Last March, AEGEE-Cagliari organised a seminar on entrepreneurship, giving students the necessary knowledge to start their own start-up. For this reason, they were chosen as the ACTive Local of the Month. We spoke to Francesca Zorcolo, President of the local, to find out more!  

ACT: Congratulations! As we would like to get to know this month’s winner, could you tell us a bit more about your local?
Francesca: This award is really a surprise for us, thank you so much Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT)! AEGEE-Cagliari was “born” in 1995 and so far we are the only antenna on our beautiful Sardinian island (we are working on that as well). Currently, we have about 110 members, among which 40 active one. We work in a constant and active way at the local level to promote the principles of AEGEE-Europe, and also at the European level we try to be present as much as possible!

You have organised the “Professione Startup” seminar. Can you tell us more about your event?
The seminar lasted for two days, one focused on theory and one focused more on practice, with the goal to give a thorough knowledge about the profession of entrepreneur. We invited several experts and consultants in the business field, who started their work on our island and were recognised for their innovation power. During the first day, purely theoretical, these experts gave lectures in front of the participants. The topics, chosen by us and tackled by the experts, were how to start a business and make it stand out in the start-up national environment.

The experts in this field explained the start-up world basics and its internal processes such as working stages; research of team members; colleagues’ relationship; how to best motivate the team; working methods and how to best advertise one’s business or product to the consumers. These highly trained and engaging experts succeeded in depicting the current job market and how we, with our ideas, can shape the future.

On the second day, March 18, the participants were involved in a workshop in which they put into practice all the skills learned on the previous day. The group work, carried out by the participants, was based on specific practical cases taken from the business world such as identifying products that make elders’ life easier or finding services suited to redevelop historic goods and local products. It was without any doubt a great occasion to challenge ourselves and be in the shoes of an entrepreneur developing brilliant ideas for start-ups in a full learning environment.

Why did you decide to organise this seminar?
The idea for a “Profession Startup” came in 2015, following the desire to give young people alternative methods for their employment. We also wanted to offer a new perspective for all the people that wish to create their own business and realize their own ideas, but do not know how to start. Our main goal, besides offering important info and first-hand accounts by field experts, was to create and develop some useful practical skills for the participants so that they could challenge themselves and compare their own ideas. Unfortunately, because of the current university system, students do not have many chances to engage with self-made businesspeople. The opportunities for youngsters to develop group-work skills and to challenge themselves in those practical jobs that mirror the activities of a start up are not enough. For this reason we decided to fill this gap with our work, passion and goodwill.

What was the result? 
This is the second edition of the programme, which we decided to propose again, because last year we received so many positive feedback. Our desire is to keep on developing this programme, by examining the topic, in every edition, in new and different ways and perspectives. 50 students from the University of Cagliari participated in an active way. Their favourite session was the workshop in which they were able to put into practice, in a business case scenario, the theoretical knowledge acquired the previous day. At the end of the workshop, every group presented its own project to the other participants, having the opportunity to receive feedback and compare their works.

Moreover, we wanted to deliver the message that start-ups are suitable for all, not only for students of Economics. Intelligence does not need to be studied, all everyone needs is will, hard work and having a dream. A great example of that is the life of one of our experts, which aroused great admiration among the participants. This person started by being a liquor seller and although he did not hold a degree, did not have many financial means and did not work in a friendly environment, succeeded in designing and developing an internet application, which today is downloaded in every corner of the world and translated in more than 20 languages.

Why do you think the Action Agenda is important for the Network, and what would you say to another local that is thinking about organising something related to the Action Agenda?
We believe that the Action Agenda is very important because it allows us to work as a coordinated network: by having a set of focus areas on which we can concentrate our energies, we can have a great impact on reality. TO be more specific, we have the possibility to examine the same topic, at the same time, but in a total different manner according to the parties involved. All the locals should be encouraged and spurred to give their own creative contribution to the Focus Areas. For that reason we tell them “throw
yourself into it! You are going to feel much more as a part of the network”.

Which sentence would describe your local and your event? 
We put passion in everything!

The AEGEEan also covered AEGEE-Cagliari’s entreperneurship’s seminar in another article. To know more about this seminar, click: here.

