The Indonesian operation of Junior Achievement Worldwide, known as Prestasi Junior Indonesia, selected the nation's best student company at its national event on August 11.

The winning students from SMAN 3 Semarang will represent the nation at the Asia Pacific Competition in 2019. Their task will be to retain the honor of the Best Student Company in the region, which was won by students from SMA Plus Pembangunan Jaya in Beijing this year.

The American business community was well represented at the event with both Citi and AIG supporting many student companies and representatives from Marsh McLennan Companies, Freeport, and the American Chamber of Commerce featuring as jury members.

Prestasi Junior was fortunate to also have Andrew Shaw from the US Embassy provide opening remarks prior to the beginning of the competition.

The competition is the culminating event of the Junior Achievement Student Company Program, which has operated in Indonesia over more than 10 years. Young entrepreneurs from Indonesia work to develop a successful business enterprise and, in so doing, learn about the world of business first-hand.

Upon graduation they are well prepared to establish their own business enterprise and successfully scale it over time. The students have also proven to be very competitive at the Asia Pacific level with all female teams winning in 2018 and achieving second place in 2017.

So, the students from SMAN Semarang, supported by Citi, have a significant challenge in front of them - to keep Indonesia at the top of the podium in 2019.