Second Transnational Meeting - YEA Project

This was it! After longer time period in the project we had finally a meeting and training with our partners. Just before that I had opportunity to speak to Dirk and so we got really clear idea how to cooperate with partners on something useful, young, fun and effective! And how to choose appropriate team for this meeting&training.
I was really looking forward to this meeting - we are developing one more business idea and I really
wanted to boost my entrepreneurial skills. Our evening arrival to Paris was nice, especially the weather. All week was so nice and sunny, it was little bit hard to stay all day in the meeting room :) Thanks to our partners we had accommodation basically in the city center in an old monastery. Unfortunately the wifi was not working the first night so we welcomed the opportunity to explore local area, full of bars, crepes and small restaurants. In the morning we waited for all partners and together went to the offices of Apprentis d'Auteuil - it is very big organization! Everything was nicely noted so we found the meeting room quickly and met our hosts, including smiling Jean-Marie we met in UK. First day was tough, we had to recapitulate financial rules and also loads of administration documents.

We all went really tired, but some of us decided to walk from there, underneath the Eifel tower that in the dark started to sparkle and then, in already cold evening we finally found our metro station - but our destination was restaurant near the monastery where we continued in our talks about the project and developed ideas further with nice glass of French wine. Second day was more interesting - we took our time to go deep in tools and methodologies that can be used for training entrepreneurs - especially Business Model Canvas. We had presentation of best practice from Dirk from Hatch incubator, Carmen from Ashford place and Thorsten from iqConsult - all many years successfully supporting entrepreneurs.

We prepared everything for practical session since we had in plan using some methods for starting our incubators in partner countries - based on the best practice from UK and Germany. That was the next day's agenda - we started earlier and start working on Customers, Customer relationships and Channels, then also Stakeholders and Activities ... 3 groups for 3 countries (Slovakia, France and Italy) supported by 3 experienced experts used group brainstorming techniques to put many ideas on the board. By the end of the day we had much better idea about our environment and opportunities&challenges.

This was the longest day finishing very late and followed by very nice program prepared by our hosts - walk in the center and then very nice dinner in themed restaurant - we are really thankful for that! The last day we finalized all work packages overview, we agreed on next steps, and after 4 days of hard work we closed the meeting. It was really nice and fulfilling experience and I hope there would be opportunities to make such great meetings in the future. Thanks to our hosts and project partners for creating amazing, creative, professional and friendly atmosphere!

Martin Kubis – K.A.B.A. Slovensko (Slovakia)

We attended the Train the Coordinators Meeting & general project management meeting of the “Youth Enterprise Accelerator” happened in Paris, from 9th – 13th November. This has been my second time to Paris only, and never in a work/ business capacity. Many months and weeks of planning have gone into this meeting and we were excited to see our partners again. For us, Ashford Place and One Planet Ventures, the journey to Paris was pretty straightforward. We took the Eurostar to Paris from Kings Cross and a couple of hours later we were there.

The first day was spent on project administration/ management and we got to know our recently recruited external evaluator Mr Jean-Luc Moreau. The meetings took place at Apprentis D’Auteuil’s HQ, a large group of buildings on this 150 year old foundation. We met with the General Director of the foundation, François Content, in the afternoon. He was intrigued by the developments and generally interested in our work of establishing youth enterprise incubator programmes in some of the locations AD works in (such as Marseille).

On the second day we started the training of the other coordinators and we shared our different approaches to business incubation that the 3 experienced partners, iq consult (Germany), Ashford Place (UK) and One Planet Ventures (UK) are following. The approaches vary in some degrees with iq consult & One Planet Ventures being more aligned, following a formal programme (eg 12-week incubator programme + follow-on support), whereas Ashford Place’s support is more longer-term but also less formalised. Common elements of all enterprise support programmes included:

• Workshops & sessions on business development
• Mentoring/ coaching of entrepreneurs
• Space provision (office space, making space, retail space where possible)

Unique elements of OPV’s incubator programme called HATCH (www.hatch-incubator.org), include back-offise support, helping entrepreneurs to focus on their business enabling them to “buy-in” support around book keeping, legal, marketing etc.

