrients to compensate the water for plants to have the right nutrients)﴿.

It was a very innovative and growing industry!

ISIDRO’s advice Try again and again - and then be ready to change your mind and try something new. You need to fail before making something big: you need to fail to be able to learn and make your next project bigger. It is a cycle : try and fail fast, learn fast.

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Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

You need to have something inside -‐ many people have this, but then it is about doing it. I think the ideal entrepreneurship course would push students to actually set up a business: in most countries it can be done in few days and with little funds. You need to try for real and make real business, get clients and sign contracts. The whole class should be about setting up the business for real – not creating a business plan but actually pitching to potential investors.

What are your expectations about the evolution of your career?

As an entrepreneur there is a moment when you want to pursue a new adventure. In the European Commission you can change sector relatively fast: after 5 years in Startup Europe I am still working to make it bigger and grow, but the EC also gives you the chance to try different things and as an entrepreneur I also look at new challenges.

Isidro Laso Head of Startup Europe European Commission

What’s the difference between being your own boss and working for a company?

It is a big difference: it is a matter of risk aversion and how much risk you are ready to cope with. When I created my SME I did not have a family so I could risk more; now I have children -‐ 6 – and even though I am still willing to take some risk I want to do it in a different way.

This is why I decided to go to work for an employer: I became what now is called an intrapreneur. I worked first in Bossard – in strategic consultancy -‐ and as an intrapreneur I developed a new business area focusing on geographic information systems applied to business: it was first case in Spain where a big company was using this technique to associate customers to different service providers. Later on I moved to other big companies where I also had the chance to create new departments, and then in the European Commission where I created an area called “collaborative working environment” and later “Startup Europe”. As an intrapreneur you can also create new things, but the risk is lower compared to being an entrepreneurs … even though I must say it is not as rewarding as creating your own private endeavour.

www.ec.europa.eu/digital-‐single-‐market/en/startup-‐europe JADE Success Stories Booklet 2016

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In-‐recruiting is the web-‐based HR software that helps companies to streamline the recruitment and selection of candidates. It simplifies every stage of the process, job posting, organization of CVs up to interviews, to choose the right candidate. All in one place.

The Applicant Tracking System is designed for Corporation, SME, Head Hunters and Employment Agencies.

How much were you involved in your J.E. / Confederation? What was the added value with respect to the university?

My experience in the J.E. movement changed my life and made it full of wonderful opportunities to learn and grow, as well as full of great people that are still part of my life today.

I’ve been involved both in my Junior Enterpris (﴾JEME Bocconi)﴿ and in JADE Italia as Vice President and Responsible for Communication and International Relations, as well as project manager and team member: I really experienced all the best from the movement and it gave me the opportunity to face the real world and become a professional, even before finishing my studies. It was a boost for my career but, most of all, one of the deepest experiences I still bring with me in my heart. Still today, everyday, I benefit from what I’ve learnt in those great years.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why in this field?

I’ve always been a person who “does” and “makes things happen”: I love to create

ABOUT Azzurra Giorgio

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things from nothing and to make things real… but the J.E. experience made my entrepreneurial spirit living! Actually, everything started in a group of former J.E. colleagues: Matteo Cocciardo involved me in the project and, supported by other 4 J.E. friends, we built up the first release of the software and installed the business in the incubator of Turin Polytechnic University. Our interest in HR and recruiting came from the experience in our Junior Enterprises: we all had organized career days and had contacts with HR managers from international top companies…we really were into the business!

What are the main issues you faced?

Of course, working every day for In-‐ recruiting has been full of issues…sometimes I failed facing them, sometimes I was successful. But every time I gained more experience and learnt something new to go ahead. Maybe the most difficult issue was to stay strong and full of trust, positivity and faith: you need to have a good attitude, in good and in bad times, to keep on searching for success.

www.in-‐recruiting.com JADE Success Stories Booklet 2016

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Be prepared to see things changing: your initial vision will undergo numerous modifications, some depending on the real market you will face, some depending on your changing mindset…everyday you’ll have new experiences and will learn new things!

