Empowering Youth Through Social Entrepreneurship: Final Report on the Social Business Academy Published

The Social Business Academy, implemented from 2023 to 2025 with the aim to to improve the employment prospects of NEET youth in Finland and Latvia, has released its final evaluation report — Social Entrepreneurship for the Empowerment of Young People in Finland and Latvia.

Over three training cycles, 121 young people aged 18–25 successfully completed the programme — surpassing the original target. The curriculum blended onsite “Bootcamp” sessions, online workshops, and a joint “Leadership Camp” to foster entrepreneurial thinking, leadership skills, and the ability to design viable social business models. Selected participants continued into the “Innovation Lab,” a mentoring programme supporting the development of their own enterprises.

The report highlights key achievements, such as:

• Increased understanding among participants of how entrepreneurship can address social challenges.
• Development of practical business ideas rooted in community needs.
• Strengthened transnational cooperation between Finnish and Latvian youth.

It also offers honest reflections on challenges, including varying levels of prior knowledge among participants and lower engagement in online training. Based on these insights, the report makes recommendations for improving the delivery and replicability of youth-focused social entrepreneurship education.

As EU statistics show, many young people remain interested in self-employment but face barriers such as lack of capital, skills, and confidence. The results of the Social Business Academy demonstrate that targeted, well-structured training programmes — combined with mentoring and cross-border exchange — can help bridge these gaps and open new career pathways.

The full report is now available to read online: English version, the version in Finnish and Latvian version.