Over 160 Young Entrepreneurs Discussed the Role of the Socially Responsible Business

HP and JA-YE Launch 2007 Competition for Responsible Young Entrepreneurs

On January 30th, 2007 as part of global joint project between HP Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) and Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe, Junior Achievement Bulgaria and HP Bulgaria has organized a conference for young entrepreneurs on the topic of "Responsible Business".

Over 160 young entrepreneurs discussed the role of the socially responsible business, the trends and the role of such business in Bulgaria. Mrs. Sasha Bezuhanova, CEO of HP Bulgaria presented the world's best practices for Corporate Social Responsibility, and the aims and elements of the international competition for "Responsible business". The students had the chance to exchange ideas for their participation in the competition and under the guidance of the HP business consultants to develop potential projects.

Launched in 2006, the Responsible Business project of HP and Junior Achievement is aiming at developing social and business responsibility as well as leadership skills at the students from Europe, Middle East & Africa. 2007 Responsible Business Competition has also been announced. The competition is based on the Junior Achievement programme providing students from 14 to 22 years old to develop leadership skills by managing their own companies.

To kick off the competition, a dedicated website (www.responsible-business.org) has been set up to inform and guide students through the key elements of the competition. The website will also provide general information and guidelines on how to run a responsible company, as well as examples of HP‘s best practices in corporate responsibility.

This is the first time the competition will run in full. It will be based on a pilot project, which took place during JA-YE Europe's 2006 Company of the Year Competition in Interlaken Switzerland in August. The winners of that first Responsible Business Award were the Estonian student company VOLLI, who had created trendy, modern, light and comfortable wallets made of empty, used juice-cartons.

The 2007 competition runs in 9 countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia) and consists of several components including:

Responsible Business Award, the main component of the competition. The website will provide information about the terms and conditions to qualify for the annual award which is an integral part of the JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Competition and will be given to student companies who do the best job at integrating the following criteria into their business plan and operations: strong financial performance, social responsibility and environmental excellence. Online Business Ideas Contest giving students aged 15-18 participating in JA-YE programmes the opportunity to submit and compete "online" with their ideas for a responsible product or service. The competition will be open from 1 December 2006 to 31 May 2007 and the top 10 submissions will be awarded prizes in 2007. Responsible Business Certificate which is available for everybody who visits the website and will be awarded to those who have completed the responsible business quiz which allows them to learn about different aspects of responsible business practice, global social and environmental issues through a series of questions. The students have chance to compete and sent their ideas for responsible business over the internet. Best 10 ideas will be awarded on the annual JA-YE annual contest "The best student's company of Europe 2007" in Berlin, Germany on 26-29 June 2007.