Then, build a strong entrepreneurial idea: a solid and backed up concept is fundamental, and be sure that it will be shared and understood among your adventure companions.

Last but not least, especially if you are looking for investments, build a strong team: concepts can change, market conditions can change…but your team will be the real object of interest of potential investors. Team means people, people means competences as well as passions and love for what you will do.

Azurra Giorgio CEO at in-recruiting

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, or is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

I am convinced that entrepreneurial spirit is something that can be in your heart since you are a little girl or boy, but it can also arise from experiences you live and people you meet in your life, as it has happened to me. Spirit is a fundamental part of entrepreneurship but it is not everything: you also need competences and capabilities that can be built thanks to experiences “on the job”…but you also need to study! Regulations, business planning and accounting techniques, investors and market practices are part of the knowledge that entrepreneurs should own to be competitive: I am convinced that these can be subjects of university courses, especially if strongly linked to real cases presented to students.

How is digitalization changing the scene for entrepreneurs?

Digitalization means more and more opportunities everyday: opportunities to learn, to develop your products/ services, as well as to acquire customers and expand your business. Of course it also increases threats: your competitors will have the same opportunities and they will take a look at your business more easily.

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ABOUT Stefano Tommasi Innext is a multiservice firm specialized in Change Management and Digital Innovation, among the few Google for Work Premier Partners in Italy. For more than 10 years we have been providing our clients with innovative solutions in order to help them renewing themselves and improve their business. Our team located between our HQ in Milan and the Chinese branch in Shanghai collaborates within three Business Units: Strategic Consulting, Innovation and Internationalization.

How much were you involved in your J.E. ?

When I was in a JE as the financial manager of JEME Bocconi in Milan, in 1995; the most important experience for me was working with people that became my friends, working together as a team: we were enjoying what we were doing. It was really intense, we pushed hard. This experience required considerable efforts but at the same time we were learning and growing a lot. In 1997, I became part of the Executive Board of JADE in Brussels and it was a rewarding experience as well. To me, my JE experience has been the foundation of my company Innext. I created it in 2003 with two friends coming from my Junior Enterprise.

How did you think about starting your own business?

In 2003 I founded Innext with two friends of mine coming from JEME Bocconi.

It was a real challenge: at the beginning there were just the three of us and it was really hard to tell the others that we were creating a company. ..

Nowadays we are a multiservice firm specialized in Change Management and Digital Innovation. We are among the few “Google for Work Premier Partners� in Italy and by far the best recognized one in change management.

What are the main issues you faced?

Not only at the beginning, but also afterwards we could not afford to have a salary. We had to provide guarantees for the loan that we received from the bank.

Sometimes we had disagreements with our customers, our employees and even between partners. Being an entrepreneur on your own is not the same when you share a company. People have different points of view and you need to take it into account.

www.innext.com/en JADE Success Stories Booklet 2016

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STEFANO’S QUOTE

Stefano Tommasi Co-founder and Partner at Innext

“As an entrepreneur, I have a great flexibility in what I can do in my company and this is one of the intriguing aspects of my job. On the other side it's also important to respect the organization we have drawn at Innext in order to allow everybody to perform at their best in their roles”

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

Entrepreneurship has always been in my DNA along with my attitude towards risk-‐taking​. For me, an entrepreneur​ has to be brave enough to stand for ​the ideas​ he believes in, in addition to creating positive relationships and a synergistic work environment.​ For more than 10 years we have been providing our clients with innovative solutions in order to help them renewing themselves and improve their business.​ Together we are a team who works hard and takes risks, always moved by passion and a strong propensity to Innovation.

I have also been working as a trainer and I am passionate about being a management consultant and VP of Confindustria Assoconsult, the Association that represents the main Italian management consulting companies.

JADE Success Stories Booklet 2016

“When you are working for

your Junior Enterprise, you are often working until really late in the evening. At Innext we also work hard and at the same time we have this nice feeling of belonging: because growth is a passion, an amusement in a big sense. The feeling of satisfaction while we are working is always by our side”.

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ABOUT Thomas Masek Founded in 2011, crossvertise has developed a fully-‐automated media booking platform. This enables companies to easily plan and book cross-‐channel ad campaigns from a single source. We operate the largest media database, including out-‐of-‐ home, radio, print, online, mobile, TV, as well as cinema.

