Virpi Utriainen, CEO, Junior Achievement Finland
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A Year as an Entrepreneur - the JA Company Program
Innovation Overview
Tool that combines theory and learning by doing
The Junior Achievement's Company Program offers students from upper levels of comprehensive school up to university the opportunity to learn how to turn a business idea into reality. The program provides teachers with practical material on business, economics and entrepreneurship activities. It is a great way to help students succeed in a global economy.
By challenging the students to launch and run their own business, the JA Company Program unleashes their entrepreneurial spirit. Students experience running their own company and discover first-hand how a company functions as well as gain insight into how their talents could be used further in working life.
The aim of the JA Company Program is to enable students to start their own real-life business and discover how a company functions in a learning-by-doing environment.
In addition to the learning-by-doing, the program is supported by an online learning environment created by Junior Achievement Finland. Learning environment currently has 22 different modules covering different parts of business development, entrepreneurship and finance. All these support students in running their JA company as well as giving them skills and competences for future.
Teacher's role in the program is to be the facilitator of learning and enabler of learning experiences. JA Finland has developed ready-made material for teacher to use in the classroom.
JA Company Program and all of its material are available in three languages in Finland: Finnish, Swedish and English.
Junior Achievement Finland is a part of the global Junior Achievement network, which is one of the largest providers of education programs for entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy, reaching over 10 million students in over 100 countries. The JA Company Program is a Junior Achievement’s program.
HundrED Academy Review
The model aims to turn ideas into practice by teaching valuable entrepreneurial skills.
ImpactStudents learn multidisciplinary professional skills and skills needed in the future.
ScalabilityA Year as an Entrepreneur is an open program for everyone. Participation requires merely the institution's decision to begin the program.