This category is open to projects by students who want to contribute to economic development, increase financial literacy, and develop innovative business models. Ideas developed in the following areas will be evaluated within this scope:

Financial Literacy and Education: Projects that develop individuals’ budget management, saving, investment, and entrepreneurship skills.

Innovative Business Models: Sustainable and creative business solutions that enable students to bring their own business ideas to life.

Digital Finance Solutions: Mobile payment systems, crypto assets, blockchain applications, and smart financial technologies.

Social Impact and Economic Participation: Projects that include disadvantaged groups in economic life and create employment and equal opportunities.

In this category, students are expected to see the economy not only as a way to earn money, but as a fair, sustainable, and innovative field of value creation that benefits society.

• The competition is open to middle school (7th-8th grade) and high school (preparatory, 9th-11th grade) students across Turkey.
• Participation is only possible in teams of 2 or 4 people.
• Participants may be from the same school or may form a team by coming together from different schools.
• Each team must have a Project Mentor. This mentor may be a teacher or an independent entrepreneurship mentor.

For participation, it is mandatory to follow the entire application process completely and complete the required steps on time.

• Projects submitted to the competition must be focused on entrepreneurship in finance.

• Projects may be in the following areas:

  • Financial technology (FinTech) solutions,

  • Applications that support saving and investment habits,

  • Digital payment systems,

  • Crypto assets and blockchain-based projects,

  • Financial education and awareness initiatives for young people.

• Projects must be original and must not have participated in another competition before.

The NextPreneur application process consists of three steps:

• September 27, 2025 – Training for Project Mentors
  Process management training is organized for teachers or entrepreneurship mentors who will guide student teams.

• October 17, 2025 – Project Preliminary Application
  Student teams of 2 or 4 people upload their project category and short description to the system with the guidance of their mentors.

• November 7, 2025 – One-Pager & Participation Payment
  Teams upload their projects to the system in one-pager format and complete their participation payments for the competition to be held in Antalya.

Teams that complete this process fully will officially secure their place in the competition journey.

Teams that upload their projects to the system continue to develop their business ideas, refine their business models, and strengthen their presentations during the 20-week period leading up to the competition.

On competition day, teams present the final version of their projects to the jury and are evaluated.

Projects will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Innovation and originality

• Technological feasibility

• Social benefit and impact

• Entrepreneurial potential

• Presentation and teamwork

Competition

• All participants receive a Certificate of Participation and Special Awards
• Teams advancing to the final also receive a Finalist Certificate and Medal

Education Summit & Final

• 3 Gold Medals: GBP 500 cash prize for each team
• 5 Silver Medals & Special Category Awards
• 7 Bronze Medals & Special Category Awards