Media

EE-HUB launched 6 new national HUBs in Central and Eastern Europe

19 February 2018

Following the success of Italy, the EE-HUB (Entrepreneurship Education NETwork) launched six new national HUBs in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Turkey. In collaboration with the national JA organisations and Citi Foundation under their Pathways to Progress initiative, these clusters are helping to move entrepreneurship education forward on the ground.

“The JA network and EE-HUB are committed to moving the needle on entrepreneurship education in these 6 countries. A solid EE strategy is critical to developing the skills and knowledge for job creation and fast-changing labour markets. This partnership with Citi Foundation brings education and business communities, as well as government and policy experts closer together. It’s one of the best and most sustainable moves we can make to support young people,” says Caroline Jenner, CEO for JA Europe.

“The Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress initiative is committed to pushing the agenda forward on entrepreneurship education across the world. Establishing 6 additional EE-Hubs will enable best practice and know-how to be shared further among NGOs, governments and companies positively benefiting more youth than ever before,” says Rachael Barber, Head of Community Development, EMEA, Citi.

More than 1,000 stakeholders participated in the launch of the National HUBs in the different countries. Participants included representatives from Ministries (Education, Economy, Labour), business organisations, universities and teachers and parent associations.

In Bulgaria the launch event took place on 29 November as part of the celebration of JA Bulgaria’s 20th Anniversary with 450 participants and a range of high level speakers.

“My wish is that the creation of the HUB for entrepreneurship competences and education in Bulgaria, un initiative that me and my colleagues support, will help us find the way to attract and keep young people in Bulgaria. This is the major goal of our country, our government, for the business and for all of us as parents - to make our children live and feel comfortable in their own country!” - Lilyana Pavlova, Minister of the Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018 (Part of Minister Pavlova public address during Investing in Europe’s Transformers forum, organized by JA Bulgaria)

In Slovakia the first experts’ meeting took place within the conference “Education has a sense: entrepreneurial skills for the 21st century” where the current state of entrepreneurial education in Slovakia was discussed:
“Entrepreneurial education has been playing a crucial part in elementary schooling in Slovakia for years, but only efficient cooperation between public and commercial sectors can ensure a high quality and systematic entrepreneurial education. We believe that EE-HUB in Slovakia has provided a valuable platform enabling an effective and useful partnership that raises the quality of education in the country,”- Eva Vargová, CEO JA Slovakia

Hosted by the Ministry of National Economy, the launch event in Hungary attracted attention from various sectors such as education, schools, NGOs, and businesses.

The launch event in Turkey took place within a networking event with the objective of disseminating the project and raise interest from other stakeholders to join the national HUB. More than 40 joined the first experts meeting early this year including the Deputy Undersecretary for the Ministry of National Education.

''Junior Achievement takes the responsibility of enriching individuals at an early age with entrepreneurship competences that is the key to development of a country in the short term as referred by the contemporary economic approaches. That's why, Junior Achievement activities and outputs are great opportunity for all the nations. Turkey, with a high rate of young and dynamic population will make the best of this opportunity,” Mustafa Hilmi Çolakoğlu - Deputy Secretary of Minister of Education

European and national policy-makers and ministry representatives from all six countries will gather in a Round table event in Budapest in May to discuss the main achievements and exchange best practices.

JA Europe and the Citi Foundation celebrated 30 years of partnership in 2017 and have worked together to tackle youth unemployment for a number of years. In 2017, the Citi Foundation globally expanded its Pathways to Progress initiative with a $100 million commitment to reach more 500,000 young people with entrepreneurship and employability training before 2020.

EEHUB Citi JA SLOVENSKO

About JA Europe
JA Europe (www.jaeurope.org) is Europe’s largest provider of education programmes for entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy, reaching 3.6 million students in 40 countries in 2017. JA Europe brings the public and private sectors together to provide young people in primary and secondary schools and early university with high-quality education programmes to teach them about enterprise, entrepreneurship, business and economics in a practical way. JA Europe is the European Regional Operating Centre for JA Worldwide®.

About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

About Citi Foundation
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. We invest in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyse job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant cities. The Citi Foundation's “More than Philanthropy” approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfil our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation. For more information, visit www.citifoundation.com

 

For press enquiries, please contact:

JA Europe Communications - media@jaeurope.org
CITI Foundation - Rachel Barber - rachael.barber@citi.com

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