Mobilized young entrepreneurship in Östernärke

The background to this project is that a group of entrepreneurs has gathered in a focus group and discussed future issues for Östernärke from both a business and community perspective. One of the directions that the conversations took concerned the challenges faced by young people in the upper secondary school age in Östernärke and Odenskolan, which is the only 7-9 school in the area. There is a widespread hopelessness and culture of “anti-study” among the youth.

As a development from these conversations, the companies want to take a step closer to the public sector and systematically develop a working method where schools and businesses can help each other based on their resources, capabilities, and expertise to try to break this trend.

The project's idea is that the companies in Östernärke and surrounding areas are strengthened through, among other things, better knowledge of how to understand the younger generation and engage with young people in a positive way in, for example, a vocational/work context, through, for example, mentoring training and lectures on cultural clashes between generations, etc. At the same time, the project wants to challenge young people to think like entrepreneurs and see opportunities and regain faith in themselves.