JA Company Program

When Junior Achievement was founded in 1919, its first program – the JA Company Program – allowed high school students to experience the inner workings of entrepreneurship by creating and operating their very own company. After more than 100 years of experience, these values of entrepreneurship and innovation remain at the core of JA’s mission.

In 2020, following years of strong program and organizational growth, Junior Achievement of Southern Massachusetts is excited to bring our organization’s founding program back to our local students.

The JA Company Program empowers high school students to solve a problem in their community by building and managing their own start-up business. This free after-school program brings together high school students from across our region to form and manage their own company under the mentorship of business professionals and community volunteers. Throughout the process of building their company, students collaborate, make crucial business decisions, communicate with multiple stakeholders, and develop entrepreneurial knowledge and skills.

The JA Company Program addresses topics such as business ethics, teamwork, leadership, and goalsetting, as well as how students should execute the day-to-day operations of their entrepreneurial venture. Over the course of 13 weekly meetings, students elect their own leadership team, develop and execute a business plan, produce and sell a product, hold department meetings to report on their progress, and build relationships with other students and business professionals. With the guidance of their mentors, student participants develop the soft skills they need to be successful in their future academic and career pursuits.

The JA Company Program’s weekly business meetings will be hosted at sponsor and partner worksites to create a physical connection to the real world of business. Mentors help the students develop marketing, sales, finance, management, and other skills needed to successfully run their companies. By sharing their respective backgrounds and experiences they provide career and educational highlights to help students understand various career paths.

Following the development of their student businesses, each JA Student Company will participate in the regional JA Company of the Year Competition – an event that will bring all of our student participants, mentors and partners together. Each student-run company will put their efforts to the test in front of community judges who will evaluate the success of their company. But winning takes more than creating an exciting product/service or running a financially sound business. The winning teams must balance company performance with each member’s personal development.

The JA Company of the Year Award winner will be nominated to participate in Junior Achievement’s National Student Leadership Summit held in Washington, D.C. each June. This competition honors the top JA Student Companies from across the nation and allows local students to meet national leaders while competing for prestigious awards.