News
On social entrepreneurship and beyond that
Last week we closed our first international event of the year, the Entrepreneurship & Soft Skills training, which gathered participants from 10 countries and 11 partner institutions. The main objective of the event, which was organised under the Erasmus+ programme and intended to familiarize the 25 participants with the concept of social entrepreneurship and the so-called soft skills that are needed to run and maintain such businesses.
On the first day of the 7-day event, the participants had the opportunity to learn more about the different types of Erasmus+ programmes, while getting to know each other and talk about their fears and hopes as well as wandering through the streets of Székelykeresztúr. The second day was dedicated to the actual topic of the training course when local entrepreneurs Csaba Szél and Róbert Bán visited us to share their own entrepreneurial experiences. We continued the activities by creating the ideal entrepreneur and then discussed the different types of entrepreneurships. In the second half of the training, participants developed business plans for different local social enterprises. In order to make the workflow efficient, the Golden Circle model and the Business Model Canvas were introduced to them during the programme. Of course, this was done in an informal way, so that the participants could absorb the rich information more easily and by the middle of the programme they were already working on the business plans that we had already prepared for them. The plans were evaluated by our invited guests, so called local entrepreneurs, more specifically Antonio Crea, Noémi Bartha Faluvégi and Róbert Bán. The jury expressed their professional opinions and gave constructive criticism.
In addition to their business plans, during the training we focused on the skills and competences that are essential to run a social enterprise. As we have always worked with non-formal methods, this topic was similarly addressed. A variety of team-building and role-playing activities were implemented, allowing participants to work in small teams, develop solutions to different problems and prepare for the final discussion. All these activities highlighted the key competences that were needed to create and run real social enterprises.
The programme also included a guided tour of the beautiful old town of Sighișoara. On the last day, they had the opportunity to visit the current exhibition of the local museum. The tour ended with an overall evaluation and the distribution of the Youthpass certificates. The training not only provided the participants with new knowledge, but also gave them the opportunity to meet new people, cultures and different ways of thinking.
The training was implemented in the framework of our association’s youth strategy with the support of the Erasmus+ programme.
