Maltese student company wins business award

Maltese student company 'Rewined' is the winner of this year's HSBC Company of the Year 2010, organised by Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise (JA-YE) Malta, and represented Malta along with 34 European student companies in Italy.

The HP Responsible Business Award, which was launched five years ago, is designed to encourage students to take social and environmental responsibility into consideration as they build their own enterprises.

It is awarded to the student company that does the best job at integrating a strong financial performance, social responsibility, environmental excellence and innovation into their business plan and operations.

The winning student company created serving platters by heating and flattening recycled wine bottles. Managing director Andrew Borg Wirth explains, "We wanted to create a good product and give something back to society as a business. We believe it's really important that companies are responsible in their business and offer something useful to the local community."

The participating teams were judged by a panel of expert volunteers from HP, and the winners received HP notebooks.

"HP has teamed up with JA-YE to contribute to entrepreneurial education and social and environmental thinking in schools across Europe. A strong social and environmental strategy is a key success factor for all companies and is increasingly expected by customers," said Gabi Zedlmayer, vice-president, HP Office of Global Social Innovation.

"We would like to help future entrepreneurs and support start-up companies find new ways to balance the economic, social and environmental aspects of running a business most successfully, and to do well by doing good."

The award is a result of ongoing co-operation between the two entities. For over a decade, HP and JA-YE's joint activities in Europe have included support for enterprise education programmes and special events through cash and equipment donations, as well as the participation of HP employees as volunteers in local JA-YE programmes.

"We are grateful to HP and its 128 volunteers for their support. The dynamic interaction between students and volunteers promotes hands-on, experiential learning and brings classroom concepts to life, resulting in meaningful experiences for both student and volunteer," said Caroline Jenner, CEO of JA-YE Europe. The award is part of the HP Responsible Business Competition, a flagship programme of JA-YE Europe, JA Latin America and JA US. More than 200,000 students have benefited since its inception in 2006.