SEOUL, KOREA - From Slovenia comes a game-like curriculum that empowers youth to start their businesses. This ex-communist country with over 30% youth unemployment adopted the program in a third of its' school system after a successful pilot that resulted in 89 teenagers starting 15 startups. Two of these even raised seed-round investment.
"From the first activity, 'Take a picture with the mayor,' to the end of the school year, when groups of 15 to 17-year-olds actually run their startups, mentors guide the youngsters to experience first-hand how a business is started," explains Matija Goljar, head of the program.
This year, 1.200 students are enrolled in the program that changes the fundamentals of the educational system and aims to empower students to become job creators instead of job seekers.
The program was developed locally by Ustvarjalnik, a "sandbox for young entrepreneurs," that is now looking to spread globally with the help of the Unreasonable Institute, an accelerator program for social ventures that accepted the project in this year's batch.
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In order to spread worldwide, Ustvarjalnik is raising funds on the microfinance platform of the Institute, the Unreasonable Marketplace: http://marketplace.unreasonableinstitute.org/ |
The long-term aim of the initiative is to promote entrepreneurial traits in students across the world.
