PASHA Bank Supports Financial Literacy through Junior Achievement Programs in Azerbaijan

PASHA Bank OJSC and Junior Achievement Azerbaijan (JAA) signed partnership agreement in support of the financial literacy programs implemented by JAA in 2011. The initiative will help Azerbaijani students to become rational consumers and responsible citizens through interactive training on banking and personal finance, national competition, and on-site internships for undergraduate students.

The pilot project in 2011 will target students from four universities. Following the selection rounds in April, 72 students will participate in the fundamentals of banking training delivered by the specialists from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan Republic and Junior Achievement Azerbaijan. The students will then participate in the "Banks in Action" competition, where they will apply what they learned using the JA Banks in Action computer simulation. Through the simulation, the students will operate a bank by making several decisions, each of which represents a calendar quarter. The banking team that develops the best strategy and makes a greater profit than its competitors will win the competition. At the last stage of the program, the most outstanding students will learn about banking careers on-site.

JAA financial literacy programs are part of the School Economics Education Program funded by the coalition of companies consisting of Statoil Absheron, Chevron Khazar, Bakcell Ltd., and Garadagh Cement OJSC as main supporters; and Pasha Bank, Saipem Azerbaijan, American Chamber of Commerce, Nobel Oil, Baker & McKenzie CIS, and PwC Azerbaijan as associate supporters. The partnership program is implemented in strategic partnership with the Central Bank, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the United States Agency for International Development.

Junior Achievement Azerbaijan (JAA) is the local representative of JA Worldwide, the world's largest non-profit organization in the field of youth business education that works in more than 110 countries and annually reaches 9 million students. Junior Achievement mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. In Azerbaijan Junior Achievement started in 1998 and since then JA Azerbaijan trained thousands of students and more than 300 teachers from 260 schools in 28 regions through the funding from the public and private donors. Junior Achievement Azerbaijan supports and helps directly by training and assisting its beneficiaries to learn essentials of business, entrepreneurship, finance, and economics and to be better prepared for their roles in Azerbaijan's economy.