10.2 Humanitarian - Exxon Supports Junior Achievement

Summer 2002 (10.2)
Page 80

Humanitarian
Exxon Supports Junior Achievement

Above: Exxon Azerbaijan supports the Junior Achievement program in Azerbaijan, which provides business, economics and entrepreneurship training to students.

Exxon Azerbaijan Operating Company, LLC ("Exxon Azerbaijan"), an ExxonMobil subsidiary, has been supporting the Junior Achievement program in Azerbaijan for the past three years. Junior Achievement is a U.S.-based international organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise.

In 2002, Exxon Azerbaijan plans to help implement a number of projects within the Junior Achievement program. These include a grant to help 18 teams from Azerbaijan participate in the Hewlett-Packard Global Business Challenge Competition (HPGBC), an annual international competition conducted via the Internet. HPGBC is a computer simulation in which each team is a virtual company producing a certain product.

During the competition, students read and interpret financial reports and are challenged to outperform the competition in terms of profit, sales and market share. Students set prices, determine production levels, plan marketing, research and development budgets and invest in plant and equipment.

Other projects within the 2002 Junior Achievement program will include the printing of 1,500 copies of the "Introduction to Economics" textbook in Azeri and Russian, to supplement the 1,000 copies printed in 2000. The textbook, used in upper grades of secondary schools throughout the world, was translated from English to Azeri in 1999. Schools will also receive Management and Economic Simulation Exercise software, a computer program that teaches the value of trade and practical business skills.

Junior Achievement will also organize and sponsor "Student Companies," a program that envisions groups of students writing detailed business plans and starting their own small businesses. In addition, Exxon Azerbaijan plans to donate a number of computers to Junior Achievement for the future training of schoolchildren and teachers.

Junior Achievement staff can be reached at (994-12) 94-00-54 or ja@efazerbaijan.org.

____