The Junior Achievement Malta (JA Malta) Awards Night, held at the University of Malta (Sir Temi Zammit Hall) on May 20, awarded the hard work of sixth form students, who participated in the post-secondary Company Programme over the past eight months, and the tertiary level Start-up Programme, which has been condensed into a 50-day programme for the first time this year.

The two winning teams were h2Lo, from St Aloysius College Sixth form, who won the Company of the Year Award, and Możaic, from St Martin’s Institute of Higher Education Malta, winners of the Start-up of the Year Award.

The winning teams will represent Malta at the JA European finals in Istanbul, Turkey, from July 11 to 14, competing against 42 other countries in the largest entrepreneurship festival in the world.

Several Company Programme awards were distributed on May 20, both to teams that made it to the finals, as well as to those that did not reach the final stage but showed promise in certain elements of their journey.

Team h2Lo with (from left) head judge from Deloitte, Michael Zarb, HSBC CEO Geoffrey Ficthe and JA chairman Chris Vassallo Cesareo.

Colori won the Deloitte Best Business Plan Award, the HSBC Green Entrepreneurship Award, the Farsons Ready for Work Award, EFQ Management Quality Excellence Award and the Hili Ventures Marketplace Award. Young Culture Malta took home the Atlas Digital Marketing Innovation Award and the TradeMalta Internationalisation Award. I-van were awarded the eSkills Malta Foundation Best Use of Tech Award, while StopNpots won the Finance Malta Best Financial Statements Award. The Mizzi Organisation Best Sales Technique Award went to h2Lo.

Let us create the changes we want to see

The finalists for the Company Programme were: Arca, bWrapped, Colori, h2Lo, LightBridge and Young Culture Malta. bWrapped came in as first runner-up and Arca took the second runner-up position.

The evening also recognised the Start-up Programme companies, namely Malyou, Możaic, Praxipal, Safepaws, Space Savers and Studja.

Similarly, honours for the Start-Up Programme were awarded to teams that made the final six, but also to other teams that participated in the programme.

The HSBC ESG Sustainability Award and the EY Market Appraisal Award went to Możaic. Studja took home the Camilleri Preziosi Customer Focus Award, while the Tech.mt Digital Innovation Award was presented to Safepaws. With Safepaws and Studja placing as second and first runners-up respectively, Możaic were announced as the StartUp of the Year winners for 2023.

Team Możaic with EY head judge Darin Pace (first from left), Chris Vassallo Cesareo (first from right) and HSBC CEO Geoffrey Fichte (second from right).

Two other important awards are also presented each year: former JA Malta board member Helga Ellul received the John Harper Award and Nathaniel Saliba accepted the Philip Bonnet Award for Perseverance.

JA Malta CEO Matthew Caruana congratulated all the participating students and expressed his gratitude towards all those who contributed towards the success of this landmark event.

“Let us in the power of education. Let us create the changes we want to see. Let’s give us the much-needed self-efficacy,” Caruana said.

JA Malta thanked all sponsors and supporters of the programme, specifically its corporate sponsors: HSBC Malta Foundation, Salesforce, The Malta Chamber, JobsPlus, Grinsens, Atlas Insurance, Microsoft and Camilleri Preziosi Advocates.

Gratitude and recognition also went to all other sponsors: Deloitte, EY, FinanceMalta, TradeMalta Farsons Group, Mizzi Organisation, eSkills Malta Foundation, EFQ Management Consultants, Hili Ventures, Tech.mt, Businesslabs, Malta Enterprise, S.Rausi Trading Ltd, Donnafugata and The AV Warehouse.