From July 1 to 3, the heart of European youth entrepreneurship will beat in Athens as Greece hosts the GEN-E 2025 Festival by Junior Achievement Europe — the continent’s largest celebration of young entrepreneurial talent.
With over 1,000 participants from 40 countries, who stood out among 400,000 students across Europe, Athens will transform into a vibrant hub of innovation. For three days, the city will shine with creativity as students present their start-ups and pitch their business ideas.
This journey began with the Virtual Expo, featuring more than 2,000 innovative student-led enterprises from across the continent — a testament to the entrepreneurial energy shaping Europe’s future.
Why Greece?
The selection of Greece as host country is no coincidence, Emilios Kyriacou, JA Greece Chair of the BoD told to Thrive Global. “It is the result of the outstanding successes of Greek teams in recent years: Best Student Start Up in Europe for two consecutive years (2022 with Microgreens Magicgreens & 2023 with Isometricks) and JA Worldwide De La Vega Global Entrepreneurship Award 2024, won by the Isometricks team from the Experimental High School of the University of Macedonia. We see Greece shifting from the periphery of Europe to the core of youth-driven innovation — and we are very proud to be part of this transformation”.
The Junior Achievement Difference
So, what sets Junior Achievement apart in the world of youth entrepreneurship?
“We don’t just teach — we turn learning into a real, hands-on experience,” Mr. Kyriacou explained to us. “Our programs go far beyond the classroom. They simulate real entrepreneurial life — with evaluations, brainstorming, jury panels, competitions, and mentoring from business professionals.”
But as he emphasized, entrepreneurship is only part of the story.
“The real value of JA is personal transformation. We help students believe in themselves. We teach them to take risks, to collaborate and never give up. Failure is just a step toward success. That’s the heart of our mission — to cultivate resilient, future-ready individuals.”
As Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament and a JA alumna said in her message to students during the Gen-E Official Virtual Opening 2025: “this festival is just one example of how Junior Achievement is helping young people to make our ambition to step up and help young entrepreneurs a reality, bringing together the generation that will shape our shared future”.
About Gen-E
Gen-E is Europe’s largest Entrepreneurship event, a celebration of entrepreneurship and the achievements of European youth. Thousands of European students, from 15 years old onwards, showcase their cutting–edge business ideas online and on-site. The Gen-E Festival also combines two annual European entrepreneurship contests for the winners of JA Company and the JA Start-Up Programme from over 40 countries.
About JA Greece
Junior Achievement Greece is a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide, the global non-profit educational organization for student entrepreneurship, which has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the fourth consecutive year (2024–2025). For more information about JA Greece and the organization of the JA Europe Gen-E 2025 European Final in Athens, you can visit www.jagreece.org and www.gen-e.eu.