How much were you involved in your Junior Enterprise?

What did it teach with respect to your university?

I was really involved in my Junior Enterprise as a member of the management board and project manager of internal projects. I really helped to shape my JE during my time as active member. I worked on a lot on consulting projects and helped the board of BDSU (﴾German Confederation of Junior Enterprises)﴿ as member of the supervisory board. I learnt especially to act and take decisions on my own responsibility.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why in this field?

I had developed the basic idea during my JE-‐time, discussing and shaping and making it evolve with friends from other JEs (﴾all my co-‐founders worked in Junior Enterprises as well)﴿. Our approach was to solve the problem of a time-‐ and cost-‐ consuming media buying process due to the big diversity in types of media (﴾TV, Radio, Print, Out-‐of-‐home, Cinema, Online, Mobile)﴿ and the high number of publishers combined with a lack of standards and lack of market transparency.

Thomas Masek CEO at Crossvertise JADE Success Stories Booklet 2016

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Spread the word: Talk about your idea to get feedback and find Co-Founders, Partners and Customers Don't give up (to soon): There are a lot of reasons to give up. Use them to evolve your service/business!

Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness!

What’s the difference between being your own boss and working for a company?

You work for yourself and the results are your own. In case of success it is very motivating, in case of failure it can be pretty harsh and existential.

That leads to a lot of working hours and an steep learning curve.

What are your expectations about the evolution of your business?

Right now we are growing really fast and we are in a great position at the center of digitalization in the media-‐sector. In future we will further simplify and automate planning, booking and executing advertising campaigns and finding new customers.

What are the main issues you faced?

One of our main challenges was fundraising. Especially due to a disruptive innovation and the goal of quick growth, we had a need for capital.

We had to put a lot of time and effort in fundraising and had more than one situation where we could not do the best for the company due to lack of liquidity.

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or is it something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

The most important “skills” are to take risks and make decisions even in case of a lack of information. Entrepreneurship courses help to execute the idea, so I do recommend to learn what you can in school. But you also have to be prepared to sacrifice a lot of free time and to take risks.

www.crossvertise.com

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ABOUT Antoine Galand Could you tell us more about your company?

We build a graphene sensor that analyses users’ sweat in real time to determine their hydration, glucose and lactic acid levels. Those values enable wearers to optimize their performance and recovery during workout and games. Our main target are professional athletes.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why this field?

I left France to pursue a double degree at the University of Pennsylvania (﴾UPenn)﴿, in Philadelphia (﴾USA)﴿, in Nanotechnology. At that point, I was already highly interested in entrepreneurship and had the opportunity to follow classes in partnership with the Wharton School of Business, where I learned specifically about starting a company and a new negotiation model that challenges the current one. As I was looking for jobs in nanotechnology upon graduating, I was also contemplating joining two friends of mine who had just ventured in that area. I had been helping them out with some of their issues in my spare time, as I was still taking classes. They then offered me to join, and I did for several reasons. First, their technology is amazing and I truly believed in it and in their market focus.

Then, we all get along very well and know how to work together. Finally, I have an eye condition that compels me to work on a hydration related device, as I experience first-‐hand how useful that can be.

Antoine Galand Tech Lead at Graphwear How much were you involved in your J.E.? What did it teach you compared to university?

I was the President of Centrale Nantes Etudes and was not directly involved in the French national Confederation of Junior Enterprises (﴾CNJE)﴿. Like every J.E., I did work with the CNJE and we organized one regional congress. My team and I worked closely with some entrepreneurship-‐related structures like incubators, the different trade, commerce and crafts chambers and technopoles. I learned hands-‐on how to manage a team and deal with clients. It taught me how to negotiate a business transaction and more generally how to maintain a strategy.

That experience complemented the business-‐ oriented classes I took at Centrale Nantes and gave me a chance to apply those notions.

www.graphwear.co/

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What’s the difference between being your own boss and working for a company?

There are a few things here, but I don’t think you can ever truly be your own boss. I believe your team, investors, advisors and market are always expecting you to deliver.