The training for the coordinators also focused on understanding the Business Model Canvass (BMC) as a tool for exploring business models. It’s a good starting position for entrepreneurs to be able to frame and later communicate their business idea using either a digital or offline version of the BMC. The third day was spent using the BMC to frame the incubators in the other countries, Slovakia, Italy and France. All countries worked in their teams and by the end of the day we had supersized BMC’s for all countries explaining how they can implement their incubators in their specific countries. The last day was spent going through an Action Plan and fixing important project deadlines for the various pieces of work in the coming quarter.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in France and are looking forward to working with our partners to support them to establish their own Youth Enterprise Accelerators/ Incubators for young entrepreneurs.

Dirk Bischof – One Planet Ventures (UK)

Project meeting YEA in Paris this November was my first experience with international project. It was very interesting experience (also because of beautiful Paris) but also very valuable and enriching taking account the working and training side - Already several years I am working with support of start-up entrepreneurs, especially women doing business in Slovakia, I am trainer of marketing, doing seminars for smaller companies and entrepreneurs.

The possibility to learn about newly created functioning support for entrepreneurs in other countries, about starting and first experience about Hatch incubator in London was really great and I believe we will be able to copy the success and start similar center in Slovakia. I really appreciate also 3 days about theoretical but a lot of practical experience about Business Model Canvas, that shared with us colleagues from Germany, who are already working in the field entrepreneurship (also for disadvantaged) for more than 10 years.

 Everything we discussed were things, that can help young Slovak people considering starting their own business - and believe that next year we will be able to help them in our incubator.

I would also like to thank Martin Kubis from K.A.B.A.Slovakia, who offered me to participate on this interesting European project, and it would be really great if we can continue also further, because support for youth entrepreneurs in Slovakia is never enough!

Silvia Milova – K.A.B.A. Slovensko (Slovakia)

"Traveling to sunny Paris for the YEA meeting and training was a great opportunity to get updates on the project, and was nice to meet new contacts from countries like Germany, France, Italy and England. I felt excited finding out about the Youth Enterprise Accelerator project, because it feels great to work on a project with group of people, who willing to help and develop an incubator for young entrepreneurs in need to enhance their career, or accelerate their business.

The main aspect of the meeting was training about how to use tools and modules, such as Business Model Canvas, and adjust it to its own business, or specific needs, e.g.: countries, local community. It was very useful to hear from the partners of the YEA project, what are their experience from creating, or setting up an incubator, and how they managed such platforms in social environment.

I spent great time in Paris, that have motivated me, and also satisfied my visual experience. Paris is a great city to explore. It was not my first time there, but it is always new and fresh when I look at billboards and marketing/ promotional style that is unique, identifying, and so different to country like Slovakia as an example.

Tatiana Goldmannova – K.A.B.A. Slovensko (Slovakia)

First Transnational Meeting - YEA Project

“It was a great pleasure to be present and be part of the “Youth Enterprise Accelerator” partnership.
Everyone was so welcoming and willing to share their experience and knowledge, that made me feel inspired and energised for the work ahead. Looking forward to working with you all!”

Carmen Llorente – Ashford Place (UK)

 The project “Youth Enterprise Accelerator” is a great opportunity to share experiences, ideas, suggestions as well as misgivings. Some partners have more experiences in working with young entrepreneurs than others. However, everybody is passionate about working with young people and everyone is keen to contribute to the success of this project. It was really interesting to hear about the prospects and challenges young (unemployed) people face in each partner country every day. It is an inspiring project which will affect all our world of employment in the most positive way. Responsibilities have been allocated and now we are all ready to start working on the project!

Dirk Bischof & Stefanie Hoeft – One Planet Ventures (UK)

Thanks to my previous trips to London last year within related project YSEE (young social enterprise europe) I was familiar with the area and finding a nice place to stay near the meeting made things much easier. The street near the hotel was in was packed by small shops - everyone was small enterprise - 'Supersaver' grocery shops, Chinese food, Kebab place, Fish'n'chips, Asian all you can eat, bakery, bike shop repairs, Hair products & Money transfer... you could see every little space in the area was occupied by small business. There must be something about entrepreneurship and making business in the minds of people that live in London - it is everywhere. That is why I am glad we had the kick-off meeting here, surrounded by opportunities and people trying to 'make it'. Dirk and Steffi from One Planet Ventures welcomed us with a warm smile in the conference room, where we met Carmen from Ashford place (the coordinator) and our German and French partners.

