Despite the limitation brought by the ongoing global pandemic, the Junior Achievement (JA) never stopped in their goal of empowering youth all over the world, and what a better way to do so than with their flagship event – the Company of the Year Competition (COY)! COY is JA Asia Pacific’s annual business competition that aims to award students who aspire to be strong and competent business leaders in today’s world. It highlights the holistic development of young individuals as they venture into entrepreneurship, innovation, and personal growth. This year, the 11th edition of JA AP COY was held from November 8 to 9, 2021, and was hosted by JA Philippines. With a total of 11 countries competing across the Asia Pacific, including China, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, the competition was made up of 18 JA mini-companies that each focused on creating a business with unique advocacies and innovative solutions to address issues that exists in today’s society.

Led by JA Philippines’ Executive Director, Krishna Alejandrino, the team has thoroughly prepared from the last few months for a wonderful execution of JA AP COY. Mr. Alejandrino commented that, “It was a privilege to see the students grow because of the program, and (I am) hoping that they will continue to grow as responsible future business leaders.”

With the entire organization structures working together, JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific were able to gather 20 countries and over 500 schools to participate in JA AP COY’s activities, including the most-awaited JA Leader’s Summit held on the second day. JA were also able to present highly acclaimed mentors and judges who guided them throughout their entire journey in the competition.

“It is an honor to organize this year’s COY. Congratulations to each and every one of you, especially the students who are standing behind the curtain, waiting patiently for the show to start. Without your combined effort, your team (and COY) would not have reached this point today.” said Arunee Narula, Regional Operations Director of JA Asia Pacific.

JA AP COY 2021 was inaugurated by an opening and welcoming ceremony hosted by JA Alumni, Gianne Hinolan, RMP, where videos from past JA AP COY events were first shown to give the audience a recap of how the competition has progressed throughout the years.

Giannae Hinolan, RMP mentioned that, “Hosting the JA AP COY is a remarkable experience for me. I’ve personally witnessed the wonders that ‘noble purpose, team work, and joy’ can do. People who believe in the potential of the young are to be treasured. Being a part of JA is a blessing to me! #WeAreJA”

Now reaching its 11th year, JA AP COY continues to serve as an avenue for young students to express their creativity and innovativeness through the mini-companies that they have built. The recap was followed by the opening remarks of JA Asia Pacific’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Maziar Sabet.

“Although we’re living in challenging times, I have utmost confidence that the circumstances surrounding us as young entrepreneurs (will allow us) to innovate and to overcome obstacles as you move forward in your lives.” Maziar Sabet said.

After the opening remarks, the spotlight was put on the JA Worldwide community as Sarah Rapp and Howard Leong Yiq Zhenn discussed how JA will continue to ensure global connection among all its students around the globe. Through JA Gather, they are able to establish a strong global community where students and JA alumni across the world are provided with rich opportunities that will further enhance their growth as holistic and competent individuals, and the flagship event JA AP COY is a powerful example of this.

As the opening ceremony continues with over 4,000 live viewers, JA Philippines as the host country for the JA AP COY 2021 was introduced. JA Philippines has experienced continuous triumphs over the past few months as they received several international awards and launched their own marketplace back in March 2021. With this introduction, the President of the JA Philippines’ Board of Trustees, Gabriel Cui, proudly greeted the audience and the student participants of the competition. Cui expressed his gratitude to all mentors, judges, sponsors, partner schools, and all JA Asia Pacific partner countries who made this event possible.

The ceremony continued with the official opening of the competition, which was done through the presentation of the student competitors for this year. All 18 mini-companies were represented.

As the end of the opening ceremony draws near, a cultural performance video was presented by JA Philippines. The video successfully showcased the culture, traditions, landmarks, and talents that the Philippines has to offer. Directed by Neo Rivera and featuring the talents of Sindaw Performing Arts Guild Philippines and Sheena Lee, a JA Volunteer, the video showcased the warm and colorful nature of the Philippines.

