Start-up your idea! Nurturing entrepreneurship in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic

We decided to create the project and implement it because we saw that during the pandemic of Covid 19, some people started to think that they may become more independent, work from home and organize their working life within their own businesses. We saw CASE as an excellent organisation to address this need as the foundation has both economic knowledge and experience in providing training. Due to the fact that CASE already had earlier experience in translating financial knowledge into training for vulnerable groups e.g. young people, seniors and immigrants, we decided to include immigrants in our target group. In order to best address the needs of the participants, in this project we invited our Partners, InBaze from Czechia and Mereena from Slovakia, organisations with experience working with immigrants and people in need. We saw a perfect chance to provide knowledge within the project and also to create high-quality materials for trainers who will work with interculturally differentiated groups on topics related to starting a business.

Our goals were twofold. We wanted to equip project participants, native and migrant residents of Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, with knowledge and skills in business development. Moreover, we wanted to put our knowledge, and the combination of expertise and experience, different among consortium members, into good use and to create high-quality training materials for adult educators who want to boost entrepreneurial spirit among people willing to set up their own businesses. The materials come together with guidelines which we hope will help educators introduce the topic to such mixed groups. We gathered and prepared the guidelines on the basis of our own experience gained in this project. The guidelines and materials will be disseminated free of charge and may help trainers all around Europe work with groups of people coming from different countries to learn as much as possible about running and promoting their business activities and thus empowering them, especially now in the complex economic situation.

Throughout the realisation of the project i.e. from April 2022 till March 2023, operators of the project carried out 4 types of activities:1. Preparing training materials, 2. Start-up Camps, 3. Online Ideas Repository and 4. Training guidelines. All the activities were carried out due to their nature i.e. one resulting directly from another. First, we used our knowledge to provide tailor-made training materials which we used afterwards for implementing the second activity, i.e. 4 Start-up Camps. Each one began with a webinar, while the second, onsite part of the Camps, was organised by each partner in their respective country. During those meetings, participants got the opportunity to put in practice what they had learned online. The third activity aimed at creating space for collecting a) the participants’ business ideas and showcasing them and b) all the training materials for free use by other trainers and educators who may find them helpful. All the above-mentioned are available at www.startupyouridea.eu serving as the Online Ideas Repository. Lastly, we gathered trainers’ thoughts and observations which resulted in a guide for educators who work with interculturally different groups in entrepreneurship-related topics.

4 two-day-long Start-up Camps took place in the autumn and winter of 2022/2023. Camps equipped the attendees with essential knowledge and skills regarding entrepreneurship i.e. market analysis, business plan, financing, legal aspects and marketing, including online tools accessible nowadays. Camps were based on Training Materials developed beforehand - 4 presentations and 4 workshop scenarios containing practical exercises and homework. Additionally, there are also 4 corresponding handouts for the participants prepared. All the materials mentioned above are available at www.startupyouridea.eu which serves as the Online Ideas Repository. It showcases other project deliverables: Training Guidelines for educators working with beginner entrepreneurs of various nationalities and 6 business ideas of our participants. They also took part in a hybrid event organised in Warsaw (the Ideas Market), where 8 residents of Czechia, Slovakia and Poland (6 stationary and 2 online) tried themselves pitching their business ideas in front of guest experts. It was a great networking opportunity for participants, specialists and organisers as well. According to their feedback, the intended participants’ empowerment was managed to be achieved.