CSR in Europe, Middle East and Africa : JA-YE

Case Study on Responsible Business Competition

ulrikehaug — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:45:00 GMT

Allow me to draw your attention to our latest Case Study about the Responsible Business Competition, which we every year with Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Europe.

The latest addition to the competition is a new application on Facebook, the ‘Responsible Business Challenge’, which invites students up to the age of 25 to submit their ideas on what a responsible business could look like in the year 2020. You can vote for and comment on the ideas that have been submitted, even if you’re older than 25. Log on now and check out the application!

Ulrike Haug

Nigerian team selected as winners of HP Responsible Ideas Contest in Africa

ulrikehaug — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:41:00 GMT

You might remember previous blog entries about the 2009 Responsible Business Competition that we’re running with Junior Achievement (JA) Africa.

The latest milestone of this initiative is the selection of the winner of the African Responsible Ideas Contest, which took place in September. I’m pleased to tell you that the student team Black Diamond from Nigeria won first prize!

I was one of the panel of HP experts responsible for judging the finalists from the three participating countries (we’re running this contest as a pilot in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa this year) and it was a challenge to pick a winner out of all of the inspirational ideas that were submitted. On the panel, we had employees from the participating countries, from the HP CSR team and also two judges who had actually run student companies in the JA programme when they were still in school.

Black Diamond convinced the jury because they combined both social and environmental responsibility in their business idea. They had organised a rock concert in their home town of Lagos and used this event to raise awareness about HIV/Aids. They are also planning to use the proceeds of the event to implement a recycling scheme in their school and eventually their community.

I really enjoyed being on the panel of judges and working with JA in the three countries. It’s encouraging to see the various kinds of entrepreneurship education programmes that they offer to young people. If you know of any entrepreneurship initiatives for young people in Africa, please share them by posting a comment.

Ulrike Haug, CSR Stakeholder Programmes, HP EMEA

Lithuanian Student Company wins HP Responsible Business Award – my weekend in Rotterdam

Daniela.Opp — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:52:00 GMT

For the fourth consecutive year, we awarded the ‘HP Responsible Business Award’ to a student company in Europe last weekend. This year’s winner is the Lithuanian student team Greblys Company, which won the award for their environmental education offering. Congratulations to the team of five secondary school students!

The HP Responsible Business Award is given to the student company who has proved to be the best at integrating strong financial performance, social responsibility, environmental excellence and innovation into their business plan and operations. The award is part of the HP Responsible Business Competition, an extension of the existing JA-YE Annual Company Programme which gives secondary school students the opportunity to prepare for working life through the experience of running their own company.

My colleagues and I spent this past weekend in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where we formed a special jury to interview this year’s 32 student companies that participated in the JA-YE Annual Company of the Year Competition. These companies are already winners in their own right, because the European Finals of the Company of the Year Programme only invite the national finalists. This year, it was especially difficult for our jury to judge the 32 companies as the majority of them fulfilled the criteria for our award, these being:

Social responsibility: meeting the wider concerns of stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, customers and local communities.
Environmental excellence: preventing pollution, optimising resource efficiency and developing products with minimal environmental impact. Note: This is not just about producing a ‘green’ product. It’s also about how the environmental impact is reduced in operations and during the product lifecycle (from design to manufacturing and end-of-life/recycling).
Innovation and Strong financial performance

So, at the end,it was a tough call and after two days of evaluating company reports, interviews, stage presentations and visiting stands at the fair, the Lithuanian students convinced us of their comprehensive approach that incorporated both social and environmental responsibility.

The team created a book and three computer games which are designed to help young children learn the basic principles of recycling in an easy and enjoyable way. Their products are unique to the Lithuanian market as environmental education through books and online games is unheard of. Greblys also sold the books to the main recycling companies, which then sold or donated them to customers and schools. Make sure you check out their website www.eko.mokinukai.lt. As you can imagine, the team was over the moon, as no Lithuanian team had won a European student company competition before. The team will be rewarded with HP technology.

The HP Responsible Business Competition not only includes this award but it also has an online ideas competition. You may have read the blog from my colleague Ulrike Haug. This year, record-beating results were reached with over 300 students submitting their ideas.

Other elements of the competition include an online certification via the Responsible Business Website and school visits by HP employees. Overall, more than 100,000 students have benefited from the HP Responsible Business Competition since its inception in 2006. This year many HP employees volunteered their time to work with these students and to be present at their schools. This is a great motivational activity that we, as the CSR team, can offer to our em ployees. So really, this is a win-win situation for both HP employees, the students and their teachers.

