Oslo Børs welcomed the winning team of the Euronext Blue Challenge, Marival UB, as guests-of-honour on a special bell rininging ceremony lead by Øivind Amundsen, CEO Oslo Børs, to celebrate their victory and to receive their Europe winning trophy.

The team flew all the way from Molde in Western Norway to Oslo to meet in person their mentors, the Euronext volunteers who accompanied them over this journey.

Marival UB is an innovative youth enterprise that focuses on the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth; they developed a product that reflects sound waves, allowing fishermen to locate lost equipment immediately thanks to an echo sounder. The team explained that they would like to continue the project further, but would put it on hold until they had completed high school.

Developed in partnership with JA Europe and held for the first time this year, the Euronext Blue Challenge is a hands-on programme for school students aged between 15 and 18, across the different countries in which Euronext operates. The programme aims to inspire students about sustainable finance and the blue economy, whilst helping them develop core job skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, presentation, and entrepreneurial skills. This first programme saw approximately 175 students create 35 ‘mini-companies’ with the support of 44 Euronext mentors. 

Stéphane Boujnah, CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext, and Sylvia Andriessen, General Counsel at Euronext, had the pleasure of meeting the young students who wan the Blue Innovation Award, as part of the first edition of the Blue Challenge.

This limited meeting had the objective of sharing experiences, address students' plans for the future, as well as how the project has developed since winning the challenge.

Using ocean resources for sustainable economic growth, their innovative project allows fishermen to quickly locate and recover lost equipment, successfully demonstrating their understanding of the Blue Economy and financial literacy concepts.

For the 2nd edition of the Blue Challenge, we have expanded our programme to Denmark and Italy, encouraging financial literacy, knowledge of the Blue Economy and innovation to limit climate change amongst young entrepreneurs in nine countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. 

Building on a successful pilot during the last school year 2020-21, Euronext and JA Europe have expenaded their entrepreneurship education programme, The Blue Challenge, to Denmark and Italy. Euronext and JA Europe will now be able to boost financial literacy and encourage innovation to limit climate change and to foster the Blue Economy amongst young entrepreneurs in nine countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The programme aims to inspire students aged 16 to 18 about sustainable finance and help them develop core competencies such as teamwork, problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills.

The Euronext Blue Challenge is the flagship initiative of Our Society, one of five material impact areas within our ESG strategy. Through this collaboration, we will be able to boost financial literacy and encourage innovation to limit climate change and to promote the blue economy amongst young entrepreneurs.

In the course of the academic year, over 250 students will learn about sustainable finance while working on their own business projects supported by mentoring and webinars from Euronext volunteers. After national selections in April, country finalists will compete for the Euronext “Blue Innovation Award”.

From North to South, Euronext volunteers engaged during one week in the water-front clean-up initiatives, in celebration of the International Coastal Clean-Up Day and the European Sustainable Development Week.

Being the first exchange signatory of the UNGC Sustainable Ocean Principles, the conservation of the oceans, seas and marine resources, as consecrated in the United Nations' SDG 14, is a sustainable goal that is embraced by Euronext and it is dear to our community.

Euronext teams from across Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal offices rolled up their sleeves and walked miles alongside the water's edge, filling dozens of bags with trash, preventing it to end in the ocean.