Five high school and two university students from Luxembourg will be in Tallinn for the European Gen-E competition for young entrepreneurs. (Photo: Jonk Entrepreneuren/Ivo Silva. Editing: Maison Moderne)

Five high school and two university students from Luxembourg will be in Tallinn for the European Gen-E competition for young entrepreneurs. (Photo: Jonk Entrepreneuren/Ivo Silva. Editing: Maison Moderne)

WeConnect, the winning project of this year's Young Enterprise Project, and Citygum, the 2022 mini-enterprise winner, will represent Luxembourg at Gen-E in Estonia, from 12 to 14 July.

Ivo Silva and Clémentine Offner are in the midst of preparations. In a few days they will fly to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, to take part in Gen-E 2022.

The European youth entrepreneurship event, which takes place from 12 to 14 July, is organised by Junior Achievement (JA) Europe, of which Jonk Entrepreneuren Luxembourg is a member. The competition is divided into two categories: secondary education, for which the winning team of the mini-enterprise of the year competition, , qualifies. And higher education, for the winners of the Young Enterprise Project, won this year by 20-year olds Silva and Offner for their intergenerational co-living project, WeConnect.

Developing their platform on a European scale

"It's a platform that will put students and elderly people in touch with each other, to allow the former to find affordable accommodation and the latter not to feel alone," says Offner. "It's more than just sharing a roof, it's a human experience. Users can enter their interests, and the team manually "matches people who might get along well". The site is still under development. The two entrepreneurs plan to launch it in 2023 and hope to have a database of 1,000 people by then. "We already have 223 young people and 78 elderly people," says Silva.

By going to Gen-E, they hope to develop their project "all over Europe". They also see it as an opportunity to "get professional feedback". The team had already won the 2020 mini-company competition thanks to FrëschKëscht, which continues to supply companies with local products for the end-of-year celebrations. "We are both sure we want to be entrepreneurs," says the team, who work on WeConnect for two to three hours a day. They are working with a lawyer to clarify the business model, but suggest that they could take a commission on the rents.

41 countries

Leo Gehlen, Mika Witry, Thibaut Mailliet, Julian Millim and Loïc Hoffarth, the five students from the Aline Mayrisch high school who make up the Citygum team, are aged 17 to 18 and will also be in Tallinn to represent Luxembourg with their plastic-free, local chewing gum. They hope to find investors to continue the entrepreneurial adventure. "We don't have any machines, it's difficult to produce large quantities to offer our chewing gums in supermarkets", explains Leo Gehlen. They are looking for €7,000. Gehlen also hopes to find internship opportunities during Gen-E.

The two teams, whose trip will be financed by Jonk Entrepreneuren, are qualified for the main awards for company and start-up of the year. But also for several signature awards and for the Public Prize, for which votes are open online until 12 July. Other Luxembourg mini-companies participating in the latter are Granetta, Hopela, Foodsteps and Alex and Tim's. In total, 41 countries will participate in Gen-E 2022.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.