Soon after the opening ceremony, the Leadership and Career Forum for the participants commenced. Featuring guest speaker Mr. Jonathan Yabut, a prominent motivational speaker and the proud winner of the hit reality TV show, The Apprentice Asia, the forum was kickstarted with his motivational talk on leadership in hopes of easing the students into the competition.

Following this segment, the six guest panelists from the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore who are also student entrepreneurs, winners of various company competitions in previous years, and proud JA COY Graduates provided the participants with the framework that they need to thrive in the competition. As business leaders, the knowledge that they have imparted is essential for the success of the young student entrepreneurs not only in the competition but also in their lives as business individuals.

After the Leadership and Career Forum, a Business Mentoring Session was held in the afternoon. Prominent and well-established names in the industry were invited to listen and give mentorship notes, advice, and learnings to each of the participants’ companies. This was prepared by JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific to give the student business leaders a stepping stone to better enhance and prepare their pitches and how to move forward with their business with the help of multi-faceted and notable business leaders. Presidents, CEO’s, Executive Directors–people of great caliber from all over the Philippines were invited to mentor a specific company and give insights as to what aspects of their business they should improve on.

Indeed, a competition is not solely about one’s triumphs and successes-it is also about learning, and the wisdom that the students receive during their journey. As such, this segment in the competition is a critical factor for it emphasizes the points for improvement among the students’ businesses, which they could later change and refine after the competition. JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific contributed significantly in this regard by providing the participants with the best and well-esteemed set of mentors to guide them throughout this learning process.

After introducing the competing mini-companies and providing them with valuable knowledge and insights, Day 1 of JA AP COY 2021 ended on a hopeful note as the students are now focusing on their business pitch while at the same time, keeping in mind the feedback that they received from their fellow mentors.

For the 2nd Day activities, the team behind JA AP COY 2021 prepared two public events – the Leaders’ Summit and the Awarding ceremony; and two internal events – the Pitch and Interview sessions and the After Party. Day 2’s activities were hosted by Gianne Hinolan, Sheena Lee, Johann Enriquez and Neo Rivera. JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific also featured amazing performances and productions made by Sindaw Performing Arts Guild Philippines, and the multi-talented hosts!

“Company of the Year is one of the best events I have ever hosted. Jam-packed with outstanding Filipino artist performances, brilliant students with unique innovations, and last but not the least hard-working, and excellent JA organizing team! I am hoping to have another event like this again with JA Asia Pacific!”, said Sheena Lee.

The day was greeted by a private and closed-doors Pitching and Interview sessions wherein all participating mini-companies successfully presented the fruits of their hard work in front of the panelists, and answered all their questions with passion and pride. Not only that, the Top 11 companies who were able to make it to the next round of the competition. They also got the rare opportunity to showcase their amazing business presentations and pitches to the public alongside with the announcement. The JA AP COY 2021 Top 11 finalists were:

1. Unbounded from JA Hong Kong
2. Olepina from JA Korea
3. Symptoms.SG from JA Singapore
4. Fabricreate from JA India
5. Num Num from JA Thailand
6. Klutch Co. from JA Thailand

7. ScrapCap from JA Singapore
8. Prismawolves from JA Malaysia
9. Sevone from JA Indonesia
10. Dreamweavers from JA Philippines
11. D’Eagle from JA Indonesia

Mr. Jerry Rimando, the Associate Director of FactSet said, “Thank you so much for the opportunity to judge this year’s JA AP COY. It was great to engage with future leaders and learn of their growth through their experience with this competition.“

Shortly after, JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific held a live Leadership Summit Event via their Official Facebook page (@JuniorAchievementPH). They were joined by over 20 countries, over 500 schools and over 33 districts from all over the world such as Guam, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, India, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Qatar, Gabon, Kuwait, Peru, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Brunei, Singapore and of course the Philippines! Additionally, the live event was also able to reach over 180,000 viewers who joined and tuned in on the day’s activities. And as a token of appreciation to those who have joined the Leadership Summit, JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific prepared various fun activities and surprises such as raffles and mini-games, of course accompanied by exciting prizes!

