Succeed in Business celebrates young entrepreneurs in Tampere

The Succeed in Business project brought young aspiring entrepreneurs and project partners together for its closing conference in Tampere, Finland, on 9 September 2026. Led by the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, the project is implemented in cooperation with Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the Association of Municipalities of Tartu County.

The event celebrated the participants’ achievements and their learning journey shared across Latvia, Finland and Estonia. The highlight of the day was a series of business pitches presented by the project participants. The ideas covered an impressive range of sectors and needs, demonstrating the participants’ creativity and ability to turn observations into potential business models. The concepts included, for example, StrideSense insoles developed using different materials and FarmHub, an online farmers’ marketplace.

The participants also heard from Eemeli Vottonen, who shared lessons from his own entrepreneurial journey with Zennius Oy. He encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on the issues that matter most, as smaller details can easily draw attention away from the essentials when starting a business.

“The participants have been at the heart of the Succeed in Business project, and it was especially rewarding to see their development throughout the entrepreneurial course. By the final conference, their growing confidence was clearly visible in their teamwork, pitching and the way they developed and presented their business ideas. The project has also been a valuable learning experience for us at TAMK. International cooperation gave us new perspectives on how entrepreneurship education can support young people with different backgrounds and starting points. Personally, I have learned a lot from our participants, partners and experts, and built valuable connections in Finland, Estonia and Latvia”, stated project coordinator Yulia Sergeeva from Tampere University of Applied Sciences.

The conference also offered an opportunity to reflect on the wider results of the project, including the networks, knowledge-sharing, training and expert support it provided.

“We started Succeed in Business with a training programme, but the young people turned it into something much bigger. Their ideas, questions, ambitions and different perspectives shaped the project just as much as the project shaped their entrepreneurial skills. Over two cycles, we watched participants move from exploring possibilities to developing ideas, building teams and presenting business solutions of their own. Perhaps the most meaningful result is that the project ends here, but for many of our participants, their entrepreneurial journey may only be beginning”, said project manager Natalja Sterhova from Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies.

The day concluded with awards and certificates and ended with a boat trip, providing a fitting celebration of the participants’ ideas, progress and shared cross-border journey.