However, you do have more freedom to pursue some ideas or to organize yourself.

That can also be really dangerous: you need to focus your energy on a specific application not to waste time and resources, especially in the early stage.

When working in a small team, you need to be able to trust the others to be able to focus on your job, you cannot afford to wait on someone else to deliver. Hence, planning is key and tasks should be properly assigned to the right person.

What are the main issues you faced?

You are constantly challenged by failures. As you go through your research and development, you face a lot of disappointments.

You spend your time trying to implement ideas and you analyze why they do or do not work. It takes time and energy to build a technology from scratch and you need to be patient and resilient.

You might not have a successful attempt in weeks but should bear in mind that those steps tell you a lot about your technology and there is much to learn in those failures.

However, you also need to know when to give up and pivot on a new idea. It can be really frustrating: you spent 2 or 3 weeks working on a concept and you must decide to abandon it but if you don’t you will end up losing more time and resources.

Raising money is another challenge we are currently facing. It is key to get to the next steps but it can be very frustrating too and it takes time.

Often, founders focus their energy on that and stop developing their product. I think you should never stop your R&D and we are lucky to have a team of three people, so two can focus on fundraising while the third one keeps working on the product, creating more value to the company as time goes by.

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

You definitely learn a lot by doing, but there are many mistakes that you can do without realizing it: it is not a good idea, in my opinion, to venture on your own without a bit of entrepreneurship knowledge.

You may have advisors and people helping you but I believe those courses are really helpful.

I was lucky to be able to follow some classes dedicated to entrepreneurship at UPenn / Wharton and I learned a lot. They teach you about raising money, what to fight for and what to trade as a negotiation point, they warn you about the easy mistakes to avoid and the less obvious ones. Most of all, the teachers are usually well connected and can definitely help you grow your network.

However, I believe those classes complement a mindset and not everyone is suited to be an entrepreneur, as it comes with a lot of stress and responsibilities.

“Focus on your market! Do not create a product because you find it cool and you think people will like it, do it because you know they will and that there is a real need.”

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ABOUT Balthazar Witzig Genevaboat is a company specialized in high standard boats for rent on the Lake Geneva. It offers various types of activities: fishing, sailing, water sports, or just a beautiful cruise around the Lac Léman. It charters 14 boats of different sizes and models.

How much were you involved in your J.E. and did it teach you with respect t your university?

When I started the university I immediately applied for the JE of my school, and during my second year I became Treasurer. When I was a member of the JE, I had the opportunity to enter and foster a network.

I established professional relationships as well and managed an Executive Board for one year… I learnt a lot about basic processes such as entering into a contract or leading a project from A to Z. The main challenge is that everything needs to be agreed upon: and this is really rewarding. You need to do your best to convince people, or otherwise understand why you have disagreements.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why in this field?

I bought my first boat at the age of 13, business has always been my thing.

Balthazar Witzig, Genevaboat founder When I was 10, I earned money by singing in a famous place in Geneva. I saved this money for my first boat and it was a thrilling thing for me.

I had my first client at the age of 16 and few years later I realized that I could earn money while doing something I loved. So I started my very own entrepreneurship experience.

On my fridge I have a quote that says “choose a job that you love, and you will never work again in your whole life”: that is what I did.

What’s the difference between being your own boss and working for a company?

I think that it is about taking risk. When you create your own business you need to be prepared to face challenges, and sometimes fail.

When you work in the corporate field it is not really the same.

www.genevaboats.com

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SOLUTION

BALTHAZAR’s advice What are the main issues you faced?

I would say that at the beginning it was difficult to establish strong and faithful relationships with my partners because I was a young entrepreneur. No matter if you are 20 years old you have to be really professional, and the most important thing was to be really good when I carried out my first transaction. After you earn their trust everything comes more easily.

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

I think there are two kinds of people: some have an entrepreneurial disposition since they were born.

When you want to create your business you first need to do it because you like it, not because you want to earn money. And for the others, thanks to the Junior Enterprise they can develop entrepreneurial skills and develop a disposition for it.

