“We are different, but we share one goal”: 330 students from Khmelnytskyi region are shaping a new generation of social entrepreneurs together with the Platform for Social Change
Around 330 students from 11 lyceums across the Khmelnytskyi region are already taking practical steps toward building their own social enterprises through the bootcamp program organized by Platform for Social Change. Participants are learning how to identify community challenges, test business ideas, work in teams, and develop initiatives that can create both social impact and sustainable income.
Just a few months ago, for many participants, the word “entrepreneurship” sounded complicated and far removed from school life. Today, students are already working on their own projects, analyzing the needs of their communities, developing business models, and learning to see local challenges as opportunities for growth and change.
The social entrepreneurship bootcamp program combines several key areas essential for future entrepreneurs: financial literacy, marketing thinking, psychological resilience, teamwork, and presentation skills. Participants are learning not only how to generate ideas, but also how to test them in practice, calculate production costs, build value propositions, and communicate their projects through the lens of social impact.
“We are different, but we share one goal,” say students from Ivankivtsi Lyceum of the Dunaivtsi City Council. The teams have already identified the направления for their future social enterprises, including eco-production, plant cultivation, natural food manufacturing, and the development of school-based services. These are no longer just school ideas — they are the first models of small social businesses with clear community value, environmental responsibility, and growth potential.
One of the strongest aspects of the program is its systematic support for participants. Students are not left alone with their ideas. After each educational module, teams work with mentors — experienced entrepreneurs who help them assess the feasibility of their concepts, identify weaknesses in their business models, and improve their financial planning, product development, and scaling strategies.
Participants have already learned how to build business models for their future enterprises, define target audiences, identify sales channels, and plan how revenue can be reinvested into the growth of their initiatives.
An important part of the program is the Career Talks series — meetings with entrepreneurs and professionals working in the industries chosen by the teams for their projects. Business owners share their personal stories of launching and growing companies, overcoming challenges, and learning from failures. These conversations help students realize that building a business can start even from a school initiative.
Another key focus of the program is psychological support. Through training sessions and teamwork, students learn how to collaborate effectively, distribute responsibilities, better understand their strengths, overcome fear of failure, and confidently present their ideas to others.
The most important outcome of the program is not only the business ideas students create, but who they become throughout the process. The bootcamps are helping shape a new generation of young entrepreneurs who understand that real impact begins not with large resources, but with the willingness to act, take responsibility, and work together to create change in their communities.
