Imagine a smart, inclusive shopping cart that gives directions to visually impaired customers. A useful system that would make these people´s lives much easier when going to the supermarket, one of the basic tasks in their day-to-day lives. The idea won the XVII National Competition held by the Junior Achievement Portugal (JAP) Start-Up Programme and arose from the joint work of a group of students from the University of Minho who, after a few minutes of high hopes, guaranteed that they were “not expecting” to hear the name of their project being read out on stage as the winner of the main prize, which was donated by the Galp Foundation. The happy winners thereby stamped InCARE´s passport to represent Portugal at the biggest entrepreneurship festival in Europe, Gen-E 24, to be held in Catania, Italy, between 02 and 04 July this year.
The InCARE project was the major winner of the XVII National Competition held by the Junior Achievement Portugal Start-Up Programme
JA Portugal, of which the Galp Foundation is a partner, is a non-profit association affiliated to JA Worldwide, which has been working to prepare children and young people for the future for over a hundred years, boasting the resilience required to thrive in an uncertain and unpredictable world. The entity´s skills acquisition programmes are based on three fundamental pillars: Entrepreneurship and Citizenship, Financial Literacy and Preparation for the World of Work. “Our mission to prepare young people to succeed in the global economy is still relevant today due to the fact that our educational content evolves as the world changes. Today, we embrace digital transformation and support schools in this quest, placing a significant focus on reducing inequalities by providing economic opportunities for the young people most in need of them. Our vision is a world in which every young person has the skills and mindset needed to create thriving communities”, explains Salvatore Nigro, CEO of Junior Achievement Europe.
The work of this international organisation has been recognised in the form of three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize (2022, 2023 and 2024), in addition to occupying 5th place among Social Good Organisations. “This is the first time a purely educational organisation has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Our programmes are available all over the world”, highlights Gonçalo Duque, CEO of JAP, who is proud of the progress made in our country. “We will be celebrating two decades of activity in Portugal in 2025, and we reached the mark of half a million students this year. In other words, we have impacted 500,000 students since 2005. We are present throughout the entire country, meaning we run a highly consolidated operation”, he adds.
At the European level, 70,000 young people take part in the Start-Up Programme every year. Some of them, says Salvatore Nigro, “become successful business people. Many of today´s biggest and most innovative European start-ups were founded by JA alumni. Others continue their careers as leaders in different sectors of business”.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIPS
The support of partners has been essential to the results achieved, not only in terms of finances but also with respect to volunteer work. Junior Achievement was not founded as a mere act of patronage, but was based on a vision of social investment. In addition to the direct impact on students, corporate volunteer work has a major influence, as around 70% to 75% of the programmes depend exclusively on volunteers offering their expertise, especially in terms of mentoring in the recreational-teaching content implemented at schools. In addition to the educational role they play with students, volunteers can also promote essential skills, such as communication and empathy, which they then take away with them and implement in their work environments through their participation.
Gonçalo Duque is proud of the organisation´s progress and achievements in our country
Carla Sofia Costa was the Galp volunteer in attendance at this competition, to which she “lent” her know-how and where expressed her surprise at the participants´ level of entrepreneurship
This is the case of Carla Sofia Costa, in charge of the commercial expansion and consolidation of the Galp mobility area. She made her debut as a volunteer in this JAP programme in order to “gain an understanding of the level of entrepreneurship and dedication of the younger members of the Portuguese population, as well as their ability to reinvent solutions in certain matters that are already familiar to us. Their enormous ability to view problems from another perspective and give them another dimension is amazing,” she explains. While at the XVII National Start-Up Programme Competition, Carla evaluated some of the work presented and expressed satisfaction with the fact that two major concerns arose from the projects: environmental and social issues. “It is important to see their concern for one another and their ability to understand that the future involves mutual assistance, which does not just consist of economic and financial issues. We tend to think that young people today are very digital, very competitive, that they don't have the capacity to look out for other people, so I was pleasantly surprised”, says the volunteer, adding that she is available to keep doing this splendid work. This experience led me to “conclude that teamwork and partnerships are really essential to achieving goals”.
A TOOL FOR SUCCESS
Once again, the 1,000-plus students involved in the XVII National Start-Up Programme Competition, from various universities in Portugal, had the opportunity to develop different interpersonal skills, to test their limits and accept risks. “In Portugal, this is an important tool in the fight against the regional asymmetries inherent to the country, challenging students from different regions and providing them with tools to create good projects that can really make a difference in their future”, concludes the CEO of JA Europe. And, with their eyes set firmly on the future, Junior Achievement intends to continue to expand and is already collaborating with academic networks and the OECD - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to raise awareness about the programme and to introduce it at new universities, thereby reaching an increasing number of young people.
These are the winners of the XVII national
Start-Up Programme competition
The projects were evaluated by 12 jurors representing associates and partners, including the Galp Foundation and the host, the Cascais City Council. There were six winning teams:
1st Prize (by Galp & the Galp Foundation)
InCARE, from the University of Minho
Impacto Prize (by DNA Cascais)
Adopt a grandchild, from the University of Minho
Ready to Go Prize (by Zurich)
PET 24, from the University of Minho
Power Tech Prize (by Dreamshaper)
BluEase, from ISCTE
Business Prize (by BPI)
ApolloMed Tech, from ISCTE
Best Pitch Prize (by Alumni-Trade)
Right Decision, from the University of Evora