I think that every entrepreneur should start with a small business and small operations and focus on it until it’s really strong and established. Take it easy, think first about simplicity. And if it works, then you can increase it. At the beginning even if the cash flow is not high people should think about the basics: identify a need demand, answer to this demand, make your service, enter into a contract…

What are your expectations about the evolution of your business?

My main goal right now is to improve and strengthen our position in the market. I think that when you have that kind of business you need to grow in a moderate way, and get used to any change.

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ABOUT Giacomo Pastore GIACOMO’s advice “Just be curious and to not be afraid of mistakes.

Be tough and have a strict personal discipline.

Great results will come.”

Let’s start. My name is Giacomo Pastore, I’m 29 years old and I’m from Italy. I studied in Bocconi University in Milan and perfected my studies with a Master in Business Administration and Strategy at the School of Management of Bocconi University.

At the moment I’m experiencing a double work life.

The first side regards Europa Investimenti, an Italian based holding operating in the finance industry (﴾private equity and distressed asset)﴿, where my job consists in managing the finance department (﴾treasury, reporting and accounting)﴿, with an additional specific proxy for “Cose Belle d’Italia”, a hub of companies operating in the Made in Italy founded by Europa Investimenti in 2013.

The other side of my life is represented by entrepreneurship. In the past 3 years I founded different companies in order to make real my personal business projects. Today my companies operate in the food & beverage, mechanical and medicine fields.

Also, I’m working to start projects in Media and Communication, Farming and Luxury in a few months.

Giacomo Pastore Financial Controller presso Europa Investimenti

www.europainvestimenti.com

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How much were you involved in your J.E. / Confederation; and what it taught you that your university did not?

My adventure in the world of Junior Enterprise started in 2006, when I managed to pass the selection for JEME. It was no easy to pass selection: I did it at the third round (﴾I remember this as a continuing source of inspiration)﴿. During my experience in JEME I had the possibility to work with a lot of great people, who give me a lot in term of friendship and skills. A lot of them represent for me a continuous motivation to growth (﴾for example Andrea Gerosa, Azzurra Giorgio, Marco Berrinzoni, Carlo Capra…and more)﴿. The projects we carried were mainly market research, product test, industry analysis and communication plan. And in every project I remember a big “wow” on every aspect of the “real work world” I discovered. Because I think that (﴾in Italy, for example)﴿ there is a very dangerous gap between the universities and the companies. In this sense, Junior Enterprises are a career acceleration and a skills incubator.

What skills you learned in your JE did you find useful in your career?

The first thing I learned is that a good and useful output is not like a university tutorial.

The real world is full of variables which are not easy to understand and control. So the junior enterprise taught me to consider a much more complicated environment than it may seem. If a professional is trained to think in a complex and fast way, after you have an advantage towards colleagues How did you manage to climb the ladder of your business ?

I think there’s no rule or a perfect way to climb the ladder of every business. I think the only thing that makes the difference is the approach. Because, in my opinion, thinking big from the beginning will permit you to achieve excellent results

Why did you choose to work in this field?

Well, I never said “I will work in finance” and I have never made a decision like that before the opportunity appeared.

And it’s the same for the other companies I founded: I never said “in the future I’ll found a company in food & beverage” But all my choices have a common thread: the curiosity. Today I work for a finance company and I never did a specific degree in finance. So I think the curiosity and desire to discover new things are the main drivers of the professional growth.

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ABOUT Mario Tarouca How much were you involved in your J.E and what it taught you that your university did not?

I joined JEEFEUC on my second year of University. After some months, I became President and at only 20 years old I was managing a 40+ people team. Being part of a JE made me develop many skills that I couldn't have the opportunity to learn in the classroom. Such as, managing a huge team; learn how to pitch and sell; and even project management tools and skills.

After this, I moved one year to Brussels in order to be part of the JADE Executive Board. And you know what? It was by far one the best decisions I've taken! I learnt so many different things, met so many awesome people and travelled quite a lot. Why don't you do the same?

Landing.jobs is a tech hiring marketplace dedicated to matchmaking top tech talent with top tech employers. We have more than 40.000 tech pros looking for an opportunity in 700+ companies from all Europe — Trivago, Booking.com, Spotify, Zalando and Sky.

