For many young people in Japan who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), the challenge is not willingness—but access. Access to opportunity. Access to safe spaces. Access to pathways that allow them to take a first step without fear of failure.
At Lenovo, Smarter Technology for All means ensuring that technology is designed and applied with empathy—creating inclusive pathways that recognize diverse starting points. Through its partnership with NPO Sodateage Net, Lenovo is helping reimagine how underserved young adults reconnect with society, using technology as a bridge to confidence, participation, and possibility.
Creating Safer Pathways into the World of Work
For over 20 years, Sodateage Net has supported young adults who face barriers to traditional employment, including school refusal, anxiety, and social isolation. Together with Lenovo under the Transformation Grants, the organization helped design a program that moves beyond the narrow definition of work as a single, full‑time destination.
The initiative introduced technology‑enabled, low‑pressure opportunities—such as short‑term tasks and creative activities supported through online platforms—allowing young people to engage gradually, build skills, and experience success on their own terms.
By removing geographical constraints and lowering psychological barriers, technology made it possible for participants across Japan to connect with society in ways that felt manageable, respectful, and empowering.
Impact Where It Matters Most: Confidence, Connection, Belonging
One of the most visible—and deeply human—moments of the program came during Lenovo Japan’s site kickoff, where supported youth participated as baristas in the “Non‑Selling Coffee Shop.”
The goal was not productivity or performance. It was connection.
For some participants, this was the first time they had interacted with working adults outside their immediate family or school environment. Serving coffee to Lenovo employees in a welcoming, real‑world corporate setting helped transform anxiety into pride—and hesitation into confidence.
“We saw young people who had been hesitant to engage with society begin to smile, communicate, and take initiative. Experiences like this become a reference point for them—proof that they can participate, contribute, and be accepted.,” shared Takeshi Murakami, Project Manager, ISO Japan Supply Chain & Central Operations, Lenovo.
Beyond the Individual: Strengthening Support Systems
The program also extended to the professionals who work most closely with NEET youth. By sharing knowledge around new work styles, digital platforms, and flexible pathways, the initiative helped shift mindsets among counselors and support staff—broadening the options they could confidently present to the young adults they serve.
For Sodateage Net, Lenovo’s involvement went beyond resources. It demonstrated how corporate participation can expand the boundaries of what support looks like.
“Lenovo’s engagement showed young adults that society and companies are willing to meet them where they are. For people who have felt excluded for a long time, that message itself is powerful. It helps reconnect them to society with dignity,” says Koji Ino, Manager of Social Collaboration Business, Sodateage Net.
Technology, Guided by Human Values
This partnership reflects Lenovo’s belief that technology should be shaped by human values—empathy, inclusion, responsibility, and care for the communities we live and work in. When innovation is applied with intention, it can do more than enable productivity; it can restore confidence and open doors to participation.
By rethinking what a “first step” can look like, Lenovo and Sodateage Net are helping young adults move forward—not by pushing them into predefined paths, but by creating new ones alongside them.
