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OP Uusimaa will donate a total of EUR 350 000 to eight organisations in Uusimaa. One of them is Aalto University Junior, which receives EUR 60 000 of the donation.

‘In autumn, OP Group carried out a survey for the fifth time, where the owner-customers were asked to choose what kind of initiatives the cooperative bank should take for the benefit of its own area of operation. OP Uusimaa's owner-customers chose as the most important themes hobbies and well-being of children and young people, as well as guidance on safe digitalisation for seniors. Actions for the benefit of local nature were more strongly emphasized in Uusimaa than in the rest of the country.’

Invest in your Future workshops provide skills for managing one’s own finances

Aalto University Junior will use the donation to plan and carry out the Invest in your Future workshops. The workshops, aimed at primary and secondary school students, will explore saving and responsible investing, as well as the importance of personal financial management. Aalto Junior experts will go schools to hold these teaching and learning sessions.

Veli-Matti Ikävalko, Head of Aalto University Junior, says that the Invest in your Future workshops held at Junior Lab, have been very popular, and that teachers have found them important.

‘I would like to thank OP Uusimaa very warmly for the support we have received. So far, we have used a digital learning platform from an external supplier to run the workshops. Now we are able to build a more comprehensive learning package, which will certainly be even more suitable for our use. The donation will allow us to hire a project worker to create a learning environment that serves our needs. The learning platform will be freely available to all teachers after its completion.’

‘The skills to manage one's own finances are important citizens' skills. In line with its responsibility programme, OP Uusimaa promotes financial literacy among young people so that everyone has equal opportunities to take care of their own finances. We see the donation ºÚÁÏÍø University Junior's Invest in your Future workshops as an excellent way to promote this theme,’ says Hanna Korhonen, Communications and Marketing Director at OP Uusimaa.

Aalto University Junior - 7 years of active operation

Aalto Junior organizes activity-based eduational trips, distance learning workshops, events, theme weeks, campus visits, camps, lectures, clubs and anything that supports children and young people's interest and enthusiasm in the fields of Aalto University: technology, art and business. Some Junior activities take place on the Otaniemi campus, others remotely. The unit started operating in January 2018.

'A huge thank you to OP Uusimaa and its owner-customers for appreciating our work, which is also reflected in this wonderful donation. The donation will help us to inspire young people to learn about investing and saving so that more and more of them will be able to manage their finances and thus have a stable future,' says Petri Suomala, Vice President for Education at Aalto University.

OP Uusimaa is a customer-owned, genuinely local, and customer-focused full-service bank employing nearly 1,300 financial professionals. It offers a full range of banking, insurance, and real estate services to personal and SME customers. OP Uusimaa has more than 370 000 owner-customers and over half a million customers.