Mario Tarouca Young entrepreneur

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How did you think about starting your own business? Why this field?

Some weeks ago, I decided to quit my current job (﴾Sales Manager @ Landing.jobs)﴿ and create my own business. We will create products that can 1)﴿ inspire and 2)﴿ support people to realize their dreams and make things happen! Basically, we want them (﴾you!)﴿ to turn ideas into actions.

What’s the difference between being your own boss and working for a company?

I must confess that I'm a bit expectant about becoming my own boss. It won't be easy. It'll require a lot of responsibility from my side. But I love challenges! Let's do it. Let's talk again in few months.

MARIO’s advice The most important is 1) team and 2) execution. Ideas everyone has.

But not everyone can be efficient and successful when it comes to the execution part. Find and create a sustainable and top-talent team and I'm sure you will be successful!

Entrepreneurship courses have been implemented into economics and business studies. Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

Since the moment you were born, you are constantly influenced by the environment that surrounds you. For sure that, where and when you were born and who raised you helped to define your personality.

This said, I believe that the concept of turning ideas into actions is something that you can develop at school, inside the classroom, but even more important in extra-‐ curricular activities, such as a Junior Enterprise.

How is digitalization changing the scene for entrepreneurs?

Nowadays, you can create a product/service in anywhere in the world and sell it in any place of the planet. I've been following a concept that has becoming popular amongst the tech community: Digital Nomads. These are people who use IT tools to earn a living and, more generally, conduct their life in a nomadic manner. They work from coffee shops, restaurants, hostel, even from the beach. On my side, I want to try for couple of months in the near future.

www.landing.jobs

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ABOUT Nuno Morais Da Silva

“I am a Sales & Business Development Manager at GLOOKAST. This company works in the field of technology broadcast, for example with, TV stations that produce content addressed to the European market. I have been working there for almost three years already.”

Nuno’s advice about entrepreneurship “Entrepreneurship is not only about creating a business, but it is also an attitude in your every day job. When you do something, you have to keep it mind how you could do better the next time, how you could improve yourself. It is very easy to fall into routines, but you need to push yourself hard every day if you want to succeed.”

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How much were you involved in your Junior Enterprise and Confederation? What did it teach you with respect to your university?

The first time I heard about a Junior Enterprise I was in Lisbon, I did not get in straight away but I made some researches for a national newspaper and I applied for a JE in Porto in 1999, where my application was accepted. I was a bit frustrated with the academic courses when I was studying economics, and with the JE I had the opportunity to get a hands-‐on experience on what was happening in the real working word. I traveled a lot during these years: I participated in Summer JADE Meeting in 2000, then Paris, Poland… I learnt a lot about different culture and made many friends abroad. However, the professional aspect of being part of a JE was what mattered the most for me. You know, Portugal is a small country; the JE gave me the opportunity to widen my way of thinking about work and ethic as well. Afterwards I became President in the Executive Board of JADE in 2002 Why did you choose to work in this field?

During my work at JADE, we were working for companies that sold websites to theirs parties. I realized that year that economics was not my cup of tea, while marketing fitted me much more. After my year in JADE I became responsible for Sales in a company and few years later I started my own company. We provided services related to branding, logo creation, website…

Afterwards I stopped and came back to Portugal, after traveling a lot.

Did you learn some skills in your JE that you find useful in your career?

Absolutely! I would say not only “useful” skills but “key” skills. My JE taught me how to be professional even if were only around 20 years old:. We needed to show people how professional we were, and it is something I use every day in my work. Then I gained and improved a lot my sales skills,: you need to understand your customers, keep thinking about what they really need, tell them exactly how you can help them etc... It is about always knowing how to be professional.

Nuno Morais Da Silva

www.glookast.com

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ABOUT Lorenzo Uberti Since the beginning of my career I am involved in projects. I started in Imperial Tobacco, 4th cigarette manufacturer in the world 4,5 years ago by being project manager on supply chain/ manufacturing related activities aiming at legislative compliance. At a later stage, I worked on projects related to the development of new solutions in the field of traceability. Lately I am supporting the biggest programme of Imperial Tobacco by coordinating overall project interdependencies, stakeholders, resources and budget.

