JA and FedEx: Four Decades of Building Young Entrepreneurs

August 19, 2026

This week, young people from across Asia Pacific gathered in Singapore for the 20th FedEx/Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge (ITC) Asia Pacific Finals. From August 17–19, students collaborated across cultures and disciplines to tackle real-world business scenarios and explore what it takes to succeed in international markets. Along the way, they'll strengthen skills including critical thinking, problem-solving, cross-cultural collaboration, adaptability, and communication.

This anniversary marks two decades of an experience designed to help young people think beyond their own borders. But the history behind ITC stretches back even further. The program is one chapter in a global partnership between JA and FedEx that began in the 1980s and has grown to support young entrepreneurs across the JA network.

More Than Four Decades of Partnership

Since 1981, JA and FedEx have worked together to help young people develop entrepreneurial skills, confidence, and the ability to turn challenges into opportunities. The partnership has taken many forms, from student programs and regional entrepreneurship competitions to FedEx employee volunteering, event sponsorships, charitable shipping support, and FedEx leaders serving on JA boards around the world.

As the relationship grew, so did its global reach. FedEx provided support to expand JA Company of the Year competitions around the world based on the European model beginning in 2007. The first North American competition followed in 2008, including students from the United States and Canada, with the Americas competition beginning in 2009.

*JA students present at the 2019 FedEx/JA ITC.*

Learning to Think Globally

The FedEx/JA International Trade Challenge began with three JA Asia Pacific locations participating in the regional finals in 2007. FedEx's early support of JA in the region extended beyond ITC, providing seed funding that helped establish new JA locations and contributed to the growth and expansion of JA across Asia Pacific.

The premise behind the challenge gives students an opportunity to experience the complexities of international business firsthand. Teams develop a product or service and create an original market-entry strategy for a designated country. In the process, they learn about international trade, product distribution, and sales while building teamwork, analytical thinking, and the ability to evaluate business risks.

Cross-cultural collaboration is a key component of the experience. At the 2019 finals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for example, 60 students representing 10 markets were paired into 30 teams, with teammates coming from different countries. Their challenge: create a market-entry strategy for a medical-device product to be sold in Germany.

By 2023, ITC had grown to serve 4,812 students across 404 schools in Asia Pacific, with 100 FedEx volunteers supporting the experience. Since its launch, the program has reached more than 54,000 students across the region.

A Global Partnership for Entrepreneurship

While ITC has become a signature element of the JA–FedEx relationship in Asia Pacific, the partnership extends across the global JA network.

FedEx sponsors regional entrepreneurship competitions across all six JA regions. The FedEx Global Possibilities Seminar and Award, presented in connection with regional Company of the Year competitions hosted by JA Africa, JA Americas, JA Europe, INJAZ Al-Arab/JA MENA, and Junior Achievement USA, encourages young entrepreneurs to address social challenges with viable business solutions.

Those solutions reflect the range of issues young entrepreneurs are taking on. In 2022, students from Nigeria created Green Apex, a biodegradable, reusable sanitary pad designed to address period poverty and provide a more sustainable, affordable option for women and girls. The company received the FedEx Global Possibilities Award at the JA Africa Company of the Year competition.

In the United States in 2023, Coco-Loco, a JA student company from San Diego, developed eco-friendly coconut products and gifts with an emphasis on community impact. More recently, the 2025 FedEx Award winners included Calm Canvas from Junior Achievement of North Central Ohio at JA USA's Future Bound and BioAnglers from Nuorten yrittäjyys ja talous (JA Finland) at JA Europe's Gen-E. BioAnglers developed biodegradable fishing baits as an alternative to traditional products containing harmful chemicals or non-biodegradable materials.

The partnership has also created opportunities for students to present their entrepreneurial ideas to business leaders. From 2017 through 2019, the FedEx Junior Business Challenge brought JA student companies into a competition connected to the PGA Tour in the U.S. In its inaugural year, more than 15 student companies from five U.S. cities pitched their businesses at qualifying events, with five teams advancing to the finals at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

More Than a Sponsor

FedEx's involvement with JA has also extended to the people who make these experiences possible. FedEx employees have served as volunteers, mentors, speakers, judges, and leaders within the JA network.

Today, FedEx leaders serve on JA boards in locations around the world, including Japan, Singapore, Poland, Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador, and the United States, as well as the JA Asia Pacific, JA Europe, and JA Americas regional boards and the JA Worldwide Board of Governors.

That engagement brings business experience directly into students' learning. In 2025 alone, 115 FedEx volunteers participated in regional and local JA competitions around the world that directly reached 15,950 students through both the ITC and the JA Company Program.

Preparing for What's Next

The workforce young people are preparing to enter looks very different from the one that existed when the first ITC participants took on the challenge in 2007. The fundamental skills behind the experience, however, remain highly relevant: understanding markets, solving problems, communicating ideas, working with people from different backgrounds, adapting to change, and thinking entrepreneurially.

When ITC began in 2007, three JA Asia Pacific locations participated in the regional finals. Twenty years later, 48 students from 8 markets will come together in Singapore for the 2026 challenge.

They'll face different technologies, markets, and global challenges than the students who came before them. But the opportunity at the heart of ITC remains: to work across cultures, understand a problem, think entrepreneurially, and develop an idea for a global marketplace.

“The future of trade, work, and innovation will be shaped by young people who can think globally, collaborate across cultures, and turn challenges into opportunities,” noted Vivek Kumar, President and CEO of JA Asia Pacific. “The FedEx/JA International Trade Challenge gives students that foundation today, so they can become the entrepreneurs, problem-solvers, and purpose-driven leaders our region will need tomorrow.”

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