JA Africa’s Animated Series Expands Financial Literacy Across Africa

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Lagos, Nigeria, October 27, 2021 – Junior Achievement (JA) Africa and The Richer TM Media Limited (The Richer TM Media) today signed a partnership to produce The Junior Billionaires Club TM (JBC), an animated TV series designed to teach children across Africa about financial literacy and wealth principles.

 

The animated series is developed jointly based on The Richer TM Kids Club – an affiliate of The Richer TM Media – and JA’s financial literacy, entrepreneurship and wealth education curricula which give young people the knowledge and skills to make informed financial, business, career and life decisions. It will feature Lola & Kweku-Sika, two young Africans who go on different adventures to learn key financial and wealth concepts as well as African history and other social studies/economics topics on Africa. The series will air in English, French and eventually Portuguese across different African countries on traditional and digital media.

 

During the signing ceremony earlier this month at the JA Nigeria Office, Simi Nwogugu, CEO of JA Africa said, “Expanding financial literacy across the continent is a key area of focus for us at JA Africa. This animated series gives us the opportunity to reach and educate millions of African children and young adults, especially those in hard to reach communities who may not have access to our classroom programs or digital activities. We will also spotlight inspiring African leaders, not only to celebrate them, but also to show young Africans that the continent has role models they can aspire to be like. It is our hope that it will encourage schools across Africa to set up Junior Billionaires Clubs to inspire their students.”

 

Omi Oshikoya, Chief Media Officer of The Richer TM Media, speaking about the partnership said “this partnership gives us the opportunity to inspire a new generation of Africans that are creating wealth and are successful in all areas of their lives which is our mission.”

 

According to Omi “Africa has a high poverty rate, and this can be traced to the lack of financial literacy. To reduce the financial literacy gap, it is important to note that in every African country two -fifths of the population is younger than 15 years old, therefore, to foster economic development, the focus should be on children who are the future leaders.” She also said “The curriculum has been created to include financial literacy, business as well as life and wealth principles to ensure the children are well equipped to thrive in the world we live in today. The COVID-19 global pandemic has made it imperative for children to be financially educated and to learn how to invest in their physical, emotional and mental health and other areas of their lives.”

 

The Junior Billionaires Club curriculum has been created to include financial literacy, business as well life coaching and wealth principles to ensure that children are well equipped to be successful in every area of their lives. The animated series will educate children in a fun and interactive way to prepare them for life as adults as well as to learn good values and life skills such as leadership and public service. Junior Billionaires Club will contribute towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 1: No Poverty, and Goal 4: Quality Education.

About Junior Achievement Africa 

 

Junior Achievement (JA) Africa prepares youth for the future of jobs by bridging the gap between school and the world of work. Through the delivery of financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship training and in collaboration with schools, technical/ vocational centers and other partners, JA Africa works in 13 countries reaching 250,000 youth each year. Learn more about us at www.ja-africa.org.

 

 

About The Richer TM Media Limited

 

The Richer TM Media Limited is a media production company focused on using media and technology to produce content that inspires, informs, empowers and educates a new generation of Africans that are creating wealth and successful in all areas of their lives thereby contributing towards achieving at least 5 of the United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Development Goals, most importantly Goal 1: No Poverty.

 

For enquiries and Contact details

Senanu Adiku

info@ja-africa.org
+233577680373

 

Omi Oshikoya

info@richerkidsclub.com

therichermedia@gmail.com

+2348055349562

Mauritius representatives excel at the World Food Day (WFD) Foodathon

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JA Mascareignes’ young representatives flew the Mauritian flag high, in the virtual European sky, at the World Food Day (WFD) Foodathon. JA Mascareignes had 5 teams of 3 students that took part. They each gave their best while learning how to collaborate with other students from Europe and Africa. One of the Mauritian group was part of the team that won the “Food Waste and Loss” challenge.

The World Food Day (WFD) Foodathon, was a project organised by EIT Food and Junior Achievement Europe, in partnership with EUROPEN and with the support of Bayer. The Foodathon was an intensive two-day Innovation Camp between 13th-15th of October 2021, aiming to solve specific agri-food challenges and lead to the generation of new business ideas/business propositions.

The Foodathon aimed to raise awareness among young generations of the significant challenges facing our food systems today, to help young talent gain entrepreneurial skills and acquire the confidence to become potential future entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector.