And just one further point,, I’d like to let you know that our colleagues in North and South America have seen the benefit of this kind of entrepreneurship skills education initiative and they have been deploying this programme in the Americas this year as well.

Daniela Opp, Manager Social Investments, EMEA

HP Employee Jury Selects German Student Company as Winner of HP/JA-YE Responsible Ideas Contest

ulrikehaug — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:23:00 GMT

Together with Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe we’ve just announced the winner of the HP Responsible Business Ideas Contest: The German student company ‘solAround’.

The secondary school students from Peine were selected for their initiatives to promote the use of solar power in their community. Among other things, the team designed a portal to introduce investors to people interested in renting out their roofs. They also organised a solar fair, produced a magazine and designed a game. You can read more about the students and the ideas contest in JA-YE’s announcement.

I’ve been reviewing the submissions made for the HP Responsible Business Ideas Contest for the last three years and I have to say I was extremely impressed with the quality of work this year. It was quite difficult to select a winner given the wealth of ideas and business concepts that incorporated social and environmental criteria.

We had more than 300 student companies and individuals participate in the award which has been running for three years in Europe. JA-YE formed a jury to preselect the best entries for each of the 10 participating countries - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia and Slovakia. I was part of the HP Employee Jury that selected the Top 10 entries shown below:

solAround Germany
Peace Tree Israel
Watt Portugal
Better Windows Russia
Petra Systems Poland
Equalite Slovakia
Navem Romania
Ekoefekt Poland
AquaBiz Russia
Kaseton Poland

Ulrike Haug, CSR Stakeholder Programmes

Junior Achievement – HP Responsible Business Award – Example Slovakia

jeanne2007 — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:19:00 GMT

My colleague from Slovakia, Roman, summarises his JA-YE experiences. Enjoy! Jeannette

Junior Achievement – HP Responsible Business Award – Example Slovakia

How I participated in the JA - YE – HP Responsible Business Award programme

When I found the invitation to participate in the HP Responsible Business Award programme in my company mail in January, I was surprised and did not have any idea about what it was all about. However, focus on the education of young people and the education system as such made me think. For many years I have worked at the university; my children attend primary and secondary schools and therefore I can keep a good track of education in general. We’ve got used to the fact that our school system is built on a principle of punishing mistakes. When we were little and learned to walk, we used to fall. People around us encouraged us, saying: “Nothing happened, never mind, it will heal up, do not be afraid!” So we fell and cried and then we stood up and tried it again. And suddenly we got it. We learned from our mistakes and today we walk and only a few people remember their first tumbles. When we go to school, our trials and tribulations are ’marked’. There is nothing wrong with the marking process as such, but they are noted … JA-YE is interesting because it uses an education system built on a different principle.

Junior Achievement (JA) - What does it mean?

JA provides young people in Slovakia with above standard economic education through practical programmes. Thanks to the interconnection of an entrepreneurial sector and professional approach, the students have the opportunity to participate in ethical decision-making and orientation in a free market economy, even before entering the working process. The programmes support economic and business thinking and offer preventative solutions for youth employment. I found out that, for three years in succession, HP and Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE) – the biggest student network focused on business education – had organised the HP Responsible Business Competition. Secondary students participating in the programme ‘Applied Economy’ learn how to manage a business responsibly, simulating a real company with everything that belongs to it.

Student Company Fair

The Student Company Fair is a climax of the work created by the student companies within the education programme ‘Applied Economy’. For students, it is a unique opportunity to present the results of the work that they had been doing for the past months: existing business activities, products, services, approaches to company management, selected marketing strategies and financial management. The competition has several categories and includes a special category awarded by Hewlett-Packard– the HP Responsible Business Award – an award for the student company that carries out responsible business.

