1 ST Multiplier Event Report S.E. knowl

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1 MENTEE Mentoring, Networking and Training for European Entrepreneurs Proj.no: PL01-KA ST Multiplier Event Report S.E. knowl This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication (communication) reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Agenda and logistics... 4 Profile of participants & structure of event... 4 Promotion of the event... 5 Feedback on the event... 6 Conclusions... 7 Annexes... 8

3 Introduction Europe needs more enterprises. For over a decade the EC has been championing measures to create a more business-friendly environment to promote economic growth through entrepreneurship. The MENTEE project aims to support aspiring and new entrepreneurs across Europe, providing them with practical entrepreneurial experiences and know-how, together with entrepreneurial models to follow, inspiration and informal competences that could be ensured by the constant connection created with mentors/experienced entrepreneurs. Within the MENTEE there are the following objectives to be attained by the partnership: provision of a constant mentoring scheme to the young entrepreneurs which either are involved or had recently being involved in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme (as a primary target group) and for young entrepreneurs of the countries involved (secondary target group). adaptation and further development of a blended learning model (face-to-face and virtual) to meet the needs of the target group of young entrepreneurs, promoting entrepreneurship education. provision of a networking platform to let these target groups interact and foster their business ideas through further e-learning opportunities and business connection. development of a news aggregator and content curation platform for young entrepreneurs experiences around Europe. In order to reach the goals specified above, during the first year of the project the consortium worked on the adaptation of the Mentoring Circles to the main target group of the project: new entrepreneurs who are either involved or have recently been involved in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme, as well as other aspiring entrepreneurs. Between October and December of 2015, partners from Portugal, Poland, Italy and Greece held the 1st Pilot Phase of the Mentoring Circle, aimed to test, adapt and validate the methodology, instruments and tools structured by the partnership. Along with the implementation of the partners mentoring sessions there was the functioning of another intellectual output initiated within the project. The consortium launched the online networking platform to support, consolidate and further propagate the idea of mutual entrepreneurial support in business. So as to contribute far more effectively to the dissemination of the already produced project results, and especially to share the experiences gathered during the 1st Cycle of the Mentoring Circle, each of the aforementioned partners organised a national multiplier event, in some cases planned in correlation to the mentoring sessions. The meeting was addressed to everyone interested in entrepreneurship and eager to get to know business-supportive tools/solutions. The present report is to provide detailed information on the preparation, implementation and conclusions/outcomes of the Multiplier Event organised in Greece. In brief, the Greek event took place in Athens on 8 December 2015 and was attended by 12 participants - consisting of young or aspiring entrepreneurs, experienced mentors and a representative from the funding body Action Finance Initiative (AFI).

4 Agenda and logistics The Greek multiplier event entitled MENTEE - Freeze and Biz took place on 8 December It was organised in the headquarters of knowl S.E. in Athens. The following table outlines the agenda of the meeting. THE MULTIPLIER EVENT MENTEE - Freeze and Biz 8th of December 2015 LOCATION: Acharnon 335, Athens, Greece TIME ACTIVITY PERFORMED 14:00 14:15 Welcome Karamanlis Aimilios 14:15 15:15 Presentation of the MENTEE Project, its objectives and 15:15 16:15 developed results/tools Aimilios Karamanlis (knowl S.E.) Yannis Salamouris (knowl. S.E.) Olga Stavropoulou (knowl. S.E.) Freeze and Biz Presentation of the participants & Ιnteractive discussion (Q&A) 16:15 16:45 Coffee break, networking Profile of participants & structure of event The event was addressed to carefully selected and targeted stakeholders active in entrepreneurship and interested - potentially - in the MENTEE project, its results for their own use as well as for disseminating the tools and increasing prospects of successful exploitation and sustainability as well as in networking with other peers and high profile mentors and entrepreneurs. It was attended by 12 participants, representing all targeted stakeholders, including: 2 young entrepreneurs, one of which a participant in the EYE programme, 3 aspiring (wannabe) entrepreneurs, 6 high profile mentors/experienced entrepreneurs and the General Manager of the funding body Action Finance Initiative (AFI). In view of engaging participants and making the most of their presence, knowl held an event of 2,5 hours, including a theoretical part, ie. the presenting the MENTEE project and tools, and complemented by an interactive part, ie. presenting knowl s new innovative Freeze and Biz concept and methodology. In particular, following a warm welcome by the organisers (Mr. Aimilios Karamanlis), the MENTEE project and tools were presented in detail, focusing mainly in IO3 - Young Entrepreneurs Skills and Competencies Manual (Mr. Aimilios Karamanlis), IO4 - Mentoring

