Green Entrepreneurs in Action

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated youth unemployment, particularly among young Roma, who are significantly more likely to be unemployed, NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and early school leavers. Green entrepreneurship offers a great potential to empower and mobilize young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to engage in efforts to achieve social objectives such as poverty reduction, inclusion and integration. To help young entrepreneurs become more competitive and resilient in the face of economic challenges brought by the pandemic, the GEA project is actively promoting green businesses with no negative environmental, social or economic impacts. Through this project, disadvantaged young people have the opportunity to start their own businesses and contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

The GEA project seeks to empower young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds to become resilient and innovative in the face of the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative is focused on teaching Roma and non-Roma green business practices that have no adverse effects on the environment, community, or economy. It also aims to equip these entrepreneurs with the necessary digital and entrepreneurial skills to succeed in the green industry. Ultimately, the project seeks to empower young entrepreneurs to create sustainable businesses with a positive impact on their communities. Objectives O1. To provide youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds with training and mentoring on green entrepreneurship and digital tools in order to support them develop, start and promote their own green companies. O2. To improve aspiring green entrepreneurs’ digital skills O3. To provide good practice/methodology for youth educators who support the green business sector O4. To raise awareness of young people across Europe on green entrepreneurship through intense dissemination activities and an online campaign.

To the date we have completed the following activities: A1. Developed learning materials on 5 modules, good practices, quizzes, and exercises for aspiring green entrepreneurs. The materials were designed to help youth gain knowledge on green entrepreneurship, as well as acquire practical guidance and advice in the implementation of their venture. The focus was on providing the soft skills needed to become green entrepreneurs, such as the fundamental characteristics of green businesses, presenting a concept, creating a business plan, discovering financing possibilities, and exploring European and global prospects for green entrepreneurs. A2. Created an online platform where we have uploaded the learning materials, developed e-Learning courses, quizzes and tests, and an online forum. A3. Piloted the online platform where 10 young aspiring entrepreneurs per country tested the platform. They provided feedback during the piloting, as well as the end of the testing. A4. Developed a training methodology for a training methodology for educators and organizations which support entrepreneurship. The methodology contains 5 modules and 11 lesson plans corresponding to those in the learning material, structured to support taught learning online, offline and in hybrid format. A6. Developed a collection of good practices for entrepreneurs and for youth educators (e.g. successful entrepreneurs in the green sector/online businesses share their stores) that have been included in the learning material and pinned on a map on the GEA platform. A7. Organization of a series of multiplier events (one in each partner country) where we presented the project results PR3 and PR4 to interested stakeholders and we printed the training methodology and shared the collection of good practices with the participants. A8. We held the Final Conference in Bucharest Romania, on November 1st, 2023, where the consortium joined us, together with 5 young participants that developed the best business ideas. A9. Learning & Training activity: 10 participants attended the training course in Palermo in December 2022, where lecturers from all organizations, guided by the experts from CESIE, trained them in green entrepreneurship specifically for disadvantaged young people. This training aimed to give them the skills and motivation to support the learning process of aspiring entrepreneurs and potentially develop their business considering the green element.

IO1. Learning material for aspiring entrepreneurs with a list of good green practices from around Europe IO2. Online e-learning platform with quizz, tests, forum IO3. Teaching guide for youth workers, educators, trainers, facilitators 1 transnational training course for 10 participants and a national one for other 3 1 communication & dissemination strategy with a detailed communications plan and other relevant annexes 1 monitoring & evaluation strategy