Written by the Action Agenda Coordination Committee

The work of a Policy Officer involves a lot of reading — lengthy study and survey reports, lofty European Commission publications, and repetitive online discussions — but every now and then something more exciting comes along as well. One of those moments was the first lobbying meeting of the Dutch Youth Council on Education for sustainability, followed the next day by a busy policy debate at the European Parliament on Entrepreneurship skills. A brief account of 24h in the life of a Policy Officer…

For the second year the Dutch Youth Council (NJR) is trying to focus the bulk of its lobbying efforts towards a single aim. Last year, their board member for advocacy, Gabe worked on study financing, and this year his successor, Felix got the task to work on Education for sustainability. This topic was proposed some months ago by the Dutch AEGEE locals who, following AEGEE’s Strategic Plan, recently became an NJR member.

Of course ‘Education for sustainability’ is a hopelessly broad field, so the aim of the meeting at the NJR headquarters in Utrecht is to help Felix narrowing this down to a workable lobby point. Felix and Gabe and some of their colleagues had prepared four possible scenarios to bring sustainability into the Dutch education system, going from working on the learning outcomes to creating sustainability for university students.

Two rounds of discussion with board members and representatives of member organisations direct the topic towards developing sustainability projects within the vocational education system. A challenge since many member organisations — including AEGEE — have fewer links with this part of the student population, but also a huge opportunity, as sustainability has long been considered as something elitist.

Early next morning, I’m on my way to the European Parliament in Brussels for a policy debate organised by EUCIS-LLL, the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning. Together with CD-member Beata Matuszka, I’m presenting AEGEE’s experience with entrepreneurship education, drawing lessons from Europe on Track’s discussions with young people and the previous editions of the European School on Entrepreneurship.

The meeting is hosted by the Austrian MEP Heinz Becker (EPP), who immediately frames the debate by referring to the European Commission’s Social Business Initiative: “The main objective of social business is to generate a significant impact on society, the environment and the local community.” After interesting presentations from EfVET (on teaching young people entrepreneurship skills through their regular teachers) and YFJ (on the results of their study into the impact of non-formal education on youth employability), and a testimony from a former participant of the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme, we are up.

Other contributions before the floor is opened to questions include people from DG Education and Culture (“The methodologies needed to teach entrepreneurship skills are very much based in non-formal education”) and DG Enterprise and Industry (“Entrepreneurship is a key competence for everybody, it’s not just how to start a business”), as well as a rapporteur from the EESC refocusing the discussion on the main goal of education: to create free citizens with a critical mind who can function fully in the society.

Strong comments were made by SYNTRA, pointing to the fact that we are fighting — and are thus risking to lose — a war on two fronts (namely by using a confusing terminology and by frightening teachers with new topics to teach), by EFIL on extending the debate to entrepreneurial knowledge and attitudes, and OBESSU stressing the danger of focusing the education system too strongly on following the job market — a concern also heard in Zagreb during Europe on Track.

MEP Becker’s closing question whether students know about social entrepreneurship offered the opportunity to put in a quick point on Education for sustainability as well: “Students don’t know about these valuable types of entrepreneurship, just like they know little about social or sustainability issues. To change this, a deeper reform of education is needed, beyond the contents of entrepreneurship education.” Now let’s hope that  he will take all of our comments with him!

Written by By Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability

Pictures credit of:

Hans Kreutzer

EUCIS-LLL

Entrepreneur [ˌɒntɹəpɹəˈnɜː] n., a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit. Such says the Oxford Dictionary, but what exactly are these people? And are they only in it for the money? More in general, an entrepreneur is somebody who takes advantage of a gap in the market. These gaps occur because of imperfections of the market (e.g. slow integration of a new technology, a limited number of producers, government intervention,…).

Or an unmet need of students. Because entrepreneurship in a broader sense includes identifying and acting on an opportunity by setting up a non-profit organisation or project. Two of such young entrepreneurs are Wessel Reijers (AEGEE-Enschede) and Rafael Pires (Porto). They both realised students and young people in their city were not offered enough opportunities to gather practical experience with entrepreneurship and decided to do something about this.

Hey guys, you are both involved in projects supporting young people acquire entrepreneurial skills and experience. Wessel, you just created a local branch of Enactus at your university in Enschede. Rafael, you represented Startup Pirates at the EBM in Valletta. For those who have never heard of Enactus or Startup Pirates, can you introduce them in 3 sentences?

Wessel Reijers:

Enactus is a student platform for social entrepreneurship. At the local level, each Enactus board facilitates different project teams that are working on separate enterprises, aimed at empowering people in their community. Eventually, all teams participate in a national and a global competition on the best social student entrepreneurial project.

