FINANCIAL LITERACY MONTH ALERT: FINAL COMPETITION FOR THE LARGEST-EVER JA MIAMI COMPANY PROGRAM

The event will feature a keynote from Junior Achievement Miami Board Member Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO and Founder of MoonPay and the Soto-Wright Foundation

MIAMI, April 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of their largest-ever year, and during Financial Literacy Month, Junior Achievement of Greater Miami will hold its 4th Annual JA Company Program Competition. It will take place on April 14, 2026, at Miami-Dade College, and is open to the media and board members with RSVP.

In the JA Company Program, high school students conceptualize and create their own real, operating companies from concept. Now, at the final competition, top teams will have the opportunity to pitch them to a panel of live investors and judges, who will determine the top companies for the 2025-26 school year.

This year, 2,054 Miami students at 20 schools created 70 student-run companies – a JA Miami record. These have been whittled down to a selection of 10 top teams, who will present their work to a live panel of judges that includes JA Miami board members, top local entrepreneurs, and other community leaders. The 10 teams presenting come from six high schools in Miami-Dade County.

The top team selected by this year's judges will receive $400 per student team member and a recommendation to go on to Junior Achievement USA's national competition this summer.

JA Miami's Company Program is one of the largest in the United States, and has been a model for Junior Achievement USA and other areas of this international nonprofit. Last year, the top two Miami teams were chosen to present at the national Future Bound Summit. One team, from Coral Gables Senior High School, won the prestigious ICE Best Financial Performance Award. The other, from Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, won the Student Choice Award.

The Competition event, open to media with RSVP, will include a keynote from Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO and Founder of MoonPay, as well as the Soto-Wright Foundation, and a JA Miami board member. Lourdes Diaz, Chief Academic Officer of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, will also speak.

"This program represents so many exciting parts of the JA Miami program: it's a great lesson for students in entrepreneurship and innovation, and it connects them with local mentors and business leaders," said Lourdes de la Mata Little, Junior Achievement Miami President and CEO. "This is a fantastic way for students to learn real-world skills, while we build a talent pipeline for the Miami tech and innovation community. We're very excited to collaborate with everyone from the mentors and volunteers, the teachers and principals, and our M-DCPS Superintendent's team to bring this to Miami once again this year."

The JA Company Program is open to high school students at participating schools within Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Through the curriculum, students come together to start a small business. They go through the stages of choosing concepts, researching their market, creating a budget and physical prototypes, creating the items they'll sell or designing the services they'll provide, marketing, sales, and then close out their business at the end of the year with a profit-loss statement.

To attend, or for wrap-up details and photos, please email [email protected].

About: Junior Achievement of Greater Miami reaches over 38,000 public students from Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties per year. They provide free lessons in financial literacy, work and career readiness, and entrepreneurship, delivered in our public schools with the help of our education partners and volunteers from the local community. JA Miami was awarded the coveted Five Star Status for 2023-2024 from JA USA, as well as the 2024 NOVO Award from the Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Contact: Annmarie Pisano, [email protected]

SOURCE MoonPay; JA Miami