Summer JADE Meeting 2015: We came curious, we left inspired

Under the motto “Think it, Make it, Sell it!” almost 300 Junior Entrepreneurs from 14 different nations came for four days on the end of July together to discuss and learn about business and entrepreneurship, focused on innovation and local impact.

In the beautiful scenery of the University of Coimbra in Portugal, a World Heritage and known inspiration for the J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, the Junior Enterprises JeKnowlegde and JEEFEUC invited us to get to know their traditions and culture while proofing a truly international entrepreneurial spirit.

We took the chance to let the participants speak for themselves:

Alexander Gruhn, External Relations Officer EFPSA: 

“It was a great pleasure to attend this year’s summer meeting of JADE in Coimbra, Portugal, as an external guest from the European Federation of Psychology Students’ Associations (in short EFPSA)!

Together with one of our trainers, Marc Portugal, we were immediately warmly welcomed and experienced a wonderful and open atmosphere (similar to the atmosphere at our EFPSA events). Furthermore it was a real highlight for the two of us to deliver a workshop about “Ideas: Create, Invest& Innovate”, where we tried to give inputs from our psychological background, which was very well received by the participants. 

I am proud to see the bond between JADE and EFPSA growing stronger and am very confident that we will continue foster the very fruitful collaboration further! Thank you very much to the JADE Board for their invitation and we hope to see familiar faces from JADE at our events in the near future!”

Marc Portugal and Alexander Gruhn bringing a psycholgical approach to SJM 2015 with their workshop about “Ideas: Create, Invest & Innovate”

Myriam Saidane, Marketing Méditerranée Tunisie:

“The SJM 2015 was the first international meeting that I have attended. 15 Tunisians were present with me in Coimbra and appreciated knowing Junior Entrepreneurs from other JEs. 

It was an amazing experience where we had the opportunity to share our best pratices in work and learned a lot from the others. I have to add that the exchange session that I have animated with the president of my JE was very enriching for me since it allowed me to develop my skills. 

Besides, I really enjoyed the parties, especially the gala dinner. So, I have to thank all the organizers and the people that I have known and who gave me the opportunity to enhance my personal and professional background during the seminar.”

Myriam Saidane (second from the right) in front of the beautiful scenery of Coimbra

Edoardo Gauzolino, Founder/President of Junior Enterprise Bergamo:

“The Summer JADE Meeting 2015 in Coimbra was my first JADE meeting at the European level. Since I founded a Junior Enerprise on 6th May, 2015 in Bergamo, a little city near Milan, I have attended only the JADE Italia May Meeting. While that meeting was a good experience, SJM 2015 was an amazing one and an incredible meeting. 

A JADE European meeting means networking opportunities, sharing experiences, best practices and advice to improve yourself and your JE, impressive workshops and (last but not least) also lots of fun.

The workshops were all good, but the best workshop I attended these days was “How to be considered as a professional consulting comopany”, organised by ESCADRILLE, a French Junior Enterprise located in Toulouse, because it was well planned, the trainers gave me some advice that works in general for a Junior Enterpriseand some ideas to share with my colleagues has been generated thanks to this workshop.

Let me conclude with a big thank you to the organisation team, to all the people I met during these 4 wonderful days and to Daniela Runchi, the new president of JADE ExBo 2016 who always helped and supported me in the last months. 

See you in October in Nantes!”

Edoardo Gauzolino (second row, center) with the JADE Executive Board 2015 and 2016, International Managers  and other participants