Criação da empresa júnior do curso de Bacharelado em Agroecologia – Concriz Agroecologia e Sustentabilidade

Abstract

The Junior Enterprise Movement (MEJ) is a non-profit association of higher education students that emerged in France in 1967 and has grown across several countries, including Brazil, which in 2016 enacted a law regulating junior enterprises within higher education institutions on a voluntary basis. The junior enterprise (EJ) provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to work in business management while simultaneously providing formal professional services. Given this information and the potential local demand for professional support in the agricultural field, specifically in coffee farming, a group of students from the Bachelor's degree in Agroecology at the Federal University of Paraíba, Campus III in Bananeiras, Paraíba, decided to found the program's junior enterprise. The objective of this work was to describe and analyze the history of the founding of the junior enterprise of the Bachelor's degree in Agroecology. The methods used in this process included meetings between students and advisors, meetings with SEBRAE (Brazilian National Support Service for Micro and Small Enterprises), PROEX/UFPB (Office of the Provost for Extension at the Federal University of Paraíba), and Executive Consultoria, the junior enterprise of the Business Administration program on the same university campus. Accounting and legal advice were hired, the bylaws were registered, the election and inauguration were registered, the National Registry of Legal Entities (CNPJ), municipal licenses were obtained, a selection process with a semi-structured interview, and a preselection online questionnaire for the program community about the MEJ program was completed. During this period, three private rural consulting contracts were signed, a service proposal was submitted to a city hall, and bioinput sales were also conducted. The existence of the EJ program and the institution's support with grants are considered extremely important. The EJ program helps to raise awareness of the program and the professional activities of the Bachelor of Agroecology student, as well as personal and professional development.