More than 100 students from secondary schools in Europe and Africa will participate and work together in teams to solve a common challenge. This unique opportunity will allow participants not only to develop entrepreneurial competences but also to experience transnational collaborative efforts and cultural boundaries distribution for a common goal.

The three challenges during the Foodathon were:

  1. CHALLENGE 1 – Food loss and waste: Develop a feasible and realistic product or a service to reduce food waste during production, along supply chains and by the consumer.
  2. CHALLENGE 2 – Tech, Data and Digitalization for Sustainable Agriculture: Develop a feasible and realistic product or a service to optimise resources using digital technologies applied to agriculture.
  3. CHALLENGE 3 – Healthy Nutrition and Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases1: Develop a feasible and realistic product or a service to contribute to healthy nutrition and prevent non-communicable diseases.
The participants enjoyed the experience of taking part in the Foodathon:

“Overall, the event was magnificent; the organization was great, and the organisers , juries and mentors were very helpful and friendly. We had no language barrier so we could all communicate easily. Working with people from other countries was the best part. We now have friends overseas, and that friendship and teamwork transcends countries and oceans. Overall, we were all very happy and even worked with music to make it more fun!

The main lesson that I have learnt, is that we really need to be more conscious about food consumption. Us as consumers tends to over-eat, and exploit the natural resources, resulting in larger food waste, fewer food for the underdeveloped countries and eventually eating too much junk food will leads to non-communicable diseases.”

– Shania Kamudu

 

“The event was great. The organisers were always there to help us and to answer our questions. They gave us valuable advice on how to improve our products and how to better work as a team.

It was a great opportunity to know our teammates from Slovakia and Zambia. Our Zambian friends were very creative and our Slovakian friends could take on big tasks such as preparing the presentation. Though we were in different time zones, we were able to compromise and meet virtually.

Participating in this event made me realise that food waste is not a common subject of discussion. Many people take food for granted and are not aware of its real value.”

– Akilesh Bhookul

I have learnt that teamwork is an important skill. Working together brings greater ideas and motivation to create a strong and impactful project. It was difficult for me, we could not communicate well and this reflected on our work.

Overall I really appreciated this project. I enjoyed the other participants’ ideas. They were wonderful with great teamwork. The mentors were very helpful and kind. My team might not have won but I am happy to have been a part of this.

My topic was “Healthy Nutrition and prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases”. It is an interesting and important topic to talk about because it is a serious problem. It has major negative impacts on the world that many people are not aware of. Bringing several solutions together from different countries can make the world a better place.

– Tevisha Sadayen

 

This event had help us learn more about FOOD WASTE all around the world. It has  also helped us to make new friends from another country.

Working with another team helped us to improve our communication skills. We learned how to collaborate. We have learnt from this event that food plays the most important role in our life. Food waste need to be reduced.

This event had help me to learn more about FOOD WASTE all around the world. It needs to be reduced. One third (1.3 billion tons) of food produced globally is wasted every year, amounting to about one trillion US dollars’ worth.

My advices are:

  1. Shop smart
  2. Store food properly
  3. Learn to preserve

– Yohan Coomar Ramluggun

 

“The event overall was inspiring, nice and an innovative way to generate ideas about how to avoid food waste

It was nice to work with my fellow Mauritian friends, and we were also able to bond with the Bulgarian team. This was an exciting experience.

We humans acting carelessly created food wastage, but by working together we could eliminate this and live in a sustainable way.”

– Ramasawmy Mithilesh

 

The Foodathon was very different from my past experiences of taking part in online events. The language barrier made it difficult for both teams to collaborate and we ended up not making the best use of the available time. Everyone was, however, very motivated and gave their best until the end. For me, this is what really counts.

The event helped me to improve my interpersonal skills. I tend to come off as a bit pushy and arrogant. I need to work on my emotional intelligence because I think that is what I need to better work in a team.

– Devesh Bulatoo

#RiseUpChallenge opportunity for JA Alumni

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Hey, JA Africa alumni changemakers! Join the #RiseUpChallenge
and help bring solutions to global food waste.

The #RiseUpChallenge is a creative communication challenge focused on food waste that was developed for JA/INJAZ/YE alumni to learn from dentsu, a global media and communications company, while creating an impactful campaign to create positive social impact.

👉 Why participate? You will get the opportunity to pitch your ideas at the JA Global Leadership Conference to senior leaders from JA and Dentsu. You could win an iPad, global recognition, and many more prizes!

