Digital Entrepreneur Academy

Background Youth unemployment and low entrepreneurial activity are not a new phenomenon and high levels have been observed in many EU Member States for many years. The 2008 economic crisis has further increased the difficulty for young people to integrate into the labor market and realize their own business ideas. Although the situation has improved since mid-2013, by February 2020, according to Eurostat, more than 2.734 million young people in the EU are under the age of 25 years and also they are still unemployed or not self-employed (average unemployment rate - 14.9%%). The worst affected are Greece (34.7%), Spain (30.9%), Italy (29.6%) and Lithuania (17%). With the situation surrounding the global pandemic Covid-19 and the coming economic crisis, which, according to all European and World leaders, will be more negatively impacted than the 2008 crisis, the unemployment rate will rise as a percentage and the young people will be at risk. The situation in Bulgaria is no different. The 2018 Annual Report for Youth, adopted by the NA, includes statistics on young people's awareness of opportunities and programs for starting a business or finding suitable employment. The data in the Report recorded low levels of desire to start a business initiative. Only 10% of the young people in Bulgaria have plans to start their own businesses. Only 4% of young people in Bulgaria have sought funding for a business venture. The share of young people who are unfamiliar with career guidance and conversion initiatives is high, 29% have heard and only 3% have benefited. Based on our activities carried out on the territory of Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Vratsa, Montana, Vidin and Sofia, we contacted the representative offices of RUO(Regional education management) and schools. In a discussion format, professors and directors confirmed that the problem with the career guidance of young people is on the agenda. At the same time, there is a risk that their talent and skills will not be used to the best of their ability. The conclusion is that there is a serious need to implement activities and projects on the topic of improving entrepreneurial skills in young people. The situation in partner countries in terms of job opportunities for youth unemployment and job opportunities is as follows: young people (15-25) are those who find it difficult to navigate the labor market, leading to a need for a stronger connection between the educational institutions and NGOs. The aforementioned challenges have driven the project idea towards finding solutions for young people's leisure time through the use of ICT, enhancing their motivation to be entrepreneurial, consistent and familiar with the intricacies of different areas of a business venture or project idea. These needs will be met by enhancing their capacity for digital entrepreneurship. This will accelerate the process of their social inclusion, start-up of innovative youth entrepreneurship and self-employment in the economic niches of the modern world. The needs of the target group (the youths 15-25) enthused us to form a partner network to achieve the main goal of the project: To engage the free time of the target group and stimulate their business activity by creating intellectual products. This will broaden their social horizons and increase their economic, civic and digital literacy, for better career guidance. Objectives To achieve the main goal of the project, we set the following specific goals: 1. Raising civic literacy with regard to European good practices for business ethics - corporate social responsibility 2. Improvement of digital entrepreneurial skills, such as digital marketing, of target group representatives 3. Increasing the impact of modern instruments, incl. artificial intelligence, on young people to generate added value in their business journey Accompanying goals: 1. Increasing the knowledge and qualification capacity of young people 2. Increasing intercultural dialogue on contemporary European values and the new cultural and social dimensions of modern times 3. Promoting the Erasmus + program to stakeholders Implementation Project activities were carried out in the following categories: I. Transnational meetings II. Work on intellectual products O1 - Leadership questionnaire III. Work on intellectual products O2 - Digital Entrepreneurship Academy, website and mobile application (web & mobile app). IV. Research V. Mixed Test Mobility (LTT) VI. Leadership Training Meetings (LTT) VII. Valorization conference In each of the mentioned activities, persons directly related to the project were engaged by the 3 partners, as follows: I. Transnational meetings - AISD, PEN, LIBA II. Work on intellectual products O1 - Leadership questionnaire, AISD and LIBA III. Work on intellectual products O2 - Digital Entrepreneurship Academy, website and mobile application and chat bot (web & mobile app), AISD, LIBA, PEN IV. Research - AISD, LIBA V. Mixed Test Mobility (LTT)- AISD, LIBA VI. Leadership Training Meetings (LTT)- AISD, PEN, LIBA VII. Valorization conference - AISD, PEN, LIBA Achievements The final products and results of the project implementation: 1. A Leadership Questionnaire was created to assess the leadership skills and qualities of the young participants. 2. A digital platform to encourage and support young entrepreneurs, with an integrated chat-bot system, video lectures on digital marketing and video podcasts on Corporate Social Responsibility. 3. 20 young people involved in mixed mobility who were trained to work and create a business plan. These young people improved their competences in creating a business plan and business strategy. 4. 100 young people filled out a digital questionnaire on leadership skills and improved their leadership qualities, through the evaluation provided by the system to them. 5. A Valorization conference was held, which brought together nearly 80 participants (representatives of administration, business, the NGO sector, and other interested parties) at regional, national, European and international levels. At the conference, the results of the project implementation were validated and assessed as having a high added value for young entrepreneurs.