The British Council Bosnia and Herzegovina in partnership with Microsoft is launching the first Enterprise Award Challenge competition within the British Council Skills for Employability project. The competition will be co-ordinated with the State Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education, as well as other relevant educational authorities.

Students of all secondary schools across Bosnia and Herzegovina are invited to participate. The goal of the competition is to encourage young people to use their skills in enterprising in innovative ways, ultimately enhancing their employability and entrepreneurial flair.

The first round of the local competition is a business essay announced with relevant ministries of education countrywide. Schools from the entire country can apply their teams to participate in the first round of the competition. You can download the application in local languages here. Each school can apply only one team. The team should consist of 5 students and one teacher. The deadline for applications is November 10, 2010 at 1500.

After shortlisting done by a mixed panel (Microsoft and British Council representatives together with interested educational authorities), 5 teams from each town (Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Mostar, Sarajevo, Tuzla and Trebinje) will be invited to compete in local competitions that will be held from November 15 –December 15, 2010.

Winners of local competitions will compete in Sarajevo on the final state competition, in February 2011. This final competition is a one-day competition. The winning local teams will be mixed into new teams to work together to win at the national competition. The local business community is asked to give the participants a “challenge” which they have to “solve” within limited time and present it to a jury. The judges will then choose the winning teams.

For more information about the competition in Bosnia and Herzegovina, please contact Amila Semić.