Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Europe

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission (EC) launched in December 2013 the book "The missing entrepreneurs, policies for inclusive entrepreneurship in Europe".

The joint publication collects and synthesizes information and data on entrepreneurship activities in Europe, focusing on people that are at the greatest risk of social exclusion, including young people, older people, women, ethnic minorities and migrants, people with disabilities and the unemployed. 

The book describes how entrepreneurship could be made inclusive by specific policies lists interesting data and inspiring practice from the EU countries. 

Particularly enriching is the chapter on policies for entrepreneurship skills (pag.111-129), which examines variations in entrepreneurship skills levels and challenges across disadvantaged and under-represented groups in entrepreneurship and illustrate policy actions that help entrepreneurship skills through formal education, stand-alone training and counselling, coaching and mentoring. Some of them backed up with concrete examples (from Spain, Finland, Ireland, etc.).

Find more information in the dedicated section of the OECD website or order the paper version via the OECD bookshop.

From the OECD website:

What is inclusive entrepreneurship?
It is entrepreneurship that contributes to social inclusion to give all people an equal opportunity to start up and operate businesses. Target groups are those who are disadvantage and under-represented in entrepreneurship and self-employment, including youth, women, seniors, ethnic minorities and immigrants, disabled people and many other groups.

Why is inclusive entrepreneurship important?
Today nearly 26 million people in the European Union are unemployed and actively seeking work. One of the responses to moving people back into work is through business creation and self-employment, which is a key outcome sought from inclusive entrepreneurship policies, and with it greater labour market participation by the target population groups. 

HEInnovate - A new online tool for universities to measure how entrepreneurial they are

"Entrepreneurial skills and mind-sets are more important than ever in today's global markets. That applies as much to universities as enterprises. I am confident that this new initiative will encourage European higher education institutions to become more entrepreneurial and open to opportunities," said Androulla Vassilliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth in the occasion of the launch of HEInnovate, a new online self-assessment tool for universities to measure how entrepreneurial they are.

The website, which is free and user-friendly, has been created by the the European Commission, together with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and inaugurated in November 2013.

HEInnovate enables institutions to assess their performance in seven areas: leadership and governance, organisational capacity, teaching and learning, pathways for entrepreneurs, university-business exchange, the internationalised institution, and impact measurement.

The website then generates results for the institution, highlighting areas of strength and weakness. It also helps the institution improve its performance by providing links to customised examples of good practice.

In 2014, the Commission and the OECD will be holding workshops and events across Europe on how to get the most out of the website.

Source: European Commission

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, an inspiring way to start and develop your own business

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a cross-border exchange programme which gives new or aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced entrepreneurs running small businesses in other countries.

From its launch in 2010, many young Europeans have already taken this opportunity: for an example Ivan from Bulgaria who wanted to learn how to produce wine and run a company in the field and asked to be assisted by Roberto, who is a successful entrepreneurs in the field in Tuscany, Italy; or Irma, young Lithuanian passionate of film industry and willing in creating a movie production company who moved to Sweden to work with Tobias, director of a documentary company based in Stockholm.

The programme finances the travel and the staying of the young entrepreneurs for a period which lasts from one to six months. The programme functioning is supported by local contact points – Intermediary Organisations (IOs), competent in business support (e.g. Chambers of Commerce, start-up centres, incubators etc.) from Participating Countries support new entrepreneurs (NEs) and host entrepreneurs (HEs) in finding their match and in carrying out their business exchange.

The difference between the Erasmus for students is that this is really a two-sided exchange. On one hand new or potential entrepreneurs, firmly planning to set up their own business or have already started one within the last three years; on the other experienced entrepreneurs who own or manage a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise in one of the participating countries.

According to participants the Erasmus for Young entrepreneurs is a win-win collaboration. Indeed while new or potential entrepreneurs gain competences and perspectives about how to run a business from a high skilled person, they also bring their fresh entrepreneurial spirit and knowledge of their home market and culture as a source of new ideas and as a sounding board for host entrepreneurs.

Both the host and the hosted learn about foreign markets, expand business opportunities and engage in cross-border activities. Furthermore they can become part of a dynamic European business network of successful entrepreneurs and thus improve the growth potential of the company.

The Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme was developed within the framework of the Small Business Act (SBA) and has the final aim of enhancing entrepreneurship, internationalisation and competitiveness of new and established micro and small enterprises within the participating countries. These are the 28 European Member States, Liechtenstein, Norway, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, Serbia and Israel.

Find more information about the programme and the details for applying on the dedicated website.

Click HERE if you are interested in watching more successful stories.