After 2 months since...

After 2 months since youth exchange completion, we have asked the participants to continue the phrase below:


"After two months since Entrepreneurial Ideas, I feel...".

Let's see, what have they replied:

Merve, Turkey: 
"After two months since Entrepreneurial Ideas, I feel like miss those days.
I took before EU project.. And it was really best one.. 
I miss everybody , I miss every night get together with all people , 
I miss gossip box,  I miss all trips ,I miss Eforie Nord, I miss Pezo Cafe, 
I miss even all stupid jokes about Radu ! 

What a suprise for me. Everybody visiting each others! It was unexpected for me .. But we became really good friends.. 
People are so kind and easygoing.. 
I can think easly visit one of them.. I think it's about success of project..
Thanks again and again.. "

Andreea, Romania:
"After 2 months since Entrepreneurial Ideas i feel like i want too meet a lot of people and to go every month in a project."

Roxana, Romania:
"After two months since Entrepreneurial Ideas, I feel more confident about the idea of having my own business.During the exchange I had the chance to learn more about entrepreneurship and now I think that I have some useful knowledge  about how to make it work."

Tomek, Poland:
"Hmm, after two months since Entrepreneurial Ideas  I feel sad. I feel sad because my great time in Romania is over. I've met a lot of interesting people in Eforie Nord and also was able to learn a lot by taking part in this educational project.  The only one thing which make me little bit happier is this one: with some people from this Entrepreneurial Ideas I am still contacting, maybe I will meet some of them in Poland or in other countries. 
Of course now I have my "own" life in Poland, I have friends in my country, I have studies, etc. But something is missing. Entrepreneurial Ideas is missing. 

I have no point in glorify this project. I got my money back, got certificate, etc. And my project is over. So I can be sincere, say advantages and disadvantages of this project as well. Ok, this project is *****, *****, ****, I  just wish I would never take part in this project. It was totally loss of time... Of course I am joking :)   It's hard to find any disadvantages of the project.  I think it was well organisated and engaging.  

Entrepreneurial
E  - Ellada 
N - New Ideas
T- Turkey
R - Romania
E - Espania 
P - Poland 
R -  Results
E - Equality
N - New friends
E - Eforie Nord 
U - Unity 
R - Results
I - Italy
A - Apreciation
L - Liberty

I - 
D - 
E - 
A - 
S- 

I've lost my luck to finish "Ideas" :) 
Take care and thanks for everything. Best wishes for all.:)"

Youth Exchange Diary - Entrepreneurial Ideas

One of the things that is the most worth it during this kind of projects is the memories we build in those days. Our sweetest souvenirs, memories come alive when we get to watch the photos and movies that somehow make us relive those moments. It also happens that we start to call and text each other and this is how we find ourselves stuck on Skype for hours, chatting about our memories!

Here are some of these souvenirs:

• Souvenir nr. 1
• Souvenir nr. 2

It’s always a pleasure to watch passionate people presenting their business idea in which they truly believe and love. In the next videos you can see only one small part from our business ideas competition, called Lions Arena (Video 1, Video 2).

Also, it has been facilitated intercultural exchange, exchanging ideas, sustaining dialogue; organized tasks so that each participant had the opportunity to come into contact with a different culture.
Knowledge and understanding of diversity, resulted from involvement in the planned activities, has contributed to increase tolerance and openness towards exchanges and intercultural dialogue.
Do you want to see some of our key actions, activities and energizers implemented during the youth exchange?

Watch it all here: Workshops, Activities on the beach, Workshop II, Workshop III, Greek Intercultural Evening, Greek Intercultural Evening II, Romanian Intercultural Evening. 

Last day of the project usually comes along with a lot of hugs and promises that the participants will find a way to meet again, no matter in which country.  As a reminder of how important interculturality, and friendship are, the participants had part of a big surprise at the end of the project:in  the room where they have spent 10 days together, they found pictures hang all over the place; pictures depicting the celebration of friendship and interculturality.

Watch the video to see one more surprise they had: One more surprise!

Official movie for our youth exchange...

See with your own eyes how fun and work blended so perfectly! Watch our project official movie!

