HP Responsible Business Contest 2009 - Nigerian Student Company Wins HP’s Responsible Business Ideas Competition

Junior Achievement and HP today announced that a Nigerian team are winners of the HP Responsible Business Ideas Competition in Africa for 2009. This competition awards student teams for business ideas that best combine business practice with social and environmental responsibility and attracted entries from across Africa.

Nigerian team “Black Diamond Incorporated” from Dowen College, Lagos took first place with their idea to host a music concert for students at their school to raise awareness about HIV/Aids. The student company plans to use the funds raised from ticket sales to introduce a recycling scheme in both their school and the wider local community.

“The competition was a very exciting experience. Creativity, innovation and profit were the major goals we had in mind for putting our company together,” said Segun Fosudo, President of Black Diamond. “We looked for a way to affect our community positively by raising awareness on the effect of HIV/AIDS and also raising money to implement a local recycling scheme to improve our environment.”

“The students and staff of Junior Achievement Nigeria and, indeed, all of us in Africa are proud to receive this recognition. This award truly strengthens our mission to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to succeed in the global economy,” said Lamech Mbise, Vice President of JA Africa Region. “Through Junior Achievement’s programmes of financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship, we strive to reach young people and help them become innovative, responsible and successful, with an eye on our collective future well-being.”

“Tomorrow’s entrepreneurs will have to deal with a range of environmental and social issues. But this also represents a great opportunity for new ideas that can benefit society,” said Ime Umo, Managing Director and Technology Solutions Group lead, HP West Africa. “We teamed up with JA to run this competition because we believe that responsible entrepreneurs have an important role to play in creating sustainable economic development in Africa, epitomized by Black Diamond Incorporated’s creative idea.”

A panel of JA and HP personnel judged the submissions based on the following criteria: social responsibility, environmental excellence, innovation and strong market potential.

The ideas contest was run for the first time in Africa and tested in three pilot countries - Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. It is part of the HP Responsible Business Competition, an initiative that HP and JA have been running in Europe since 2006, reaching over 100,000 students. The competition was extended to Africa, the Middle East, North America and Latin America this past academic year.

More information is available at www.responsible-business.org/africa