Congratulations to Winners of Italy Starts, JCU’s New Business Mentoring Program

Italy Starts Final

Congratulations to Rome high school students Elisa Guarino and Sara Pierandrei from Liceo Giordano Bruno, who won the first edition of John Cabot University’s Italy Starts on 

Aimed at third and fourth-year students enrolled in Italian high schools, Italy Starts was created by the JCU Institute for Entrepreneurship as part of the MIUR Alternanza Scuola Lavoro. Participating JCU/partner university students (Mentors) volunteer to be connected to Italian high school students (Mentees) to solve real business problems or develop business models for their business or social venture idea.

Over five weeks students from local Italian high schools worked on turning their ideas into real projects, with invaluable mentorship by visiting JCU students from Villanova University, in turn overseen by JCU Dean of Academics Mary Merva and Professors Silvia Pulino (JCU) and David Shaffer (Villanova).

The winning idea was Glu Plus+, a special bottle divided inside into two parts, allowing the user to choose between a hot or cold beverage. Each part can be heated and cooled together at the same time using a USB connected to a laptop, solar energy plate, or electric outlet.

The Italy Starts jury was composed of two JCU alumni, businesswomen and entrepreneurs – Shaza Saker and Giorgia Conti, and one long-time JCU supporter, guest speaker, mentor and above all, entrepreneur Andrea Geremicca from Impactscool.

The winning team and their mentors each received Libro 2050, an exciting futuristic guide for entrepreneurs!

The overall objective of the Italy Starts program is to encourage cross-cultural learning between undergraduate students who have had some training in entrepreneurship or business, and Italian high school students, within the broad spectrum of entrepreneurship-focused mentoring.

Learn more about the Italy Starts program.