Euforia Farm

Project : Entrepreneurial Ideas

Action : Social Business, Business Plan

Team 8: Stoica Ileana - Romania

• Catela Anastasia - Greece
• Wardzińska Marta - Poland
• Basik Adam - Poland
• Nutu Mihai - Romania
• Dąbrowski Damian – Poland

Identity

Our business is a social business, which is in a form of a farm producing products and selling them to the market.

The social impact is hiring poor people, mostly unemployed or homeless, and pay them the minimum wage and we give them products from the farm, for themselves and their families.

The name is «Euforia Farm» which has a double meaning.

It is an Ancient Greek word that means fertile ground and the other meaning is an emotional condition in which a person experiences intense feelings of well-being, elation, happiness, excitement and joy.

Marketing Strategy

In our Marketing Strategy we analyzed the 4Ps.

1. Place

The place will be Eforie Nord, Romania.

The place has been selected for three basic reasons.

First of all, there are many poor people in the area, which reveals the great social impact that out social business would have. Moreover, there are many available fields and this could be a significant matter for the expansion of the farm. Finally, the region of Eforie Nord is cheap and we can set our business easier.

2. Products

Euforia Farm will produce entirely bio products divided into four main categories. The weather conditions are generally cold, and that’s why we’ve chosen to produce product that can grow or be made in the area.

• Vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, onions, carrots, potatoes.

• Trees: peach trees, apple trees.

• Animals: pigs, sheep, chicken, goats (for meat).

• Other Products: goat milk, sheep milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, sheep wool.

3. Promotion

The promotion of our products and services will be made in many ways.

Firstly, we will organize study visits from schools in which we will educate children on growing vegetables and animals. We will set supermarket stands where consumers can taste our products and also advertise the company and the products using the social media, as well as announcement on the local newspaper for free.

Finally, we are going to organize an annual event, where people can taste our products as well as meet the people who work in the company. There also will be a charity box for those who want to help them regardless of their salary.

4. Price

Τhe price of the products sold in the market will be a little more expensive than the common products because it is for a social cause.

We decided to price our products 10% higher than the similar ones in the market.

Sales

Our sales plan is to sell our products in supermarkets and at the local open market.

We will use paper bags with our logo on it, in order to be recognizable.

We plan also to have some special stands at the supermarkets where people can taste out bio products and then choose them in contrast to other brands.

Finally, we will have special offers for restaurants and of course great discounts for our regular customers in the form of coupons.

Gantt Graphic

The activities start in February. The first activity is buying the seeds, the trees and the animals.

February, March and April are the months for planting the trees and the seeds for vegetables.

The months that the vegetables grown at the farm will generate an income for the farm are June to August.

The fruits will generate an income in autumn, and the other products like milk, cheese, butter and eggs will generate a small income throughout the year.

In the first year the farm will be able to sell meat and living animals starting from November that will be the moment when the business will start to grow.

Working on the flipchart presentation…

Our entire team with the project organizers! Euforia Farm!

Happy Babis´s House

BUSINESS PLAN by:
María Carretero, Babis Karypidis, Fatih Yilmaz, Olga Spiewak and Anna Savvidou.

1. IDENTITY
- Name: HAPPY “BABIS´S” HOUSE
- Definition: Place where parents can leave their children while they are working or have something very important to do. When they are free, take their children to home.
- Slogan: “If you want your children be happy like a mouse, take them to Happy Babis´s House”.

2. MARKETING STRATEGY
- Social networks: Our own website, facebook page, instagram, twitter.
- Pumplhets in shops, schools…
- Billboards in roads ans streets.
- Posters in many places ( most important schools)
- Advertisement on radio and TV.

3. SALES STRATEGY
- Employers: we offer people who has a education´s degree and health´s degree (teachers, doctors).
- Services: activities room , big bedrooms ( with beds and cradles for babys), bathrooms, playground, people who look after kids and take them outside for a walk, people who takes kids from “Happy Babis´s House” to their home.

“BORROWED” or “BLABLATHINGS”

Our business plan is called “BORROWED” or “BLABLATHINGS”.
It is about share the things you don’t usually use to other people who need and don’t want to buy it. Maybe because they are going to use it just one time or because it is expensive.

We create a website and people have to subscribe. They have a profile and they put the things that they can share and the things they need.

People don’t have to pay anything for let borrowed or have the things that other people habe borrowed you.

We will earn money because in the website there are some advertisements.

