/ About us

Learning for life

When a child or young person experiences a moment of insight and gets excited, we feel the significance of our work.

We are a non-profit organisation for entrepreneurial education in Finland. We offer programmes for schools and educational institutions that support the entrepreneurial, working life and economic skills of children and young people. Our programmes are practical and free of charge.

Our activities started as part of Hanken school of economics and in 2002 our association Junior Achievement was officially founded. Today, we have tens of thousands of children and young people studying in our programmes at all school levels.

We promote cooperation between education and working life

Our objective is that all children and young people will have the opportunity to learn important future skills on an equal footing throughout Finland. We are also creating networks between young people and companies in the region. Over the years, our young alumnae have received numerous mentors from working places. Representatives of companies participate in our events as judges who evaluate and spar the pupils’ and students’ practise companies.

Our operations are supported by our international Junior Achievement network, which operates in 115 countries.

In addition to our headquarters in Pasila, we have a regional network operating in different parts of Finland. Our regional representatives support teachers in promoting entrepreneurial, working life and economic skills in classrooms and build cooperation with municipalities and local business.

We want to renew the learning culture

We inspire children and young people to learn entrepreneurial, working life and economic skills, to test their own abilities and to discover their own strengths – learning by doing.

Our objective is skilled young people who believe in themselves, who actively participate in building society, employ themselves and others, and take care of their own economy responsibly.

We believe that in addition to theoretical knowledge, future skills are learned by doing and practicing functionally. The role of the teacher emphasises supporting and guiding the students.

Junior Achievement association mission and vision

Vision

Every child and young person gets to learn and experiment with entrepreneurial, working life and economic skills.

Mission

We help teachers to promote the learning of entrepreneurial, working life and economic skills, as part of a global network.

Values

Practicality

You learn by doing. We believe that the dare to try attitude becomes a reality in day-to-day life. It means having the courage to try, succeed or fail and, above all, to learn!

Inspiration

A good feeling and enthusiasm comes from meaningful work. We also want to encourage, support and inspire all our stakeholders in the promotion and cooperation of entrepreneurial education.

Enabling

Our objective is to enable entrepreneurial education for all children and young people. Enabling in our work community concerns openness to new ideas and learning at work.

Responsibility

Responsibility and caring in our work concern day-to-day choices, but also broader issues of social and economic responsibility. Work with children and young people requires responsibility as well.

Community

In our work community, objectives are achieved together. Cooperation with educational professionals and partners is an important core of our operations as well.

Junior Achievement is part of the international Junior Achievement network

Junior Achievement (JA) is the world’s largest organisation providing entrepreneurial and consumer education for children and young people.

What is our brand about?

The 20-year-old Junior Achievement association has taken a colourful path in developing the working life skills of children and young people. Today, we are one of the most well-known actors in the field of entrepreneurial education.

Read about our history and brand goals

Junior Achievement association board

Get to know the current members of the board of our association.

See board

Versatile entrepreneurial education programmes for different school levels

We develop and provide inspiring and practical programmes for learning entrepreneurial, working life and economic skills from early childhood education to higher education. All programmes are multidisciplinary and encourage learning by doing and the wide application of skills in school and leisure.

We also organise hundreds of programme trainings every year, where teachers can network with other colleagues who promote entrepreneurial education. All programmes, their materials and teacher training are free of charge.

We encourage schools to open their doors to the society around them. The JA programmes have been built to support the strengthening of cooperation between schools and companies. Forms of cooperation include company visits, acting as an adviser/sparring partner for the JA company or judging the competition.