Unicamp's junior companies, located in two of the institution's three campuses (Campinas and Limeira), carried out, over the past year, 423 projects and services for different market segments, the value of which totaled R$1.153.032,43. A junior company is a non-profit entity formed by students, which is part of one of the pillars of the public university: extension. The results of Unicamp's junior companies constitute an important aspect of this pillar, so that small and micro-entrepreneurs from different cities leveraged their companies through the services provided by students.
On the state scene, Unicamp is the third Higher Education Institution with the most junior companies and which, throughout 2019, demonstrated better revenue. Fabiana Gonçalves, Food Engineering student and member of Gepea - Consultoria em Alimentos believes in the relevance of the college's infrastructure. "In every project we work on, the college's infrastructure is essential. By trusting our work so much, Unicamp helps us generate more impact for our clients”, she says.
The 20 junior companies are from courses that encompass the three areas of knowledge - exact, human and biological - and, in this way, contribute to the training of students in various aspects in an inclusive manner. According to Dean Marcelo Knobel, this represents an achievement for students where they learn several important qualities for their future, not only in terms of entrepreneurship, but also encourages group work and solving various types of problems.
Companies aligned with the University's objective of promoting sustainable development carried out 394 projects that met at least one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are part of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda. In this way, 14 of the 17 objectives were covered by the services that companies offered to society.
Meeting of São Paulo leaders
Around 400 university students from across the state, 83 from Unicamp, attended the event in Bauru, in the interior of São Paulo. The “Vórtex”, formerly called the São Paulo Meeting of Directors, brought together, from February 28th to March 1st, directors and members of junior companies in São Paulo. The group is made up of 168 companies from 30 different higher education institutions, to offer training, training and networking. The event is organized by the Federation of Junior Companies of the State of São Paulo (FEJESP) and was hosted on the Bauru campus of the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” (Unesp).
Vórtex featured panels and content taught by consolidated companies such as ACE Start-ups and Movile, owner of the IFood and Sympla applications. More experienced junior businesspeople also presented lectures and, among them, were some Unicamp students. According to Leonardo Inhan, graduating in civil engineering at Unicamp, being part of the Junior Enterprise Movement means always being in constant learning. In the last three years, he has been at Projec - a junior architecture and civil engineering company - and has been able to accumulate some important learnings. "It's always an honor to be able to share them", declares Leonardo, who gave a panel on sales methodologies.