Solidarity Without Borders

Our team members are: Roberto Rodriguez Álvaro, Óscar Toledano Flores, Celia Sanz Villazán, Alessandro Martinazzoli and Giorgos Tsakalos. Our business plan, Solidarity Without Borders, consists in an association responsible for processing and handling economics resources (obtained from the government and from private donations) in order to provide Syrian refugees with first aids when they arrive to Europe.

Our job, once the refugees have been received and welcomed, consists in provide them a place to live by the next way: we will connect the refugees with old European people who live alone and need company or someone who help them. In this way, the old peoples will feel more comfortable and the refugees will have a temporary job and a place to live, and this will help them to integrate better in the society.

We have two main ways to obtain money for this business. The first one, from the government, who would have to support our idea, and from private donations (NGO’s, associations, anonymous donations...).

We will advertise our business in different ways:

• Radio and TV
• Flyers and advertisements in senior citizens day centres (or places like that)
• Police offices (to inform to refugees when they arrive).

The Green Latern Gym

This business idea is about doing sports, sell energy and being green at the same time. It is a gym who produces energy. Also, because is an original idea, they could  have a lot of sponsors, maybe invite some celebrities in order to grab customers attention. They could work out for a healthier life and produce energy at the same time. They were thinking about making green energy from cycling with local people.
The plan is to find sponsors for the first 10 bicycles and local people will ride them.They tought about the coin system, they will give to people an ATM Card.


The business plan seen through the participant's eyes: "Our project was make a green energy from bicycle with local people.
Our plan was find sponsors for first 10 bicycles and local people will ride bicycles..
We thought about coin system we will give to people an ATM card who use ride a bicycle.
For example one person riding bicycle over 20 mins and person will earn money for 20 mins.
I mean person make an energy and we will save this energy and sell it to government.
At the same time we will give them as money who use ride a bicycle.
We are giving ATM card because they should continue ride a bicycle.
They can take them cash money when collect min.100 Lei in ATM Card.

In this project our goals :
- People can be healthy by ride a bicycle
- People make a green energy for green world
- People can earn money by doing this."

Pay by Time...

Pay By Time is a business that will develop, at first, in four stages: 

• stage 1 ( software engineering and business needs design), 
• stage 2 (decision and working process), 
• stage 3 (feedback of the software engineering and gold plating),
• stage 4 (service release and marketing). 

The target group is people between 18-50 years. The marketing strategy will consist in: advertising in the streets, local radio, local newspaper, social media. The customers will need to pay for a profile and also there are premium accounts. The pays will be done by Pay Pal, Credit Card.

How it sound? If you want to know more about this idea, check it here.

Another group idea of a business is called "Hopeville"

Hopeville is an abandoned little town and they are planning to bring it back to life by populating it with refugees.

The entrepreneurs estimated that the budget they need is around 13 million euros. This amount of money will be provided from sponsors, charity events and loans. 

They took into consideration the idea of talking to the local authorities about the abandoned houses, they might be used by the refugees and they could help in process of restoring them. The refugees will help the local and national economy, they will start their own busineeses and share their culture. After all these, they are going to pay us for helping them integrate in our society. This will also provide, at least in a small way, a solution for the refugee crisis in Europe. 

They are going to advertise their initiative in local newspapers, radio, using flyers and posters.

Business idea of Free Group Activites

Business idea of Free Group Activites is easy, but need some introduction. 

If someone knows the idea of Free Walking Tours, it’s very similar.

Here, instead of organising city tours, they offer team buildings activities. Each member of the company offer organising team-building activities for people who are interested in this kind of activities. 

Let’s say Paul is student from Madrid and he comes to Bucharest. He don’t know nothing about the city and hasn’t a friend. He just wants to visit the city and enjoy the time. There are thousand of people like Paul.What Paul and others can do? Paul will call team building traineer (phone, ICQ, Facebook). Then the traineer chooses proper time of appointment, which is suited for all participants. Then activities starts. After activities the participants decide if traineer deserves payment or not. Traineer earn money by organising team building activities. Then he monthly pays fixed amount for our organisation.

For more info check out our sales and marketing strategies.

What a business plan should be...?

