Air Greenland and the Foundation for Entrepreneurship-Kalaallit Nunaat (FFE Greenland) are renewing their partnership agreement, which, among other things, will contribute to teaching entrepreneurship to elementary school classes.

The partnership agreement is valid for 2025-2026 where Air Greenland supports the Foundation for Entrepreneurship-Kalaallit Nunaat (FFE-Kalaallit Nunaat) with sponsorship in the form of airline tickets totalling DKK 150,000 per year and resources in the form of judging activities for competitions, sparring and knowledge sharing for students and promotion of the foundation's activities.

Air Greenland has supported the Foundation for Entrepreneurship-Kalaallit Nunaat since its establishment in Greenland in 2017, where the efforts have contributed to over 800 primary school teachers completing a course in innovation and entrepreneurship, who have then taught primary school students about entrepreneurship and innovation. Air Greenland wants to continue to support this work.

'We are proud to contribute to the spreading of exciting sustainable projects, and in this way also help to lift Greenland through entrepreneurship. With the signing of the agreement, we commit to contributing knowledge, assisting at events and sponsoring, among other things, an annual subsidy for airline tickets, which will go to trips that help spread awareness and knowledge of entrepreneurship in the education system, says Chief Sustainability Officer, Inga Dora G. Markussen.

The initiative aligns well with Air Greenland's selected SDG no. 4 ‘Quality education’ and to take part in fulfilling social responsibility for children and young people.

'Teaching entrepreneurship challenges primary school students to think of creative solutions to problems and see the value of creating products through new ideas. In the long term, this can help sow the seeds for them to become entrepreneurs and start new businesses later in life,’ adds the Chief Sustainability Officer. 

When students are taught innovation and entrepreneurship, it is also with the goal of participating in the annual national entrepreneurship competition for 8th-10th graders ‘Arsarnerit Inuusuttai - Young Northern Lights’.

Nukappiaraq Kristiansen, Head of Secretariat for FFE-Kalaallit Nunaat, says that the competition helps to focus the teaching so that there is something to ‘fight for’. He has taught many teachers himself in recent years and has been organising the national competition since he became head of the secretariat in December 2022.

‘It's very satisfying to see that the efforts with the teachers result in many good entrepreneurial ideas coming from primary schools around the country. The students are often based on something in their local environment, while others have the environment and the climate as their topic. It's so exciting to see the results of the teaching and experience the creative and inspiring ideas the students come up with,’ says Nukappiaraq Kristiansen.

On Friday 14 February 2025, the national competition ‘Asarnerit Inuusuttai - Young Northern Lights’ was held in Nuuk at NUIF's premises, with the participation of 24 students from 8 schools.

Air Greenland's sustainability consultant, Qillaq Olsen, participated as one of the judges in the judging committee and helped judge the entrepreneurial ideas together with Kristian Jensen from an orphanage in Nuuk and influencer, Qupanuk Olsen.

‘It was a bit like being one of the “lions” who have to decide whether to invest in a business idea in the TV programme “The Lion's Den”, but with the difference that the students are competing for their idea to make it to the Danish Entrepreneurship Championships,’ begins Qillaq Olsen.

He participated in the competition six years ago when he was a student on the academy programme at what is now Greenland Business School. He remembers what it was like to work on developing an idea and end up with a good result in the national competition.

‘It's clear to me that the young people have become really good at “pitching” their idea, as it's called in the entrepreneurial industry, and that they have a global perspective,’ says Qillaq Olsen.