Latvian company SIA “Navigate the Future” develops educational board games that encourage children and young people to take an interest in STEM fields and introduce them to the professions of the future. Since July 2024, the company has participated in the business incubation programme at the Sigulda Representative Office of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA). Support from the programme has helped transform the company’s initial game prototypes into finished products that are already available in stores in Latvia and Lithuania.
Joining the incubation programme was a deliberate choice – SIA “Navigate the Future” was established shortly before applying to the programme. The company’s co-founders, Tatjana Bonda and Ella Kalniņa, had previously explored various incubation opportunities and reviewed feedback from other companies.
“We had a game prototype and a clear idea of what we wanted to create, so we looked for the most suitable support to develop the product further. We considered other opportunities as well, but concluded that, at the early stage of our company’s development, LIAA’s business incubation programme would be the best fit for us. We had also heard very positive feedback about LIAA’s Sigulda Representative Office, so we knew where we wanted to be and why,” says Tatjana Bonda, co-founder of SIA “Navigate the Future”.
LIAA’s financial support has been used to develop game prototypes and designs, test the products in schools and camps, and translate and adapt the content into several languages. As the information included in the games must be both accurate and appropriate for the relevant age group, the support has also enabled the company to involve specialists from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Educational Innovation at the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Science and Technology in reviewing the questions and educational content. Co-financing has also been used for design and marketing activities required to bring new products to market.
“Financial support is extremely important during the first years of a company’s development because sales revenue is not yet sufficient to cover everything required for new product development and marketing. Of course, we also have to invest our own funds, but the opportunity to receive co-financing allows us to continue developing the company in a much more focused way,” emphasises Tatjana Bonda.
The structure provided by the programme has been just as valuable to the company as the financial support. Set deadlines and the need to regularly plan activities and evaluate progress have helped bring greater discipline to the company’s work and accelerate product development.
“The incubation programme gives a new company a clear framework – there are deadlines to meet and specific tasks that need to be completed. From time to time, that encourages you to push yourself, avoid postponing what you have planned and move processes forward more quickly. For a new project, this kind of structure is extremely valuable,” Tatjana says.
Although learning to navigate the programme’s administrative requirements initially took some time, the company views its cooperation with LIAA positively overall and recommends that other aspiring entrepreneurs also take advantage of the opportunities offered by the incubation programme.
This article was produced within the framework of the project “Development of Innovative Entrepreneurship for SMEs”, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Union.
