EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP – New Ideas, New Skills, New Opportunities
Businessmen, university professors, young entrepreneurs from all over Europe and enthusiastic AEGEEans – I guess we’re not talking about a regular AEGEE event?
This is European School of Entrepreneurship – an innovative project aiming to equip participants with a complete overview how to implement the business idea and the procedures of setting up their own enterprise. Twenty participants will gather together during seven days in the beginning of December in beautiful Sicily. The training course is organized by AEGEE-Catania aimed for student or graduates “who wish to use effectively their skills and ideas to get into enterprise and succeed in life.”
Tackling youth unemployment
The “European School of Entrepreneurship” (ESE) is a project established in order to increase youth employability, stimulate the mobility of youth and their active participation in society.
Youth unemployment is indeed a crucial issue world-wide, in Europe and at a local level. There is no doubt that the global economic crisis has hit the youth in the labor market. At the moment, 20.5 percent of young people between 15 and 24 are seeking work in the 27 states of the European Union. At the same time, the numbers conceal large differences in unemployment levels for individual European nations. The situation is the worst in Spain where youth unemployment has doubled since 2008 and now stands at 46 percent. In second place in the European rankings is Greece. Italy is not far off: 29 percent of its young population is unemployment – this makes Catania a very suitable place for European School of Entrepreneurship.
The growth of long-term unemployment among European youth, including very many highly educated young people with academic qualifications who are unable to find work, has led many people to refer to a “lost generation”. However, youth entrepreneurship could be a solution – we don’t want to be the lost generation, do we? Creating your own job, becoming your own boss, is a solution when formal job opportunities are scarce. Entrepreneurship is an alternative to the traditional career path – a promising one.
However, young people need encouragement. Many young people have in them an entrepreneurial spirit and they display exceptional drive. But each of them will need support on their journey – European School of Entrepreneurship aims to provide some of this support.
“Your idea is your business” – the objectives of European School of Entrepreneurship
So what does the European School of Entrepreneurship aim to provide these young students with their ideas of a business? ESE consists of a wide range of theoretical workshops and practical case studies aiming to motivate participants to create a business by themselves. The trainings will be held by professionals, training experts and current successful entrepreneurs who will help the participants to develop their business ideas. It is important to increase both skills and self-confidence of the participants in order to help and encourage them to start own business in their own countries
ESE aims at increasing the participants’ professional skills for being entrepreneurs This includes an understanding of the internal structures and procedures of the entrepreneurship, project management skills and organizational management skills. However, entrepreneurs also need the “soft skills” – this is why ESE also aims to improve the participants’ skills of multicultural teamwork and as well as their tolerance, understanding and dialogue.
Moreover, an important aspect of entrepreneurship is networking and knowing how to contact the right people. The event will create a network among participants that will help their future work and will facilitate future co-operation and activities.
Youth unEmployment Project – where does it stand?
The European School of Entrepreneurship is organized by AEGEE-Catania – but in collaboration with Youth unEmployment project (YuE). YuE consists of motivated young people from different AEGEE locals willing to contribute to increase youth employability. The objectives of the project include empowering youth to set up enterprises and raising awareness about employment opportunity. ESE is an excellent way of putting those objectives into practice and empowering youth.
A member of the YuE team, Florence Franks, the ESE manager, worked together with AEGEE Catania on the programme, on the selection of the participants, and the trainers and on the question which partners to contact from the local firms. Together they put up a very promising programme including top quality trainings and finishing to the presentation of individual business plans – not to forget the nightlife.
The European School of Entrepreneurship organized by AEGEE Catania seems to have all – and even more – than it takes to make a good and fruitful event. So what comes afterwards? After the evaluation of ESE 2011, Youth unemployment project wishes to get involved with more young people with brilliant ideas and with more firms and institutions willing to share their knowledge on how to set up your own business starting from the ideas and interests of young people. Just wait for it – ESE 2012 is coming up!
