Annual Report 2019–2020 Mission Vision Table of Contents
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Entrepreneurship Financial literacy Work readiness ANNUAL REPORT 2019–2020 MISSION VISION TaBLE OF CONTENTS A word from the CEO ............................................................................. 4 We are the leading Effectiveness of JA activities .................................................................. 5 entrepreneurship education Through our study Our Community program for all 4th graders in Vantaa ......................... 6 operator in Finland. Our programs, we programs are used by Kuntarahoitus celebrates its 30th anniversary by becoming help education a main partner ....................................................................................... 7 educational establishments providers teach ranging from preschools to Opening ceremony of the European Vocational Skills Week ................. 8 entrepreneurship and higher education institutions. 50 youths shadowing managers .......................................................... 10 working life skills and The youths participating in International encounters and good news in Berlin .............................. 12 financial literacy. the programs find success JA Worldwide network ........................................................................ 13 in their lives. Pikkuyrittäjät cooperation with Lappeenranta .................................... 14 Enthusiastic salespeople delight at OP ................................................ 15 New partnership with Handelsbanken ................................................ 16 Ung Företagsamhet engaged visitors at Educa .................................... 17 VALUES Uskalla Yrittää semifinals held in 14 regions ........................................ 18 We trust the abilities of youths. New friendship established with Moomin Characters ......................... 20 We respect different skills, forms of Uskalla Yrittää final .............................................................................. 21 creativity, and points of view. Uskalla Yrittää final provides a launchpad to European competition ... 22 Best JA Teachers of the Year come from Virrat, Kotka, and Pori .......... 24 We believe in the importance of education Vihti was named the Pikkuyrittäjät Municipality of 2020 .................... 25 and experiential learning. Success in the JA Company Program provides a springboard to business studies .............................................................................. 26 We appreciate cooperation and working together. Phenomenal growth in the Junior Achievement network ................... 28 Cooperation with Aalto strengthened by leaps and bounds ............... 30 We carry out our work with passion. Board support the operation ............................................................... 31 Our work is meaningful. Publisher: Nuori Yrittäjyys ry/JA Finland, Helsinki 2020 Editorial team: JA Finland team Layout: Anne Jokisaari More information: nuoriyrittajyys.fi IMPROVING THE FUTURE OPPOR- EFFECTIVENESS OF JA ACTIVITIES TUNITIES OF YOUTHS TODAY We at JA Finland have noticed that the amazing busi- Our ambitious goal is to provide each youth an equal ness ideas of the youths in entrepreneurship education opportunity to try out their ideas and learn entre- programs are responding increasingly sharply to social preneurship, working life, and financial skills in prac- 1 200+ challenges. The youths demonstrate that they are tice through cooperation with the school and educa- schools and educational ready to work and to find bold new solutions to both tional establishment community by 2025. For this we establishments within two global issues and those related to everyday wellbeing. need a competent regional office network to support school years, which is equal teachers and schools, more extensive funding from to 35% of all Finnish schools. The interest toward entrepreneurship among youths both the public and private sectors, and an increasing aged 15–19 has grown since 2013. According to the number of active teachers and business and working 75 000+ 7 000+ Youth Barometer published in the spring of 2020, the life networks. Junior Achievement experiences. teachers and business entrepreneurial intentions of youths are at a reason- community volunteers ably high level. Before the emergence of the coro- At the moment, we are focusing our operations on participating in the programs. navirus crisis, 58 percent of youths who had not yet reinforcing and expanding our financial base, and we engaged in entrepreneurship were at least somewhat also aim to engage the government to support our interested in trying out entrepreneurship at some activities further in the long term. In addition, we point of their careers. launched a regional office trial based on the model employed in other Nordic countries in the fall of 2019. According to the barometer, 62 percent of youths We can proudly say that there is a need for our pro- 14 250 115 believe that entrepreneurship skills should be taught ficient regional services, and we want to accelerate to everyone, starting in comprehensive school. How- this development even further. You can read more Uskalla Yrittää semifinals training events member countries. ever, more than 50 percent of the youths say that about the creation of our regional office network on and a national final, the and meetings from JA Finland is part their studies do not offer enough general information pages 28 and 29 of this annual report. most significant youth Lapland to Åland. of the international about entrepreneurship. Only 14 percent of students entrepreneurship event Junior Achievement in higher education institutions feel that their stud- The future of Finland is dependent on our ability to in Finland. network. ies have provided them with sufficient capacities for encourage our youths to learn the right skills, to cre- entrepreneurship (Opiskelijasta yrittäjäksi 2019). The ate new things, to take responsibility, and to support surveys and the feedback received from schools show their own existence and that of the whole country in that there is significant demand for entrepreneurship the coming decades. education. Entrepreneurial attitudes, management of personal finances, and working life skills, such as the We want to thank you for joining us on this journey! ability to cope with change, are even more important to youths now at a time when the economy is unstable. Virpi Utriainen JA Path of Entrepreneurship The long-term entrepreneurship education pro- CEO JA Finland offers study programs that are in line with the objectives of the curricula grams provided to schools free of charge by JA Fin- Junior Achievement Finland to support the work of teachers from the preschool level to higher education. land reached 35 percent of schools over the past two years. Even though our programs are already used by one third of all Finnish schools, their implementa- tion in a goal-oriented manner is still too reliant on a small number of enthusiastic teachers. This increases inequality among the youths. Entrepreneurship edu- cation is most effective when it is made a natural and Vocational and Upper wide-ranging component of the working culture of Preschool Elementary Schools Middle Schools Higher Education the school. Entrepreneurial ideas can be promoted as Secondary Schools part of different subjects in the everyday work of the schools. 4 5 OUR COMMUNITY PROGRAM KUNTARAHOITUS CELEBRATES FOR ALL 4TH GRADERS ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY BY IN VANTAA BECOMING A MAIN PARTNER The City of Vantaa launched a comprehensive coop- During the program, the children familiarize them- eration with JA Finland in the fall of 2019. The Our selves with the society, the surrounding area, pro- Community program (“Meidän yhteiskuntamme”, fessions, and the economy. previously called “Mitä ihmiset tekevät”) was intro- duced as a joint program for all 4th grades in the As part of the cooperation, the teachers were city to teach social studies. offered a refresher course for entrepreneurship edu- cation and for implementing the Our Community In Vantaa, an entrepreneurship education plan was program as part of their teaching. Specialists from prepared for the cultural administration, with JA JA Finland provided training to all 4th grade teachers Finland providing its contribution to the contents in Vantaa at the beginning of the school year. of the plan. As a result of the cooperation, Van- taa wanted to incorporate the Our Community as The cooperation with the City of Vantaa will continue a robust element of the teaching of social studies in over the coming years, providing important working the lower comprehensive schools. life skills to lower comprehensive school pupils. Kuntarahoitus (MuniFin) celebrated its 30th anni- As a society, we cannot afford to allow a single versary in the fall of 2019. To mark the anniver- youth to become marginalized, stressed Esa Kallio, sary, the financial operator wanted to strengthen the CEO of Kuntarahoitus. its partnership with JA Finland to be better able to encourage and support youths in finding their indi- As part of the partnership, Kuntarahoitus will also vidual strengths. In addition to educational mate- be introducing the new #Huomisentekijät Signature rials intended for school children, the cooperation Award category in the Uskalla Yrittää entrepreneur- will also include a dedicated prize category in the ship competition organized by JA Finland. Uskalla Yrittää entrepreneurship competition. The cooperation with Kuntarahoitus opens up a Kuntarahoitus decided to develop