My participation in the Fair

This year I had the privilege of participating in the Student Company Fair as a member of the jury. I have participated in several fairs in Slovakia as well as abroad. However, I did not know what to expect from a Student Company Fair. But I had big expectations. The fact that 150 young people were willing to work outside their obligatory school subjects was an indication of their enthusiasm, passion, new ideas and solutions. 28 student companies from central and eastern Slovakia presented skills that cannot be easily achieved at ordinary schools. These included the basics of marketing, management, economics, wages accounting and taxes. They also demonstrated their presentation skills, winning support for their own business intents. They showed leadership and - the most important thing - they showed how young businessmen can discover a new world, assume responsibility not only for their own lives, but also for the lives of their close friends, and how they can perceive activities in a broader context - in the context of school, town, country or on a global level. The participants presented a broad scale of activities, services and products. This year student companies organised social events, entertainment programmes, programmes for elder people, Christmas, St. Nicolas programmes, angel letters. The assortment of services included an operation of school buffets, laminating works, organising sport and tourist trips, advertising and decorative items (e.g. arranging t-shirts, paintings on glass and bottles). In the area of products we could see many souvenirs, paperweights made of coloured stones, decorative items made of secondary materials, paper, wood, photo frames and coloured stones. There were also environmentally friendly products: a press for PET bottles, products from used paper. At the Fair we could also taste sweets and drinks. The broad spectrum included artistic activities – we heard guitars and singing; we saw dance performances and an extraordinary interest was taken in an original movie about a young drug addict returning to ordinary life.

HP Responsible Business Award - awarded to the company EQUALITE

The HP Responsible Business Award was awarded to the company EQUALITE from Dubnica nad Váhom, which introduced a prototype of simple equipment intended for the multiple reduction in volume of PET bottles. There are already similar products on the market. But this solution is interesting because the product itself has been made of waste material. A strong focus on ecology was also presented by another product – a hand-knitted basket made of waste paper. By its size and design, this basket is suitable for storing small items, such as sweets. The company captured our attention by its professional and responsible approach to business. The creation of their business vision, strategy and philosophy was inspired by 14 management principles according to Henry Fayol. Right from the beginning they presented their business in an international context. They actively participated in the project ’Global Active Schools’ - a partnership between organisations in seven countries (Austria, Czech Republic, England, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Thailand). The aim of this project is to combine the unique potential of schools in solving current world problems. I am convinced that representatives of the company EQUALITE have an opportunity to represent the principles of responsible business with dignity on an international level.

My impressions

Our company HP actively participates in programmes called JA-YE. I think that, as consultants, we have a big responsibility to guide our future businessmen and employees to focus on broad IT opportunities in the company and the extraordinary meaning of socially responsible behaviour in this area.

Final reflection

After the Fair I had mixed feelings. On one side I had a very good feeling that there are still many enthusiasts among teachers who are willing to devote themselves to teaching young people beyond their ordinary obligations. There are still some people who consider their job as their mission. You might say: “It is their job, they get money for it”. It’s true. But the people concerned also know that social recognition on the lowest level and economic recognition corresponds with social prestige. After the Fair I realised that urgent changes must be made. We - individuals, employees of successful companies, managers of the same companies, society, political parties and government – can make changes. It's not just about money. It is about our culture, our attitude towards ourselves and the problems that surround us.

Roman Kazicka, Solution Architect, HP Software & Solutions, HP Slovakia

If you want to save the world, become an entrepreneur!

jeanne2007 — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:25:00 GMT

During last week’s European SME Week, JA-YE (Junior Achievement Young Enterprise) and the European Commission launched the education campaign ’Your World – Your Buiness’ to inspire school students across Europe to become responsible entrepreneurs. “If you want to save the world, become an entrepreneur”, was how Tom Dodd from DG Enterprise summarised the mission of the campaign during a press conference. ’Entrepreneurs are the world´s change makers. They are responsible for innovations. And they need to take more responsibility in society”.

It’s easy to say, but how do we attract more youngsters to pursue social and environmental business ideas? Well, we probably need to start pretty early to shape the attitudes of the next generation of business people, which leads us to focus on schools. This is why DG Enterprise is collaborating in this campaign with JA-YE – the largest student network organisation in Europe, to address entrepreneurialism in schools. Offering targeted education programmes for different age groups, JA-YE together with employees from established enterprises like HP has been teaching students to become successful in business for several years.

But this is only one side of the story. Financial success is of course key for any entrepreneur to survive in global competition. But how can an entrepreneur come up with a successful and sexy business idea that is fun and also helps to successfully differentiate a company? This is where values and social and environmental business aspects come into the equation.

Working with JA-YE, HP launched the ’HP Responsible Business Competition’ in 2006 to motivate more students to develop responsible business ideas and to award best practices. On a yearly basis, the most exciting student ideas are selected as part of an online competition and during a European competition. So far more than 60,000 students have participated in the competition. Together with other successful young entrepreneurs, the winners of the 2008 HP Responsible Business Competition were invited to Brussels last week to present their business idea to an EU audience.

