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Economy and youth TAT and Junior Achievement Finland combine their operations

The goal is to ensure that every child and youth will get a chance to learn economic, working life and entrepreneurial skills.

NY & TAT_eng

Economy and youth TAT and Junior Achievement Finland will combine their operations on 1 June 2023. The mission of both associations has been to promote children and youths’ working life, economic and entrepreneurial skills at schools and educational institutions together with teachers. The merger will ensure more strongly that every child and youth, regardless of their background, has an opportunity to learn working life, economic and entrepreneurial skills in primary school and in secondary education. Entrepreneurship programs are also available at higher education.

The most well-known service of TAT is Yrityskylä, to which approximately 85 per cent of sixth and ninth graders in Finland participate annually. The most well-known services of Junior Achievement Finland are the JA Company Program, the Pikkuyrittäjät program and the Uskalla Yrittää competition, through which 18,000 children and youths get to try out entrepreneurship annually. Altogether, the services of TAT and Junior Achievement Finland reached approximately 250,000 children and youths in 2022.

– Working life, economic and entrepreneurial skills are a part of well-being, and every youth – regardless of their background – must be allowed an opportunity to learn them. By combining the competence and networks of TAT and Junior Achievement Finland, we are taking a long step forward in achieving this goal, says Petri Lempiäinen, Chairman at TAT.

– It is important that the children and youths of Finland are offered the best conditions to learn the skills with which they will, in the future, be able to get employed, employ people and participate in building their own futures and the future of the entire Finland. As a part of the global Junior Achievement network, Junior Achievement Finland has offered entrepreneurship programmes and inspired thousands of people to become entrepreneurs in Finland for as long as over twenty years. By combining our strengths, we will offer more and more youths these possibilities, says Christina Dahlblom, Chairperson at Junior Achievement Finland.

A broad network of societal operators in the background of the new association

TAT and Junior Achievement Finland will combine their operations on 1 June 2023, and the new name of the association will be Nuorten yrittäjyys ja talous NYT. NYT will bring together a large group of foundations, partners, business operators and universities. The founding members are the Aalto University, the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland, the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (TT-säätiö), the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), the Entreprise Agencies of Finland, Finance Finland, the Finnish Commerce Federation, the Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa, the Hanken School of Economics, JA Alumni Finland, Service Sector Employers Palta, Suomen Yrittäjät, the Technology Industries of Finland, the Yksityisyrittäjäin Säätiö foundation and entrepreneur supporters.

These days, teaching working life, economic and entrepreneurial skills is an essential part of the Finnish curriculum, and schools are encouraged to also participate in working life co-operation.

– TAT and Junior Achievement Finland – and, in the future, NYT – will offer schools lesson modules, materials, teacher training and learning environments which are pedagogically high-quality and in accordance with a curriculum. Thus, a bridge is built between the school world and working life. According to research, most youths would like to know more about the economy and working life – and we respond to this need, says Jenni Järvelä, CEO at TAT.

– Youths’ interest in entrepreneurship is a still growing trend, and entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a potential working life path. As the working life changes, entrepreneurial attitude is an increasingly bigger asset in all kinds of work. Together, we can offer services to increasingly more children, youths, teachers, schools and educational institutes in a better, broader and more effective manner with the help of our national network, says Sami Suomela, CEO at Junior Achievement Finland.

The operations of the association are funded by its members as well as, for example, over 250 municipalities, nearly 200 companies, ministries and several foundations. The annual budget of Economy and youth TAT is approximately EUR 8.3 million, and the annual budget of Junior Achievement Finland is EUR 3.3 million. TAT has 66 full-time employees and approximately 150 hourly employees. Junior Achievement Finland has 29 full-time employees. Junior Achievement is a part of the international Junior Achievement network which will also be joined by the new association named NYT. The Junior Achievement network provided services to 12 million children and young people around the world in 2022.

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