During the first days of the project, beside of getting to know each other & group cohesion activities, the participants got the chance to exchange their knowledge about what a business plan should be, which are the main departements of every successful business and how they work, the qualities of an accomplished entrepreneur, but they also managed to discover which are the steps and the rules that should be followed in order to bring to life their ideas of a start-up business. 

In the last days, the participants were diveded into teams and they reached the top of the learning process by developing their own ideas and creating a proper business plan for them.

After working enthusiastically for their companies, they got one last challenge: to convince the "investors" that their ideas are worthy of their attention. 

The teams had 5-8 minutes to present their ideas and due to really great job they did, all the business plans were financed.

(to be continued...)

Some of our activities...

The activities planned during this youth exchange included, exclusively, non-formal methods; the aims were to facilitate the process of interconectivity, to activate motivation and creativity, to support the process of decision making and contribution with new ideas, encouraging freedom of expression and tolerance among participants.

All these methods facilitate the learning process and support the development of entrepreneurship competences, the integration and assimilation of the project results and cooperation among young people. The involvement of young people in these activities help them to develop personal and social competences, and also competences for teamwork.

The non-formal methods proposed during the project activities had the objective to develop a participatory attitude, to support the process of refection, to promote tolerance, to support the integration of intercultural differences in the proces of creation and to support cooperation among young people.

Group building: Since team-builduing activities can be a powerful way to unite a group, but also to determine the participants to develop certain strengths, we implemented some of these in the first days of the mobility, as a first step to team-working. One of them consisted in working in 3 mixed teams; the task was to succeed into putting on the ground a plastic plate from a certain height by touching it with only one finger (all the participants of the team had to put a finger on the plate). After this stage, it was added a plastic glass of water on the top of the plate, making the task more challenging and more risky, so the team members were forced to collaborate even more and also to focus more. 

Erasmus+ presentation: There is always a good opportunity to discuss about the Erasmus+ Programme and what it can offer to us, since there is a big lack of information regarding this. That’s why we had a sepcific debate about the Programme, involving question & answers and some personal experiences from the participants, but also concrete information about it, like facts & figures. Therefore we discovered together the new opportunities of merging with other cultures, religions, countries, topics, etc.

We also discussed about the Youthpass certificate; what it means, what skills and competencies it validates and what are the benefits of having such a certificate.

Entrepreneurship concept seen through the participants eyes: During this activity, the participants had the chance to show the others their point of view regarding entrepreneurship. This activity was the very first step to discover this concept which was also the topic of our project. In order to make us understand their perspective on the topic, the participants were splitted in mixed teams and they prepared their presentations in 3 ways: theatre, panthomime and musical.

Insiders of the business world & Business trial period: During these workshops, each national team represented a certain department in a company, as following:

·         Romania: PR & Internal Comm,
·         Poland: HR,
·         Italy: Sales,
·         Spain: Operations,
·         Greece: Marketing,
·         Turkey: CEO.

During the 1st workshop (Insiders of the business world), each team  introduced us to the that specific department by presenting us some strategies, necessary skills and also a case study from their country with remarkable outcomes. On the other hand, during the second workshop (Business trial period), the groups came up with interesting, interactive ways to put into practice the information, the know-how from the first workshop.

Cultural tour & Observation of the entrepreneurial ideas in the local community: What way better to discover some entrepreneurial ideas than to interact directly with the locals? This activity took place in Constanta and it was a very good opportunity for the participants to discover what business do the Romanians there run and to find out more about them. More than being related to the concept of entrepreneurship, this activity was about exchanging ideas, good practices, experience. The time spent in Constanta offered the participants the chance to discover some historical places and to discover the city more.

AGORA (discussing about entrepreneurship concept into all the participating countries): Through this activity, the participants were meant to discover by doing the similarities and differences between entrepreneurial contexts in their countries. It was a matter of exchange of ideas&good practices, so we can all take what’s good in the other countries and be inspired or even try to implement it nationally. During this activity, the participants were asked to build the profile of the young entrepreneurs in their country; they debated for example about which are the domains where you can meet a lot of entrepreneurs or how are the public institutions or NGO’s supporting them and by which way.

