Aspiring startuppers at the Enrico Mattei School in Congo

The 31 students attending the “Enrico Mattei” Italian Middle School in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo, put themselves to the test in the world of startups and developed five entrepreneurial projects based on the SDGs of Agenda 2030. The 'Startup of the Year Enrico Mattei Middle School' award was given to the 'Égalité Entre Les Hommes et Les Femmes' team, which will have the opportunity to meet a startup from the Joule ecosystem. The winning team's idea is to create an app to receive donations for the educational support of girls.

The award ceremony, during which the five projects were presented in three languages, took place on Sunday 11 June at the “Enrico Mattei” School. For the occasion, a fashion show was also organised to support the orphanage in the village of Mpaka.

The teams of young aspiring startuppers attended five meetings to learn more about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A path that led them to understand the importance of developing sustainable business projects and to discover Green Jobs, i.e. the new green jobs of the future, aimed at the sustainable reconversion of businesses.

An important contribution was also made by the Luiss Business School, which involved the participants in a workshop on effective communication.

The “Enrico Mattei” Italian School in Pointe Noire is an officially recognised Italian school. It has been present in the Congo for over 15 years and offers trilingual education (Italian, French and English) to students from 2 to 13 years old of all nationalities.