An amazing roster for the panel discussions and keynote speaker was also prepared for the students to impart lessons to better prepare them for their future endeavors. Panelists, that are prominent business leaders in the field of finance, as such: the Executive Director of Prudence Foundation – Mr. Marc Fancy; the Founder of COL Financial – Chairman Edward Lee; and the Global Head, Digital Health & Banca of Prudential PLC – Mr. Stephen Barnham presented a fun and interesting discussion regarding financial literacy. After a short intermission, the student participants were enamored by an inspirational talk about “Transformational Leadership” by “Asia’s Millennial Guru” Mr. Jonathan Yabut.

Once the sun had already set, came the most awaited moment of JA AP COY 2021 – the Awarding Ceremony, hosted by the ever passionate Gianne Hinolan, RMP and Sheena Lee. The opening segment of the event featured a performance by Sindaw Performing Arts Guild Philippines with the song “Bagong Umaga”, or “New Day” in English. This performance aims to invoke and impart the message that there will always be room for growth, innovation and collaboration despite the limitations, and that JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific is here to rise by uplifting and empowering the youth. It was followed by videos such as the Day 1 Recap Video, the I AM JA Video Compilation, and the Day 2 Recap Video which showcased how the student entrepreneurs grew as a team and as individuals within the last two days of the competition.

After that came the most awaited moment of the evening – the Awarding Ceremony. Due to their dedication and creativity, Symptoms.SG from JA Singapore was able to take home the Product of the Year Award, Unbounded from JA Hong Kong took home the Best Business Video Award, and the Best Financial Management Award was shared by Unbounded from JA Hong Kong and Dreamweavers from JA Philippines.

Olepina from JA Korea proudly ended their JA AP COY journey by taking home the 2nd Runner Up award.

Meanwhile, Unbounded from JA Hong Kong took home not only two, but three awards that evening as they are also the proud 1st Runner Up of JA AP COY 2021.

“We are honoured to engage in the 11th JA Asia Pacific Company of the Year Competition and all of us have gained a lot in it. Joining this competition did provide us an opportunity to learn from other participants and gain business-pitching experience from it. All participants are capable and innovative. JA (mini-) companies from other regions did tremendously inspire us. We have never imagined that the oil absorbent could be produced from pine trees, or a playful card game can be the product of raising people’s awareness on mental health. Enlightened by other teams, we should always think outside the box. Moreover, we are glad that we could make new friends from other regions in this competition.” said Laura Ng, Phevos Tse, Ivan Yick and Yuet Yi Li of Unbounded from JA Hong Kong.

Lastly, as a result of their hard work and perseverance, ScrapCap from JA Singapore emerged as the overall winner of JA AP COY 2021 with their business and product – Caps made from recycled plastic. Not only did they take home the crown, they also won an opportunity to study in Australia with the Php 200,000 scholarship grant, each, from RGER Services.

Hugo Khaou, Maya K Fowler, Taiga Tanaka, M Xavier Sheehan of ScrapCap from JA Singapore stated that, “We were delighted to be a part of such a diverse and multicultural competition. Meeting and talking with the other companies was a learning experience in itself! We had a great time and enjoyed seeing so many wonderful and innovative ideas from around Asia-Pacific. One key moment, which taught us a lot, was private talks with renowned entrepreneurs from around the world who helped us improve our business and skill set. They taught us more about how we could be successful in the future. We highly encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to participate in JA AP COY, it was both fun and informative! Also, we would like to thank JA Philippines for hosting this wonderful event and making it inclusive, even online!”

And of course, the entire event’s activities were concluded by an After-Party, where the students were able to unwind, meet and connect with students from other teams through the short games and activities that JA Philippines and JA Asia Pacific prepared for them. It was a night filled with laughter and camaraderie to celebrate the milestones every single team has attained during their JA AP COY journey. With that, JA AP COY officially ended with a strong finishing statement said by all students, “We are JA.”

If you are interested to be a part of JA’s initiatives towards global youth development and empowerment, make sure to follow and tune in on our official Facebook pages – JA Philippines (@JuniorAchievementPH), JA Asia Pacific (@jaasiapacific), and JA Worldwide (@jaworldwide).