OREANDA-NEWS. December 20, 2012. Swedbank has granted 29,438.80 euros to seven projects in the twelfth young entrepreneurs competition Shining Stars. The finalists had to present their ideas to a jury before an audience for the first time.

“Great ventures start from small things – all you need is an idea,” said Robert Kitt, Head of Corporate Banking at Swedbank Estonia. “We want to encourage young people to be enterprising, to make them believe that they can do something themselves to achieve success. They are the stars of tomorrow’s economy, and our task is to support them on this path.”

The projects supported by Swedbank this year are:

- Tartu Electricity Theatre – The only cinema in Tartu that screens art house films that would otherwise not reach viewers in Tartu. The goal is to nurture the tradition of art house films in Tartu.

- The Smallest Helper – The goal of this project is to give children the knowledge and skills they need to help others and themselves in emergencies. The jury decided to increase the amount that was applied for and also to cover the amount self-financing by team members.

- NSST (Noored, Soprus, Sallivus, Tervis) or Youth, Friendship, Tolerance, Health – Support for making a movie that teaches people how to fight bullying.

- Social enterprise via media literacy – This project develops social enterprise in rural Estonia by involving young people in the development of cinema culture in the places they live in.

- Voice of Youth: creation of Youth TV in Sillamae – The goal is to give young people the chance to learn how to use a video camera, do video montage and process videos, prepare reports and video clips, write articles and press releases, behave in front of the camera and test themselves as show hosts. The project also offers a channel where all of this can be shown.

- FS Team Tallinn – Support for building the first electric formula car in Estonia.

The People’s Favourite was also chosen via Facebook. The winner was VideoPartner, which received 500 euros in support.

The judging panel of the competition consisted of Anne Kivimae, Head of Youth Department at the Ministry of Education and Research; Kersti Loor, Partner Relations Manager at Junior Achievement Eesti; Kaja Koovit, Head of Economic News at Postimees; Young Entrepreneur 2012 Indrek Rebane; and Kristjan Kaer, Business Manager at Realister OU.

The chairman of the judging panel was Mihkel Hollo, Project Manager of Corporate Banking at Swedbank.