👉 Registration ends on October 9, 2021 and the challenge starts on October 11, 2021.

👉 Register today at http://ow.ly/CETq50GiCms

Let’s make a difference!

#WeAreJA #dentsu #SocialImpact #SDG12

Aspiring entrepreneurs in the South East region of Mauritius learn how to start and run a business through the JA ITS TYME Program

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JA Mascareignes has completed the JA ITS TYME Program with two batches of aspiring entrepreneurs in the south east region. The participants learned how to start and run a business. In total 10 aspiring entrepreneurs were trained.
This program was made possible through a collaboration with Ciel Foundation, La Vallée de Ferney and Caritas Notre Dame des Anges.

The JA ITS TYME program is divided into the following sessions:

Stage 1: Developing Life Skills

Session 1 (Self-Esteem, Self-Awareness and Ethics) – Understanding concept of self-esteem and self-awareness/Learn about the importance of positive thinking.

Session 2 (Goal Setting, Time Management and Critical Thinking) – Learn to set goals/Learn the importance of time management

Stage 2: Identifying the Right Business for You

Session 3 (Understanding Entrepreneurship)

Understand what it means to be an entrepreneur / Understand the difference between being a business owner and an entrepreneur/ understand the importance of team work.

Session 4 (Identifying and Communicating your Business Idea) – Identify a business idea / develop or strengthen their public speaking skills by learning how to clearly present their business ideas / learn the importance of collaboration and exchange to come up with a business name.

Stage 3: Developing Your Business Idea

Session 5 (Market Research and Analysis) – Learn the importance of market research and analysis / Learn how to carry out market research and analysis / develop a marketing strategy.

Session 6 (identify Funding Sources and Business Management) – Identify sources for your business start-up / Learn how to manage your business.

Stage 4: Financing and Launching Your Business

Session 7 (Saving for your Enterprise) – Learn the different sources of funding available / Understand the importance of saving and borrowing

Session 8 (Writing your Business Plan) – Learn the importance of a business plan / write a one to two-page business plan.

Stage 5: Managing Your Business

Session 9 (Costing and Pricing Strategy) – Learn how to determine the right price for their product or service / learn the relationship between the costs and profit/ learn the importance of controlling costs to ensure profit.

Session 10 (Financial Management) – Learn the importance of financial management and create processes and procedures to track their finances / learn how to prepare profit and loss, cash flow statements and balance sheets.

Session 11 (Finance in Action) – Learn the importance of a personal budget/ learn the importance of finance in business / learn how financial institutions work.

Stage 6: Making Your Business Sustainable

Session 12 (Leadership and Conflict Resolution) – Learn the meaning of leadership and leadership skills / learn how to use active listening skills to tackle conflict in workplace / learn negotiation and problem-solving skills.

Session 13 (Overcoming Failure in Business) – strategies that can help prevent failure in business / learn strategies for continuing business even in the case of failure.

Session 14 (Personal Action Plan) – Identify career options / learn about problem solving, critical thinking and goal setting / write an action plan.

JA Mascareignes now offers Entrepreneurship Education courses with Project Management in Mauritius

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The JA Mini Company Program 2021 has kicked off, with the delivery of the program materials to all the participants. This year’s edition will see the participation of around 120 students divided in 18 teams.

The theme for this year’s competition is “Innovation with Grit”, it is inspired by the need for young people to demonstrate a sense of resilience and adaptability to overcome the challenges that have happened globally in the entrepreneurship space given the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 version of the program will also include key concepts of Project Management, which were developed in collaboration with the  Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF). It will be an opportunity for our Mauritian youth to learn about entrepreneurship and project management.

JA Mini Company ProgramTM emphasizes on the business, entrepreneurship, and economics curriculum for young people aged 15 – 19 years. This program highlights business content, while providing hands-on experiences for starting, managing, and liquidating a business. Young people participating in this program use innovative thinking to learn and explore business and corporate career aspirations.

The program involves an average of 24 – 45 hours of hands-on business development experiences.  Teams are guided by a Mentor/Volunteer and/or their teacher over a period of 11 weeks. Some of the key concepts developed over the course of JA Mini Company ProgramTM are: Business competition, Customer service, Division of labour, Dividends, Fixed and variable costs, Shareholders and shareholder value, Business liquidation, Parliamentary procedures, Board of directors, Management structure, Research & Development and Pricing strategies.

 

#EntrepeneurshipEducation #MauritiusYouth #projectmanagement