ENTREPRENEUR+ : EXPLORING ENTREPRENEURSHIP BEYOND CONCEPTS

<< Background >>Entrepreneurial education is very often deficient or poorly implemented in many systems as part of the standard educational offer. However, interest has grown over years among young people to become more independent and choose an entrepreneurial career as an alternative to the typical one. This was also reflected in a study that had been conducted prior to the project application by the Romanian organization. 290 young people, aged between 18 and 30 years old participated in the study. It was concluded that the majority of young people consider becoming an entrepreneur (62%), as it seems to provide multiple benefits. However, only a small percentage claimed they had the knowledge to set up a business (23,8%), or they had the competencies to manage one (36,5%). The main obstacles identified refer to the lack of training (72,1%), lack of financial resources and access to financing (59,3%), or the limited experience (51,7%). The learning needs can be addressed by youth workers and trainers, only if they are provided with tools and appropriate guidance. Based on these needs, the consortium decided to create tools and methodologies to help the people working with youth in creating interactive and insightful learning contexts.<< Objectives >>The aim of the project was to improve the capacity of youth workers to deliver qualitative learning programs and activities fostering entrepreneurial competencies among young people through a set of four innovative tools and methods developed through the project. In order to achieve this, the following objectives must have been reached: - SO1: To support, by the end of the project, the activity of 300 youth workers from Italy, Germany, Romania, and Spain to foster entrepreneurial competencies among young people as part of their activity. -SO2: To improve, by the end of the project, the entrepreneurial competencies of 24 young people from Italy, Germany, Romania, and Spain through a business idea competition and a training activity. -SO3: To foster the development of management abilities and entrepreneurial mindset of 40 young people from Italy, Germany, Romania, and Spain, by implementing a total of 4 local volunteering projects in their communities, by the end of the project. -SO4: To support, by the end of the project, the capacity building of the four partner organizations involved in the project, by developing new services in the field of entrepreneurship for the target groups they serve.<< Implementation >>The major activities implemented consisted in: project management activities; the organization of the transnational meetings; information, communication and dissemination activities (including the organization of multiple multiplier events); project results creation (including various testing activities); the organization of a business idea competition and an international training event.There were in total five transnational meetings organized during the project which helped with the planning of the activities and the evaluation of the results. They also contributed to best practice sharing, and enhanced the communication and cooperation among the partners. Through the project, a set of four educational resources were created, each of them contributing differently to the entrepreneurial learning of the young people. To best address the learning needs, two research activities were also conducted to help the partners understand the best approach to the content. Ultimately, activities were organized to test the board game and the workshop methodology, and during the international training, the curricula was also tested and three study visits were organized.<< Results >>The educational resources created consist of the “Future Entrepreneur” board game, the “From Idea to Business” training methodology, “How to Finance my own Volunteer Project” workshop methodology, and a set of 15 videos: “Entrepreneurship explained…but in 2 minutes”. In the creation of the board game, a research study to assess the personal experience of various entrepreneurs was created and 39 people participated in the study. The board game was also tested internally and externally with 33 people. There was a similar approach in the development of the training methodology, however, the research study aimed to best understand what are the concrete entrepreneurial abilities the young people need to improve. There were in total 216 respondents to the questionnaire. The curriculum was tested during the international training event organized in Cluj-Napoca, alongside 3 study visits at local companies. The selection for the training was done following a business idea competition in which 41 young people participated, and 22 were selected to attend the event. The fundraising workshop methodology was tested with 72 young volunteers and a total of 10 volunteering projects were generated. 6 multiplier events were also held, having a total of 126 participants.