From Idea to… Europe!

Project “From Idea to Europe” will gather 20 youth workers, social workers and teachers from 10 countries: Montenegro, Slovenia, Poland, Greece, Serbia, Belgium, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy and Germany in order to support and strengthen them to realize their entrepreneurial ideas (on their own or in cooperation). Carefully selected participants will go through 3 educational modules in different countries - Serbia, Greece and Belgium and their entrepreneurial ventures will be mentored and the process filmed and turned into a documentary translated in nine languages. By implementing those ideas they will involve, encourage and educate young people to start their carriers in a proactive manner trough workshop with local youth. By using the Career self-management and Life coaching methodologies participants will be equipped to plan, open and run their own business but also to deliver these experiences to young people they work with. Innovative character of this project lies in the learning by doing approach towards teaching entrepreneurship to youth workers, therefore young people. The result of the project will be entrepreneurial ideas realized over the one year period of time, an online freely accessible documentary that will be used as a manual and guide for supporting young people in starting their own business. The project follow up will be to organize workshops with young people on entrepreneurship in participants’ home country. Educational modules Based on experiential learning and learning-by-doing all theoretical inputs will be discussed and conclusions will be made jointly in order to achieve participant's’ full understanding of the content. All sessions will be interactive, demand participants’ active involvement and consist of group work activities. Educational modules will take place in three different cities and have the goal to strongly support your business idea and help you shape it and realize it. Training in Novi Sad, Serbia (5 day) 01-06 June 2016 MODULE 1 - defining ideas, goals and managing risks in starting a business At this module participants will bring out the ideas and discuss the risks of being an entrepreneur in their home country. Also, they will learn how to conduct a small-scale market research, followed by a panel and ideas display and selection of best ideas. Teams will be formed, analyse roles and market demands and learn how to create a business plan. All modules will include external speakers - successful businessmen from the community. Training in Thessaloniki, Greece (5 day) 26-31 August 2016 MODULE 2 – marketing and budgeting Participants will identify basic marketing principles and define a marketing strategy for their business. Furthermore they will work on their selling and decision-making skills, basic budgeting principles and developing financial plan. Training in Brussels, Belgium (5 day) 21-24 October 2016 MODULE 3 - completing, finalizing and presenting business plan Third module will be organized as an opportunity to finalize business plans, analyze legal requirements and registration offices for self-employment and small business; They will start joint ventures and develop own action plan for the next 6 months, starting from the day following the end of the training. Develop A Business Plan With the help of skillful trainers and other participants you will develop a business plan and look for finances. During the training, participants will get familiar with European grants available for Start Ups. Securing funding almost always requires a formal plan. Companies funded by friends and family may not need a plan, but if you go to venture capitalists, commercial banks, government-backed lenders and most angel investors, you will need a business plan. You'll be making lots of decisions on serious matters, such as what strategy you'll pursue, as well as less important ones, like what color paper to print it on. Realize your idea with mentorship: Оctober 2016 - April 2017 Participants will receive a full online support by the mentors. Every month in a 6 month period the group will gather online (video conferencing) to share experience and gain support of the group. Also the partner organization in each country participating in the project will be opened to support participants and help them find funds. Participate in creating the documentary At the beginning of the project each participant will tell his/her business idea for the camera in a format of an interview. During the period of one year participants will be filmed from time to time - on the modules but also in their perspective countries where they will show how their ideas are working and how successful they are in realizing the starting idea. The idea is to create a documentary that will show the process but also serve as a video manual for those who want to start their own business no matter where. The documentary will be available for free download at Biznisnova web site and all partners’ websites and social media. Other interested youth related institutions and organizations (youth centers, youth information centers, youth clubs, teacher trainings, youth offices etc.) will be asked to promote the documentary on their websites and social media. The documentary will be subtitled in English language and 9 other languages of partner countries involved in the project. Teach young people entrepreneurship After completing the process participants will organize workshops with young people in home country in order to empower entrepreneurship among youth by sharing personal experience. On methodology and trainers All activities will rely on these aspects and ensure the high level of participation: 1. Meaning making: activities relevant to users’ needs, their assets are acknowledged and employed, help them reflect and make conclusions. 2. Proactive approach and interactivity: based on experiential learning and learning-by-doing. All theoretical inputs will be discussed and conclusions will be made jointly in order to achieve participants’ full understanding of the content. All sessions will be interactive, demand participants’ active involvement and consist of group work activities. 3. Positive learning environment: trainers will take special care that all participants feel physically and psychologically comfortable and safe to contribute, even to make mistakes and share their “weak” sides in order to learn. 4. Sustainable: Training sessions are time limited, but by working with a team of three trainers/mentors we can ensure that the impacts of the training session are achieved and maintained. IMPORTANT NOTICE This Call for Applications is NOT intended to fund a business’ startup costs! Who's eligible to apply? • teachers, educators, youth/social workers or any other professionals who work with young people • candidates must be from one of the countries participating in the project (Montenegro, Slovenia, Poland, Greece, Serbia, Belgium, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy or Germany) • candidates must be over the age of 18 at the application time • candidates must be willing to be active members of the community • candidates must speak English language on a conversational level • candidates must present their business idea and the background of it • candidates must show motivation and capacity to run their own business • candidates have to be willing to participate in educational and mentorship part of the project as well as in the documentary to be filmed during the process • partnership and multi partnership business ideas will be strongly supported • candidates must organize at least one workshop with young people on the topic of hands on entrepreneurship during or after the trainings. Selection process Each partner organization will run the selection of the candidates in each country. After selecting 5 candidates who will be interviewed, the final selection will be made on April 15. If you get selected you will need to sign the agreement that you will attend modules and mentoring sessions as well as take part in the documentary making. No late applications will be accepted. The call for application is opened from March 1st to April 1st 2016.