Manager coding & Tracking strategy at Imperial Brands

How much were you involved in your J.E? What did it teach you with respect to your university?

I was in my J.E, JELIUC, for a period of 1,5 years. I started my JE experience, following a friend of mine who was working there. From the 1st day I learned that to achieve something in my J.E, I had to get out of my comfort zone, had to convince potential partners to become part of our future plans, had to manage client expectations, had to keep a team motivate to achieve a goal, had to coach new recruits in becoming Junior Entrepreneurs. All of these experience allowed me to grow as a person and become more self confident.

In my JADE ExBo experience I further developed, by managing an international team with a diverse background and culture. This thought me that everyone is different, everyone needs to be motivated differently, everyone reacts different to feedbacks, everyone works differently. In a nutshell it further opened my mind. Furthermore, I had the chance to experience being owner of your own business, JADE. This taught me accountability for decisions, strategic thinking in planning new projects and continuous improvement.

LORENZO’s advice “Keep pushing your limits, don't be satisfied with the answer "It has always been done like that". Be pro active in your work and don't be afraid to ask the difficult questions.”

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What skills you learned in your JE did you find useful in your career?

Hard work, networking, taking decisions, structure, ownership, self motivation and continuous experimentation.

Have you ever had the idea to launch your own business and become entrepreneur? If no, why?

If yes, what did you not?

No I never had a concrete plan to launch a business, though I had more than one brainstorming session with some former Junior Entrepreneurs of my JE on how to move an idea to a potential business plan. So far it ended in good talks but nothing more concrete, who knows in the future.

What differences did you see between yourself and your colleagues who were not part of a JE ?

When I started my working career I noticed that compared to other colleagues in my team, I was more self confident, I was better able to receive and give feedbacks, I was more practical in the art of networking and more pro active in doing my work. Furthermore, thanks to the experience as JADE's President I had the chance to work in a multicultural team, this facilitate my work with foreign colleagues.

How did you manage to climb the ladder of your business ?

My ladder so far is very short, though I was able to climb it thanks to hard work, managing relationship within the business, supporting people and being pro active in the enhancing the business.

www.imperialbrandsplc.com

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ABOUT Johan Moonen

?

I am the Cofounder of ISEE – my second startup -‐ and I am currently working at Groupon. LSEE helps people burn fat and loose weight: the people that use LSEE are both individuals practicing sports who want to master their weight, and people who are overweight or even obese. Thanks to a molecular detection device, LSEE measures in your blood the evolution of fat in the body. I am an engineer myself, but in this startup, I am mainly in charge of the business side: my co-‐founders bring the scientific knowledge.

Cofounder of Isee Working at Groupon

How much were you involved in your J.E? What did it teach you with respect to your university?

I was very enthusiastic about my JE, where I stayed active for 6 years.

I was the Co-‐founder of the first JE in the Netherlands, Co-‐founder of the Dutch Confederation and later a member of the first Executive Board of JADE. All in all, I was part of the JE network from 1987 to 1993. At that time, it was the beginning of JADE and the main goal was to get a common understanding around what a JE is at the European level and to harmonize the concept across different countries.

I was heavily invested in the movement, and I am still very happy of my experience in the network: it was a fantastic time and I learnt a lot during those years.

www.groupon.fr

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How did you think about starting your own business? Why in this field?

The Junior Enterprise network was my play ground: I could gain experience that people my age did not have access to, and learnt to take into account different aspects of every situation; moreover, it helped me focus on important things that matter and have an impact.

The JE network made me realize that I wanted to make a contribution in the health sector: this is why I decided to help drive health focused behavior change (﴾my first start up focused on sleeping better – though the market was not ready – and with LSEE fits the bill)﴿.

What’s the difference between being your own boss and working for a company?

I believe the more experience you have, the more the way you look at things in life evolves.

My professional engagements are like a puzzle, mixing traditional and innovative assignments: I enjoy such combination a lot, as in a certain way you manage a portfolio of projects.

