Cross-border exchange program which gives new or aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced entrepreneurs running small business in other Participating countries.
The exchange of experience takes place during a stay with the experienced entrepreneur, which helps the new entrepreneur acquire the skills needed to run a small firm. The host benefits from fresh perspectives on his/her business and gets the opportunities to cooperate with foreign partners or learn about new markets.
Who can participate?
- New entrepreneurs, firmly planning to set up their own business or have already started one within the last three years NEW ENTREPRENEUR FLYER
- Experienced entrepreneurs who own or manage a Small or Medium-Sized Enterprise in one of the Participating Countries HOST ENTREPRENEUR FLYER
For more information about Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs please visit the official info website.
Success stories, supported by Champions Factory
Champions Factory is a member of the Consortium “Entrepreneurship is a Woman 3”:
The main aim of the EIW3 project is to enhance and promote women and social entrepreneurship in the Europe and to increase the competitiveness of European women led SMEs and potential women founders start-ups by establishing experience exchange between new and experienced entrepreneurs, access to new markets, finding potential business partners and business networking. The average duration of the mobility action will be 4 months. Being a continuation of EIW and EIW2 projects developed in cycle 8 and 10 respectively, this project, together with 10 partners will reach at least 180 RLTs involving directly 90 NEs and 90 HEs during its implementation (3 years) in Lithuania, Kosovo, Portugal, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey. Women’s experience in business creation is different from that of men. Women opt for a different type of entrepreneurial activity which is usually based on the lack of perspectives to find a job after maternity, etc.
- Promote unusual and social businesses creation in order to meet the needs and find business opportunities in small, excluded areas where there is no place for big innovative IT companies, but there is place for ecological food, care services, education,etc.
- Support with the 21st century skills trainings (to make it innovative and scalable),
- Measure the impact of the program created with in EIW3. Women are therefore forming an increasingly significant portion of the SME sector, which is a major source and driving force of new jobs. Yet women continue to face barriers to entrepreneurial activity in comparison with men. In order to effectively contribute to promoting growth and strengthening competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises in the Europe in the long term, EIW3 “Entrepreneurship is a woman 3!” will address the five challenges set out in the COSME Work programme, with a strong emphasis on intensifying sustainable internationalization of SME’s.
Petya Petkova is the young founder of Acceler8, a design studio based in Bulgaria, which offers end-to-end web solutions to its clients. In this video, she shares her experience in the EYE programme and the impressive business achievements she celebrated so far.
Ralitsa Oleva is a young entrepreneur from Velingrad, who has MSc in Civil Engineering and had worked in Bulgarian and international construction companies designing and constructing buildings and solar plants around the world. Her desire for a more sustainable way of life led her to the decision to start her own environmental NGO. She enrolled in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme because she wanted to learn from someone
else’s experience how to start and successfully run an NGO. Ralitsa spent 3 months in Greece for her exchange with The Hives.
Quotes by Ralitsa:
“This exchange has thought me a lot about NGOs and
teamwork. The effort that everyone put in making the most out of it was rewarded with many successful small projects and establishing a stable relationship with the host organization.”
Vladimir Konushliev had 5-year-long experience with his IT company Gravital when he hosted Vladan Ćetojević from Bosnia And Herzogovina. The exchange took place
in the city of Plovdiv and was almost 6 months long.
Execute like there’s no tomorrow strategize as there will be!
Aneta Toncheva is a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Bulgaria. She joined the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneur program in December 2020 and stayed in Spain for 6 months where she had the change to learn and experience working in the circular economy sector with her host Katerina Zalamova. Aneta had the opportunity to learn and test different business models, strategies, tools, activities, best practices and methodologies used by the HE in
order to develop, test and validate her own business idea and company.
For the duration of the exchange, she was able toperform a marketing research strategies to help her start her own company, such as competitive analysis, market research, analysis of clients’ information and feedback.
