“Social Business Academy” educational programme to empower young people by increasing knowledge and skills of social entrepreneurship
Joint project “Social Entrepreneurship for Youth Empowerment in Finland and Latvia” was funded via Interreg Baltic Programme and European Union during 2023-2025. Aim was to train young people living in rural Päijät-Häme in Finland and rural Latvia, to start a social enterprise. In European Union, social entrepreneurship is considered important to promote, since it contributes to creating sustainable livelihoods and strengthening the resilience of societies. The project benefited particularly young people with fewer opportunities, as entrepreneurial skills empower them to develop their communities.
Focus of the project was to train Finnish and Latvian young people between 18-25 years of age with knowledge and skills of social entrepreneurship in training camps and by online training. The training was originally developed in Latvia, and in this project it was piloted among young people in Europe.
Juvenia´s role in the project was to evaluate the implemented programme in terms of its significance for young people, replicability and societal impact.
Under the link below are attached the final evaluation reports in English, Finnish and Latvian:
https://centralbaltic.eu/project-news/socentyouth_report2025/
The concluding event on behalf of Finland was held as a round-table conversation at Xamk Mikkeli Campus on 19th August 2025, involving Finnish experts of social entrepreneurship.
Basic measures of the project
The training programme involved three (3) training cycles, during which 120 young people altogether from Finland and Latvia were trained with skills of social entrepreneurship. The benefits of the training and its general, societal impact were evaluated in Juvenia, in order to promote social entrepreneurship as means to increase employment of young people with limited opportunities.
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