Printful continues to mentor students through entrepreneurship and innovation programs in Latvia and Spain
May 31, 2022
Charlotte, North Carolina—For the second consecutive year Printful has teamed up with Junior Achievement, the largest educational organization in Europe. Each year, over 120,000 students participate in the program and this year almost 2,000 business ideas were generated in Latvia and Spain.
The Junior Achievement Worldwide network is dedicated to preparing teens for employment and entrepreneurship, delivering hands-on learning in business management and financial literacy. Last school year alone, the Junior Achievement network in Europe reached 4 million students with its core programs and inspired millions more through online events and activities.
Junior Achievement's core program is designed for high school students to create their own startups. Throughout the duration of the school year, students work on product development and receive advice from mentors, among them Printful experts, to advance their ideas. This program aims to improve students’ digital skills and cultivate the startup environment in both Latvia and Spain. According to Junior Achievement data, around 22% of the program’s graduates continue working as entrepreneurs.
“By creating a startup business, students gain invaluable experience that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Their enthusiasm and work ethic prove that an opportunity like this should be offered to students in every school in Latvia,” says Janis Krievans, the head of Junior Achievement Latvia.
“This program allows young people to work on soft skills, such as perseverance, adaptability, problem-solving, and many others that scientific evidence links to personal and professional success. This program allows young people to recognize their entrepreneurial potential. At just 15 years old, students are able to create a solution to an environmental or social issue and bring it to the market. It also introduces them to the world of business, offers networking opportunities for students with different backgrounds, and prepares them for future careers,” comments Lucia de Zavala, the CEO of Junior Achievement Spain.
“We have partnered with Junior Achievement to create a program that will empower the next generation of entrepreneurs and I am happy to see that more student-run companies have surprised us with creative and competitive business ideas this year. I hope that the tips from Printful mentors will contribute to the creation of future unicorn companies and we will soon hear new success stories about local companies conquering the global market,” concludes Printful’s CEO and co-founder Davis Siksnans.
About Junior Achievement Worldwide
For 100 years, JA has delivered hands-on, experiential learning in work readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. It creates pathways for employability, job creation, and financial success. Each year, the Junior Achievement network of over 450,000 volunteers serves more than 10 million students in over 100 countries.
About Printful
Printful is an on-demand printing and fulfillment company that helps people turn their ideas into brands and products. The company fulfills and ships custom clothing, accessories, and home & living items for online businesses. In 2020 the company hit a revenue milestone of $208M and has become the first unicorn company (valued at over $1B) with Latvian roots. Since its founding in 2013, Printful’s been trusted to deliver 48M+ items and has scaled to a team of 1,700+ people across ten in-house fulfillment centers around the world.
