Filipa Pereira, Patrícia Ribeiro, Joana Garrido, Márcia Fernandes, Sara Ribeiro, and Célia Alves, second-year students of the Master in Marketing and Strategy of the School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, won with the Pawpet project the first prize of the 15th National Competition of the Start-Up Programme from the Junior Achievement Portugal, awarded by the Millennium BCP Foundation. The project was co-oriented by professor Nuno Marques, EEG’s professor of the department of management.
PawPet was developed by these EEG scholars that, united by the love for animals, decided to create a project that promotes respect for the animal cause through an innovative technological app, inclusive of animals and that responds to some of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Building an app accessible to everyone and with an intuitive interface is the principal goal of this project, and solidarity, which gave the initial motto, will be at the top of the priorities and whenever possible in the activities carried out.
For these EEG students, "participating in the XV National Competition Start-Up Programme was an incredible and very enriching experience. (...) After a lot of work and dedication, reaching the 1st place and representing Portugal in GEN-E 2022 is a huge pride". The scholars are proud and motivated to take PawPet across borders.
This team will represent Portugal in GEN-E 2022 (European Entrepreneurship Festival), which will take place in Tallinn, Estonia, in July.
Start-Up is a Junior Achievement Portugal (JA Portugal) programme that helps students better understand how to create and run an enterprise. With the support and guidance of volunteers, the Start-Up Programme (SUP) provides entrepreneurial training to university students. JAP has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year (2022) and is, in all likelihood, the most relevant entity worldwide in promoting Youth Entrepreneurship.
Nuno Marques and also the EEG’s professor Marco Escadas co-oriented the Wine Experience project of the team of a students group of the Integrated Master's degree in Information Systems Management Engineering (MIEGSI), under the scope of the EEG's Curricular Unit of Strategic Business Management. It is an innovative project for the promotion and marketing of Green Wine that won the Ready to Grow award, of the JAP - José de Mello Foundation.
The Wine Experience team says that "The participation in the competition proved to be a very enriching reward for our journey, as well as, the fact that we were competing alongside absolutely fantastic projects and ideas where any of them could present a change either in the market or in the society we live in.”
Congratulations to the EEG students, professors Marco Escadas and Nuno Marques, and their their other students involved in the competition!
