Beginning the Final Cycle of Social Business Academy

Over the weekend, the third and final cohort of Social Business Academy participants began their journey exploring social entrepreneurship. The first step of the program was a two-day in-person Bootcamp for the participants to meet each other and form groups. They began to work on their business ideas that would provide new solutions to various environmental and social challenges. Youth from Latvia gathered in Riga, while the Finnish Bootcamp took place in Lahti.

Bootcamp in Riga, Latvia

Social Business Academy supports young people in developing solutions to problems that they find relevant and care about. Here are some of the topics the third-cycle participants are working on:

💡 Promoting digital skills for seniors
💡 Selling second-hand books
💡 Reducing food waste
💡 Developing young people’s practical life skills
💡 Empowering disadvantaged artists
💡 Creating employment opportunities for deaf people

Bootcamp in Lahti, Finland

Over the next month, participants will continue to refine their ideas in online workshops and present their final social business ideas at the Leadership Camp in Tallinn in March.

🤝 The project is implemented by Reach for Change Latvia, Radošās Idejas, Juvenia, and Lahden Diakonialaitos.

This activity was supported as part of “Social Entrepreneurship for Youth Empowerment in Finland and Latvia”, an Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021-2027 project co-funded by the European Union (SocEntYouth ID CB0100057). The activity is financially supported by the Society Integration Foundation from Latvian state budget funds allocated by the Ministry of Culture.