Cultural nights: During the mobility, in order to support the intercultural exchange, each country prepared a cultural night. The participants prepared the program of these nights as they wished and in character with their cultural specifics. The program included a presentation of the country, a presentation of customs and traditions, traditional music and dances, traditional clothes, food and drinks

Parties: There is no secret that parties bring people together and make them more united. It’s something about the relaxing atmosphere that gives birth to interesting conversations & a lot of crazy dancing. During our project, we tried every time to create the perfect context to spend the evenings; the first night was all about chilling…some get to know each-other on the terrace, enjoying the perfect September weather. Later on, we had a thematic party, which happened to be a pijama party. At some point we enjoyed a movie night exactly like it should have been: popcorn, bean-bags, cozy clothes. And since every entrepreneur says yes to a lot of challenges, we also said yes to the “Challenge accepted” night, where for example, we had one of the Romanian participants teaching a salsa workshop.

The project

The "Entrepreneurial Ideas" is a multilateral youth exchange under the "Erasmus +" framework that will be held in the town of Eforie Nord Constanta, Romania from 17 to 27 September 2015.

During 10 days, 43 young people and 7 group leaders from different EU countries (Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey) will meet to exchange experiences, to learn and to focus on concrete actions about entrepreneurship.

The aim of the project is to increase the level of knowledge, skills and competencies in youth entrepreneurship for 43 young people aged from 18 to 30 years under the guidance of 7 group leaders (no age limit) coming from the 6 participating countries for a 10 days youth exchange.

The project goals will be achieved through the following specific objectives:

OS1. Raising the awareness for 43 participants and 7 group leaders on the need to promote and develop entrepreneurship in the current economic context.

OS2. Raising the awareness of the participants from the 6 participating countries about the importance of young entrepreneurs and their role in shaping the future of European society.

OS3. Encourage participants to develop entrepreneurial ideas by involving young people with fewer opportunities.

OS4. Writing of concret business plans (start-up) in a multicultural environment.

OS5. Developing and encouraging the solidarity and tolerance among young people, in particular to strengthen social cohesion in the EU.

OS6. Creating a network for future collaboration between the project partners.

Project activities supports the achievement of the project objectives; thus, they argue active participation of youth in generating ideas for entrepreneurship using non-formal education methods, informing young people about entrepreneurship ideas existing in other EU countries, creating business plans, promoting participative attitude of young people to develop ideas to increase participation of young people with fewer opportunities, and promoting "Erasmus +" Programme.

Specifically, during the youth exchange each country involved in this youth exchange must have/present at least one idea / example of good practice in entrepreneurship in the origin country and also have to organize an active, creative and original workshop about it.

Moreover, we propose the final drafting of feasible business plans. Thus, the activities listed above meets the current needs among young people: the need / desire for active participation

in the labor market, the importance of entrepreneurship in the current economic context and awareness of the role of young entrepreneurs in shaping future European society.

The non-formal methods proposed in the activities are designed to support the promotion of active citizenship among young people, to develop participatory attitude, to support the process of reflection, promote tolerance, intercultural differences to support integration during development of common understanding between young people and support and the cooperation and creation. The non-formal methods include activities like: verbal and non-verbal communication, visual communication, written communication.

Hosting organisation

“Initiative Sociale” Association is a NGO that has been created in July 2012 from the founders wish to produce changes in youth mentalities and to motivate the young generation to cooperate for a better society and to motivate them in taking initiative.

"Initiative Sociale" is an association of young people and its mission is to promote and implement non-formal programs for the young generation.

It founders are dynamic and ambitious young people, from different academic backgrounds.

Two of them are also certified as Trainers in Social Entrepreneurship and have all necessary information regarding the conception of a business plan. They also have a vast experience regarding participation in international projects.

Our objectives and mission are to create and develop national and international youth exchanges, programs to promote European partnership among young people, professional development of European standards and practice, to organize summer schools and conferences to promote social initiatives among young people, to create and develop different programs regarding orientation and professional counseling.

We would also like to implement activities that can generate capital and jobs for young people, to create and develop project for community development, especially for rural community development and to create and develop projects for the European Voluntary Service.

We would also like to concentrate on promoting social economy and social entrepreneurship; we would like to offer support and provide technical assistance to young people who want to start a business, especially the social businesses initiatives. Also, we would like to provide support in creation and development of programs for democracy among young people and will promote the concept of Active European Citizenship.

Another objective is to create partnerships with private companies, NGOs and public institutions to create projects for community and social initiatives among young people.