The first best practices are in place but, as part of the campaign, the EU is of course looking for many more. This is why in the coming weeks an education package for teachers, including a brochure and video materials available in 24 languages, will be distributed to 60,000+ schools across Europe. Following the teaching exercises at schools, students will be asked to participate in the Responsible Business Competition to be awarded for their most responsible ideas.

It is pretty inspirational and definitely entrepreneurial that the European Commission launched the campaign ’Your World - Your Business’ last week. Such out-of-the-box thinking from the Commission is required to highlight positive aspects of doing business and to further strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in a challenging economic environment, where entrepreneurs are pressured even more to preserve and create jobs.

Congratulations to the Commission and to JA-YE for launching this excellent campaign! We are keen to get additional comments on this approach and of course to further raise awareness. Now it’s your turn!

Jeannette Weisschuh, Director of Global Citizenship, HP EMEA

European SME Week: JA-YE and European Commission launch campaign for young entrepreneurs

Daniela.Opp — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:58:00 GMT

I would quickly like to draw your attention to this year’s European Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Week in Brussels which is taking place now up until 14 May. During the European SME week there will be over 1000 events in over 35 countries. You cannot miss it.

My colleague Jeannette Weisschuh was attending one of the events yesterday: the launch of the initiative ’Your World, Your Business’. This initiative was developed by the European Commission and Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Europe to encourage young people to become creative, dynamic and responsible entrepreneurs of the future. You can find additional information on ’Your World, Your Business’ here.

Students participating in the ’Your World, Your Business’ campaign are asked to submit their ideas to the JA-YE Europe and HP ’Responsible Business Competition ’. Through this competition we want to encourage young people to consider social and environmental responsibility as they build their own small enterprises. Last year’s winner, the Austrian student company Infotainment , were on hand at yesterday’s launch to share their experiences with the audience. Students can submit their business ideas at www.responsible-business.org/europe/.

I strongly believe that, in the current economic climate, entrepreneurs are even more important for job preservation and creation. We should try to support entrepreneurship wherever we can. Another one of our social investment programmes, the HP Graduate Entrepreneurship Training through IT (GET-IT) does exactly that. We specifically target young graduates and unemployed youth to join the programme so that they can learn how IT can help them in building their own business.

Have you been to the SME Week? We would love to hear what you think about it.

Daniela Opp, Manager Social Investments, HP EMEA

New Global Citizenship Report now available!

Daniela.Opp — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:12:00 GMT

I have exciting news: our new Global Citizenship Report is now available and you can read it online. Within the report, you will find lots of information about our 2008 achievements in the areas of ethics and compliance; human rights and labour practices; environmental sustainability; and privacy and social investment.

The Global Citizenship Report details great environmental highlights including:

Did you know that our HP Deskjet D2545 Printer is made nearly completely out of recycled plastic material?
Did you know that we reported on the greenhouse gas emissions of our first tier suppliers?
Did you know that we have recycled around 1.71 billion pounds of electronic products and supplies to date? This constitutes nearly the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge… Amazing.

It is clear that we’re on track to meet our recycling goal: two billion pounds by the end of 2010. Read more about our environmental achievements here.

I don’t want to reveal too much, but as Manager of Social Investment in EMEA, allow me to share with you two of our Social Investment achievements in 2008:

We continued our partnership with Junio Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE), extending the HP Responsible Business Competition to several countries in Africa and the Middle East. The joint HP JA-YE programme has now reached over 42,000 JA-YE students in 14 countries. In 2008, more than 120 HP employees have supported the students by giving them advice on how to run a business responsibly and successfully. Read more in the new Global Citizenship report and case study
HP contributed $5.8 million to foster entrepreneurship, including opening 35 new GET-IT training centres in EMEA. We have now doubled the number of GET-IT centres, with a presence in 27 countries, and have trained over 25,000 students. Read more in the Global Citizenship Report and on our GET-IT Webpage.

I hope I’ve managed to entice you to find out more. To read our Global Citizenship Report, click here. We have also launched a customer version of the report for Europe, the Middle East and Africa which you can access here. It is worth checking out.

I am looking forward hearing your feedback.

Daniela Opp, Manager Social Investments, HP EMEA