I had a similar experience at Groupon, which is why I chose to work there: I was very independent and could take my own decisions.

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

I would say “learn by doing”: the practical steps to create your own start-‐up are not taught at school, where you learn more about theory and concepts (﴾good stuff but secondary)﴿.

Nevertheless, when you set up your start up training and experience – such as for example being in a Junior Enterprise -‐ contribute a lot, as in a JE you learn how to listen to the voice of customer and balance between the quality of your product or project (﴾which is time consuming)﴿ and the quantity of work you want to drive forward at high speed.

What are the main issues you faced?

I made a fair number of mistakes, and learnt much from them: e.g. in LSEE the technological development required more time than we expected, as we planned to do it in parallel with other activities. The research phase was also very time consuming, and made us understand the difficulties and the time needed in the first phases of the business launch.

Another critical subject was to understand how to spend the funds in the right way, keeping enough money for the research team and to get feedback from the first users. I also had the chance to understand the importance of having the right team of founders, with members that balance each other out.

JOHAN’s ADVICE

to be a good entrepreneur Spend a significant amount of time in a Junior Enterprise Take time to build your core competencies.

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ABOUT Ryoichi Oka Penna Brasil TO is a leadership development and consulting firm that serves business in two levels: organizations as strategic partners to develop corporate culture and teams; people as it supports the development of conscious leaders to achieve high performance through self-�knowledge and managerial skills. It is also part of Grupo Anga. This is a holding of firms that share the belief of "Conscious Impact" through a lifetime development of people from undergraduate students to C-�suite executives.

How much were you involved in your J.E; what did it teach you that your university did not?

Since I started at university I got engaged with my JE in a really deep level. I would take all day there, only leaving to attend the classes. Since then I also was part of the JEWC 2012 organizing team and then got engaged with the state federation and the national confederations. It taught me so many things, but what I highlight the most was the leadership skills, from getting to know myself better and deal with my emotions to lead the whole movement, which made me more humble and confident on our generation as the people who have the responsibility to solve complex social and economic issues worldwide.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why this product/ service?

It was nothing but our will to make some kind of impact the same way we were impacted once, mostly on the JE movement.

When we look at how people work, we see a lot of wasted potential and people who are unhappy about what they do. We also see that when we get to change as we can hack work environments, not only people get more satisfied with life, but also the organizations perform much better. That's why our service is supporting organizations to transform the way they deal with people so people can transform the way they do business on social and environmental responsibilities.

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What are your expectations about the evolution of your business?

We strongly believe that the way we work is changing like never before. From new technologies to new social arrangements, it's all going through a transformation process. For the same reason, we believe that we have a lot to do to understand this transformation and create solutions that go along with it.

What is the difference between being your own boss and working for a company?

We don't see ourselves as our own bosses.

The truth is that now we feel a higher responsibility than ever before, and although it demands a lot of energy, it also make us want to jump out from bed everyday and make things happen.

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-‐by-‐doing?

All of them, combined. Entrepreneurship is in our DNA, since the person who invented the wheel or discovered how to use fire. More than teaching people how to be entrepreneurs, I believe we have to eliminate the barriers (﴾physical, social, mental, etc)﴿ that block us from being what we were born to be, entrepreneurs.

What are the main issues you faced?

The way we work challenges the status quo of the market, which makes us adapt our communication to be clear about what we do.

Furthermore, we made the decision in our team to see work as a mental state, not a physical office. It makes us free to travel around the world at the same time we work, but I have to confess that it's not very easy and we struggle to keep ourselves in touch everyday.

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CONTACT US The European Confederation of Junior Enterprises

General inquiries Partnerships

mail@jadenet.org privatecooperation@jadenet.org

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publicaffairs@jadenet.org

Media & Promotion

communication@jadenet.org

Career

humanresources@jadenet.org

Events

events@jadenet.org

Address Rue Potagère 119, Brussels 1210, Belgium Telephone Tel: +32 2 420 17 52 Social Media Twitter @JADEnetwork Facebook facebook.com/JADE.network LinkedIn /jadeaisbl Instagram @jade_juniorenterprises

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