The Story Behind The Fastest-Growing Junior Enterprise In Europe
By Carla Terminella
Created in 2004, JET (Junior Enterprise Turin) is a non-profit consulting enterprise founded by ESCP students. The association’s objective is to provide international services for organisations, institutions, and society as a whole. Guided by teachers and professionals, JET has been consolidating its strong position as a pan-European junior enterprise, while continuously contributing and promoting the growth of its members. Now an established consulting firm, JET is a magnet for ESCP talents and has the ability to retain them.
How did a student association come this far? What are its core strengths? Do they reside in JET’s culture? “We are only as good as the good we do”. An inspiring mantra that allows members to have access to a list of further possibilities. And each year is different, each year is better. The team is young, skilled, and motivated. They live and breathe their enterprise’s purpose, they want to leave a trace, be memorable, and be impactful. They aim to deliver value to their customers and enable positive change. Their approach, while being dynamic and creative, is attentive to the current socio-economic situation of their clients, so as to offer them long-lasting solutions.
This association cares about its network of clients just as much as it cares for its student members and the entire ESCP community. It delivers a service that goes both ways. It is a continuous learning cycle that begins with students having the possibility to have hands-on experience with real clients, and ends with companies benefiting from JET’s dynamic perspectives and ideas.
Areas Of Expertise
New Beginnings
The newly appointed board is no less ambitious and is now focusing on taking the association to the next level, communicating this aspiration to the new associates.
Luca Oradini, JET’s president, is a second-year master's student at ESCP and a former Bocconi University student. Since his debut in the Junior Enterprise, in October 2021, he has been part of the consulting division.
“The founding concept of JET, the ‘why’ of this enterprise, is that we are all students, working voluntarily, with one common objective. To learn, and to evolve together”.
Franziska Oschmann is JET’s Vice President, like Luca she first joined the enterprise as a consulting associate. She’s a third-year Bachelor's student.
“The JET family means a lot to me and I feel lucky to be part of it”.
You have been at JET for over a year now, what has this association taught you so far?
Luca O.: “Without any doubt, I would say that it has taught me to lower the boundaries and reduce bias. I think that the company is so diverse that it forces you to keep your mind open and to remember that breakthrough ideas can come when you least expect it and from the most random people. In JET there are master associates that have a bachelor in literature, psychology, international relations, and law. Not only, or necessarily, economics, management, and finance. It taught me to be more open towards colleagues of mine, teammates of mine with a completely different background”.
Given that JET is founded on dynamism and creativity. Is there something that you would like to always stay the same?
Luca O.: “The spirit that I would like to preserve is based on our powerful dynamism and internationalism. I wish that these two things could be everlasting. The founding concept of JET, the ‘why’ of this enterprise, is that we are all students, working voluntarily, with one common objective. To learn, to evolve together. Together with our clients, and our teammates”.
What comes to your mind when you think about new beginnings for JET?
Luca O.: “What I am anticipating the most is to organise ‘face-to-face’ learning opportunities and workshop events, from which the organisation would particularly benefit. At ESCP, putting together an event of this sort is extremely complex. Associates are dispersed in various campuses around Europe, and you can imagine how many challenges that entails when it comes to organising something that includes, if not all, at least most of our associates”.
What has been JET’s biggest accomplishment so far? And Why?
Luca O.: “Throughout its entire existence, I believe that the association has always been able to self-manage from all points of view. Economically, there hasn’t been a time when we wanted to do something and couldn’t afford it. But most importantly, I think, we have been able to enter a fiercely competitive market, in Europe in general, but especially in France and Italy, which is that of Junior Enterprises. We were able to make ourselves known, and build a reputation for the company”.
Franziska O.: “Besides that, the previous board and associates, because of their hard work, were able to finance a JET getaway for all associates in a chateau in France in March 2022. During the trip, each one could finally connect onsite with the peers they worked online with”.
What would you say are the drawbacks, challenges, and points that could be improved about your association?
Luca O.: “Post-covid it has gotten more difficult to keep the associates’ engagement high, as we are all striving to reduce online meetings and trying to go back to ‘normal’, organising vis-à-vis gatherings, we have to remember that JET has to continue to operate online. This is giving me something to think about, given that our associates are spread out around Europe, and that it can be difficult to make everyone feel like they are 100% part of the project even when kilometers away. Luckily, until now everyone seems to be very motivated and engaged”.
Who does JET look up to? What are its models? Which are its sources of inspiration?
Luca O.: “I would say JEs in general, naturally, as we like to partner with them, and confront our association with theirs to see what is lacking in JET and react accordingly. But mostly, we are inspired by one of our core features, the fact that JET is so international. This allows for the company to be open to new languages, new cultures, countless different backgrounds”. And thus, to a list of infinite alternatives.
What do you want this article to say about Jet? Is there something, in particular, you would want to highlight?
Luca O.: “Its uniqueness. Our association is a Junior Enterprise like no other. We can distinguish ourselves. We select candidates from a pool of highly motivated and diverse students. ESCP offers us the opportunity to specialise in several different areas of study and to benefit from its international profile”.
Concluding remarks about JET. Is there something you’d like to add?