Developing sustainable business competencies for the personnel of SMEs and startups

Developing and managing sustainability skills in small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups is important for future business competitiveness. To achieve the government's sustainability and green transition goals based on the UN Agenda 2030, concrete practical sustainability measures are needed in small and medium sized enterprises and start-ups.

The main objective of the project is to support companies in developing responsible sales, commercialisation and recruitment skills, and in promoting sustainability among the staff of SMEs and start-ups in the target areas.

The second objective of the project is to improve the competitiveness and transformation capacity of SMEs and start-ups by identifying sustainability as part of the concrete everyday life of their staff and integrating it into their business operations and strategic development.

The third objective of the project is to strengthen the sustainability competences of companies' staff, in particular in the development of sustainability strategy, sales and recruitment through team learning methods, co-creation and analytical tools (e.g. PESTEL, VRIO). The aim is that these tools will become part of the business operations after the end of the project.

The fourth objective of the project is to identify and strengthen the skills of staff by providing a learning package on the main themes of the project, of which the participant can complete a single module. This competence development and learning reinforcement component will be implemented online through gamification, team and peer learning and business simulation.

The project will result in a competitive and competent workforce in the target companies, able to respond to the business demands of the green economy. The project will improve the opportunities for responsible growth of participating SMEs and start-ups by increasing their understanding of the factors that influence responsible business as part of the profitability of their operations, including through a focus on impact and resource efficiency.The target group of the project is the staff of SMEs and start-ups in Uusimaa, Etelä-Karjala and Päijät-Häme.