Rafael Pires:

Startup Pirates is a one-week community-driven acceleration programme for entrepreneurs-in-the-making. Through a combination of training, mentoring, and idea development we help participants structure and develop their ideas. At the end of the week we give them the opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors and successful business leaders.

How did you come up with the idea to launch these initiatives?

Wessel: I was working at a local incubator last year and together with a friend and colleague of mine I decided to bring Enactus to Enschede — pretty much the only Dutch university city without a local branch yet. Additionally, the University of Twente is very much engaged with student entrepreneurship, which made founding Enactus Twente an almost logical next step.

Rafael: The five founders were of the opinion that universities are not dealing very well with the topic of entrepreneurship. We thought that we had to do something about this and we started working on a concept which later on evolved into Startup Pirates.

Startup Pirates organises entrepreneurship events for young people around Europe. Who are they for, and what exactly happens during these meetings?

Rafael: We started to promote our initiative to college students and recent graduates, but we actually have a diverse mix of participants, including unemployed people and participants with several years of experience. The average age is around 26, though we already had participants from 16 to 40. What happens during these events? First the participants have the opportunity to get to know each other, interact, and share experiences. Then they have to form teams to work on different business ideas. During the week they attend several workshop on useful topics to develop the ideas, like the Business Model Canvas or how to pitch your idea. We also include a session with experienced mentors who help the participants to move forward with their idea. At the end of the week, the result is pitched to a panel of judges.

What was the most difficult step in the process so far? How did you overcome it?

Wessel: Until now one of the most challenging steps was forming a good team. But by being persistent we managed to arrive to the point where we are today.

Rafael: Hmm… tough question. I would say the very first event. For our first event we didn’t have anything to show for; it was the first edition so it was harder to prove to everyone that what we were doing had value. After the first edition and with the first results, things became easier as we also got more experienced.

Wessel, in your plans for Enactus Twente you mentioned bringing students closer to the local community and giving courses in social entrepreneurship. Are these strategic priorities of the Enactus network as a whole, or is each local free to work out its own ideas?

Wessel: Each local has quite some freedom, but the core of the work is indeed focussed on social entrepreneurship. Since the nature of universities often differs — i.e. being more focused on technology or humanities — social entrepreneurships as such can take different shapes as well.

Looking at the global map of Enactus they are only present in a couple of countries in Europe. Why do you think this is?

Wessel: First of all, both Enactus and social entrepreneurship have quite an Anglo-Saxon connotation and therefore they are predominantly present in the Anglo-Saxon world. In addition, I think that the presence of Enactus depends on the entrepreneurial environment of a country.

Also for Startup Pirates, activities have been clustered in a couple of countries so far. How are you planning your expansion?

Rafael: We make an effort to be present at several events and conferences to pitch Startup Pirates and find potential organizers. We never push our program; we always explain it and the first contact always comes from the potential local organizers. We are always looking for partners to help us spread the word to reach more potential organizers. We are also coming to a point where we receive applications from potential organizers that just found us online and loved the concept.

Like AEGEE, Enactus has an international network of locals. There are Startup Pirates events in various cities around Europe. In what ways do these groups interact with each other?

Wessel: The different locals compete with each other for the best project, but they also cooperate by sharing knowledge and skills between the different Enactus locals.

Rafael: Startup Pirates events are more short-term activities, so there is not a lot of interaction between them. Though it has happened that participants from one event become the organisers of another.

What possible cooperation do you see between your initiatives and AEGEE?

Wessel: I would encourage all AEGEE and Enactus members that are reading this article to try to find ways in which to cooperate. Perhaps joining each others’ conferences might be a great starting point.

Rafael: I think AEGEE can be a great partner, connecting us with potential local organizers in several cities. AEGEE has a lot of antennas all over Europe that could be interested in applying our concept in their local communities.

What are the top 3 tips you would give future Enactus creators or Startup Pirates organisers?

Wessel: First you need to find a great and competent team. You cannot found an Enactus local on your own.

Rafael: I would also say, make sure you build a great team to organise a Startup Pirates event. Second, get involved with the local entrepreneurial community. Finally, only do it if you mean it; don’t do it just for the sake of doing it.

Any other comments you would like to add?

Wessel: I sincerely hope that more AEGEE members will get involved in social entrepreneurship.

Written by By Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability

Pictures credit of:

Black & white picture: “M. van der Wal”

Group picture (non-pirates): “M&C Janneke van den Elshout”