The Academy of Young Managers (formerly known as the Academy of Young Financiers) is the first project in Wrocław implemented based on the scientific staff from the Wrocław universities. The official inauguration of AYF was held in October 2009 in the auditorium of the Wrocław School of Banking – the project partner. It had a form of the academic year inauguration with all necessary attributes and traditional ceremony. The second project partner was the DOZAMEL company – managing the Wrocław Industrial Park.
The goal of the Academy of Young Financiers was to make young people aged 12-15 years and their parents familiar with the basics of economic knowledge and to promote entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours. The specific objective was to accustom the young people to the formula of academic classes – therefore, the classes were held in the lecture rooms and conducted by the university teachers and practitioners in their fields, and each young student received a student's book in which the attendance, credits, activities and final grades were registered.
The form of the project assumed the two-way action: each session covered a lecture for the children and parents and then the children participated in the thematic workshops and the parents had an opportunity to listen to the second lecture, specifically dedicated to them.
The subject of the first edition of AYF concerned such issues as: the basics of economy, monetary policy, investment and entrepreneurship. The classes were held every fourth Wednesday of the month and lasted about 90 minutes.
At the end of each edition, the lecturers prepared a test of economic knowledge regarding the issues covered during the semester. The person who solved tasks in the best manner, was given an attractive award (notebooks, digital cameras, etc.).
Soon, it turned out that the young students had very broad interests, going far beyond the economics itself. It has been demonstrated both by direct interviews with the participants and an evaluation survey, in which the young people had an opportunity to precise what subjects were of their greatest interest. Therefore, at the turn of the academic year 2010/2011, a decision was made to extend the covered substantive issues by marketing, management, PR, alternative investments, image creation and direct contacts with entrepreneurs who managed to succeed. Following this, the project was renamed to the Academy of Young Managers.
The project lasted for 3 years and during that time the Academy hosted such famous people as Prof. Marian Noga – the member of the Monetary Policy Council 2nd term, Ewa Wolniewicz-Dżeljilji – the long-term journalist of Polish Television, Maciej Popowicz – the founder of the social networking site "Nasza Klasa" or Dr Jerzy Jagoda – the co-author of the business game Promar. Within three years, about 400 young people and 200 parents participated in AYM. Three editions of the project were covered by co-financing from the National Bank of Poland.
Currently, the project is suspended for a year.