The mood was from the start was relaxed, we introduced our organizations, some were really big, some are small, but the idea was clear - find common grounds for organizing a great project. Presentations were interrupted only by short lunch Crepes restaurant in nearby Brixton Village, in previously deprived old factory building, now a fantastically busy place with small shops of many kinds, full of people and life. Back at meeting we discussed intensively all the materials we want to include in the project, and did not notice it is past 6pm - it was really a long day! We only managed to get to hotel and have some rest for the second final day where we got through the schedule, tasks and responsibilities of each partner, important thing in such a big project. We also agreed on next tasks and Skype conference in April - a good way to have more "meetings" with less resources. After the meeting we said goodbye to each other, wished a safe trip home. We look forward to getting home and starting to work on the "to-do-list". Thank you for the great meeting One Planet Ventures and Ashford place!

Martin Kubis – K.A.B.A. Slovensko (Slovakia)

At first I was little bit afraid, how little country as Slovakia can fit into the network of the "big" countries - like France, Germany, Italy and UK. But, every passing hour at the meeting I was getting more and more relaxed. The problems with young people are similar across Europe and the outputs of the project are also going to be useful in our country. The atmosphere at the meeting was very nice, I enjoyed meeting our new partners in person, learning about their activities and the discussion of the goals and outline of the project were very beneficial for me. I would like to thank Dirk, Steffi and Carmen for their hospitality and organizing the meeting.

I look forward to working together on the project and I am happy that I could feel the atmosphere of metropolitan city (busy  streets and many people), eat typical meals (from healthy ingredients :)) and enjoying the challenge of being alone while looking for bus stop for the no. 12 bus near Oxford street to get back to the hotel. The accommodation was typical for London (wooden floors and cracking stairs, carpets all over the place, tight corridors) but I appreciated being very close to the meeting place.

Maria Kubisova – K.A.B.A. Slovensko (Slovakia)

 The bilateral meeting in London with Dirk and Steffi from One Planet Venture was an opportunity to meet  with our partners, with whom we had had contact only by email. We started the meeting talking about the situation of young people in our countries, our idea of entrepreneurship and what we mean when we talk about supporting young people wishing to start a business. It was great to discover that we share the same views about this issue and how all of our associations aim to empower the youth. At the end of the two days meeting I brought home the feeling that it will be very easy to cooperate in this project and develop good and successful training methodologies and teaching materials.

Levi Bettin, Eurocultura (Italy)

 I found it a very interesting exchange of information on youth entrepreneurship in our respective countries, but what I appreciated most was the visit to entrepreneurial activities undertaken by young people. It was amazing to visit the vegan bakery in Brixton and realize, once again, how an idea that keeps into consideration the needs arising from changes in social behaviors – in this case eating habits – can turn into a wealthy business. I really hope that, also with the support of YEA project, also in Vicenza we will soon see a Ms. Cupcake shop!

Dalmar Mohamed Ali, Eurocultura (Italy)

Introduction (YEA Project)

What is the problem?

One of the major after-effects of the economic crisis still being felt across the EU is unemployment, particularly with regards to young people. Youth unemployment levels in the EU are still exceptionally high, and according to Eurostat (the EU’s statistical service), as of February 2014, the seasonally adjusted rate of youth unemployment across the 28 EU Member states (EU28) stood at 22.9%, which is more than double the overall unemployment rate of 10.6%. When you look at this figure in relation to that of the 2007 EU28 youth unemployment rate (12.1%), it becomes evident how big this issue is.

 With 14 million young people out-of-work, these unemployed and often disengaged young Europeans (aged 15-29), are costing member states a total of €153bn (£124bn). It is important to note however, that youth unemployment isn’t only affecting one particular branch of society. The youth unemployment crisis has affected graduates and non-graduates alike, and has been unbiased in relation to the level of skill an individual possesses. In addition, some young people that fall into these groups have been disproportionally impacted by the youth unemployment crisis, including those from some ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, young parents and those coming from the care system.

Aims of The Project

Aim 1: To understand current issues facing young adults (between 16 - 30 years). This includes their needs in training, education and accessing the labour market through “Needs Analysis” in all partner countries: UK, Germany, France, Italy and Slovakia.

Aim 2: Transfer UK developed "Youth Enterprise Accelerator" modules and approaches to partner countries, whilst making them more relevant and applicable. This includes tutoring entrepreneurship trainers and piloting the YEA Modules with young adults in each of the partner countries (including fostering learning outcomes).

Aim 3: To share our experiences and highlight Best Practice approaches for working with young adults in entrepreneurship, as well as to provide access to the project's outcomes through accreditation and mainstreaming.