The final competition and award ceremony of the Annual Competition “mind REsetters of the Year 2024 - 2025” was completed with great success! The event was organized for the 4th consecutive year by Junior Achievement Cyprus on February 19 th , 13:00 - 17:00, at Royal Hall.

The event was open to all those interested in discovering the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity of the promising new generation. The final competition was the culmination of the efforts of more than 450 students, aged 10-14, who have created green innovative products and services.

The event was attended by a large number of people, as well as the Mayor of Nicosia, Charalambos Prountzos, who also nominated the award for Secondary Education.

The ten finalist student companies, out of the 108 created under the ”mind REset” programme, presented their innovative business ideas publicly and in front of a specialized jury. The program involved 71 schools from all over Cyprus (43 Primary & 28 High Schools), with a total number of students of 3545 (1879 in Primary & 1666 in High Schools) with the support of more than 180 teachers.

The programme was implemented with the Strategic Partnership of Lidl Cyprus,with the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Youth as an Institutional Partner and is under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.

The student companies were created within the framework of the “mind REset” programme, a fun and interactive program that offers 5 lessons to students in the 5th and 6th grades of primary school and 1st and 2nd grades of lower high school. Junior Achievement Cyprus in collaboration with Lidl Cyprus implements the programme free of charge in public and private schools all over Cyprus. The programme is approved by the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Youth.

The students have been asked to identify the consequences of plastic in our lives and propose practical and sustainable solutions that will contribute to the protection and preservation of the environment. At the same time, they had the opportunity to enter the very interesting field of entrepreneurship and promote their own products and services. The students went from the idea stage to planning and implementation.

For the final selection of the teams, the judges assessed the quality of their business idea presentation, the quality of their exhibits and booth, and the quality of their stage presence and responses.

The Mind REsetters of the year 2024-25, who won an educational business experience in Austria, are:

The student company Rocking Paints from Agia Varvara Primary School that developed natural pigments made from minerals, entirely plastic-free. Their product is packaged in a reusable glass container and comes with an eco-friendly fabric bag. The team consists of Apostolos Stylianou, Kyprianos Kyprianou, Sotiris Patsalos, Marios Michail, and Christos Alexopoulos, under the guidance of their teachers, Dimitris Lazarou and Savvoulla Pachiti.

The student company NatureSkin Bags from Apostolos Andreas Empa Gymnasium that created durable, handcrafted, eco-friendly bags using agar (red algae) and organic waste. The team members are Nikolas Karayiannis, Christodoula Vorka, and Eleni Agathokleous, supported by their teachers, Christos Aristidou and Noula Theofylaktou. 

A huge congratulations to all the finalist teams who stood out among 108 teams from across Cyprus!

• LEAN (Agia Varvara Primary School)

• ΕΠΑΝΕΚΔΟΣΗ (D’ Aglantzia Primary School)

• ΣτολιΖώ (Makedonitissa B’ Primary School)

• Υπερήρωες της αλλαΓΗΣ (16th Limassol Primary School – Zakaki – Polykarpos

• Vlachos)

• PeelBran (Stavrou Gymnasium)

• PVT PlantVaseTerrarium (Mikis Theodorakis Music Gymnasium Larnaca)

• REVIAE (Pancyprian Gymnasium)

• Solar Oven (Pancyprian Gymnasium)

The members of the final jury committee were: Antonia Theodosiou Commissioner for the Environment, Office of the Commissioner for the Environment and Animal Welfare, Jannet Hadjiosif, Inspector of Secondary Education at Ministry of Education, Konstantina Logotheti, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of JA Cyprus, Vasilis Lagogiannis, Regional Director of Lidl Cyprus, Savvia Savva, Group Sustainability Reporting Manager, Coca Cola HBC, and Marinos Voukis, Chairman of the Board of Directors, CSR Cyprus.

The will, the ideas, and the passion with which all the students worked from all 108 teams all over Cyprus were admirable, sending a hopeful message for the future in entrepreneurship but also in environmental awareness.