5 Circle Programme and Facilitators Manual (Dr. Ioannis Salamouris) and IO6 - e-modules for Young Entrepreneurs Learning Online (Ms. Olga Stavropoulou), while questions by the participants were addressed. Subsequently, during the Freeze and Biz interactive session, each participant had 5 minutes to present briefly himself/herself, their business activities/ideas and the synergies/partnerships that they are interested in, in view of knowing each other better and finding common ground for cooperation, links and networking. Following each presentation, the rest of the participants had the opportunity to address up to two questions of interest. The discussion was very vivid, dynamic, inspiring and fruitful, with the participants showing great interest to the project as well as to maintaining a productive networking affiliation among them. The coffee break presented another opportunity for further discussion on the methodology and its impact, other business-related matters and cooperation, while participants shared a common realisation that, in these difficult periods, sustainable growth for businesses may be achieved only through mutually profitable entrepreneurial synergies and networks. Promotion of the event The promotion of the multiplier event was targeted. It was launched during the delivery by knowl S.E. of its internationally certified by the International Coach Federation (ICF) two-day workshop for personal and professional development STARS Success Yourself, on October The workshop was addressed to representatives of 16 social enterprises, under establishment or starting-up, in the framework of the project Entreprising Socially of the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency (ADDMA)/Municipality of Athens, providing consultancy services, tools and mentoring to social entrepreneurs. The MENTEE project, objectives and tools were presented and invitations were extended to the upcoming pilot trainings (3 of the workshop participants attended the first pilot training) and multiplier event. Pictures from this event are included in Annex II. Dissemination was mainly undertaken online. A special invitation (see Annex I) was drafted by knowl and communicated, via social media (knowl s Facebook page see LINK 1 & LINK 2) and via personalized s to more than 50 specifically selected stakeholders, identified through research and knowl s extensive contact database, in two phases. In this first phase, priority was given to young and aspiring entrepreneurs wishing to participate in the pilot trainings, in combination with the final multiplier event, while special effort was made to identify aspiring entrepreneurs involved in the EYE programme. In the next phase, related experienced mentors and representatives of funding bodies were identified and contacted in a personalized way to attend and act as: - inspiration for the young or aspiring entrepreneurs - main beneficiaries of the project results - multipliers of the project and its results.

6 Feedback on the event Feedback by all participants, with no exception, was enthusiastic and useful for the project and its further steps. According to all registered feedback and its analysis, it was common ground that, while a lot of entrepreneurs avoid establishing mentoring relationships, often because they are not sure where to start, or they are too proud, or they see it as a waste of time, the MENTEE project helps underline and promote that: - Mentoring is an effective way to support and help business growth - It is important to establish new sustainable networks and ecosystems of resources, inspiration, and collaboration among younger or aspiring entrepreneurs and more experienced mentors/entrepreneurs - Funding institutions may play a significant mediating role in establishing and reinforcing mutually useful synergies among younger or aspiring entrepreneurs and more experienced mentors/entrepreneurs - An active networking platform, promoting entrepreneurship education, mentoring relationships and mutually profitable synergies, needs to ensure and to invest in a userfriendly environment and an effective search engine for entrepreneurial/mentoring profiles. Moreover, the event, as put forward by participants, was useful in many different ways, according to the stakeholder s profile, ie: The young and aspiring entrepreneurs, participants also in the first MENTEE pilot training on the Mentoring Circles methodology and tools, as adapted and enriched according to the national context by knowl S.E., were happy to present their training experience and input on the methodology as well as the online networking platform. Moreover, they capitalized on the multiplier event that was organised in the framework of the MENTEE project, meeting and sharing views with experienced mentors/entrepreneurs and representatives of funding bodies on their business ideas, learning about new business-supportive tools/solutions and examining possibilities for synergies and business partnerships. The mentors/experienced entrepreneurs demonstrated increased interest in learning about the MENTEE Mentoring Circles methodology on face-to-face training sessions, the results and feedback from the pilot trainings as well as the prospects of their participation to the online networking platform, examining novelty-driven solutions, useful for their own businesses. They also had the opportunity to meet young and aspiring entrepreneurs, listen to their aspirations and fresh ideas and exchange views on the prospects of their success. The high-level representative, General Manager, of the renowned funding body Action Finance Initiative, presented the conditions for accessing financing in the form of microcredit to young entrepreneurs and new business ideas, opening up the way for participants to examine their options. Moreover, AFI, being in search of new business support and mentoring models, able to provide groundbreaking services and training to business ideas and/or start-ups selected for funding, found the MENTEE project and its tangible results of high added value to their objectives, building the sustainability and exploitation of the project outputs.

7 Conclusions The significant results that the MENTEE project and partners have already produced, were promoted to targeted, related stakeholders in a very productive way. The main benefit of the event was that MENTEE S Project outputs were welcomed as added value tools and all the participants declared their willingness to follow up the next steps of partners actions. Each participant expressed the willingness to reinforce awareness-raising on the MENTEE project and available results, on the topic of entrepreneurship education as well as the importance of undertake and/or support initiatives promoting entrepreneurial synergies. The 2 nd Multiplier Event aims to attract policy-makers and representatives of business incubators/accelerators alongside aspiring entrepreneurs, experienced mentors and representatives of funding institutions, in view of involving other areas of activity and multiplying project impact and synergies, building the basis of its sustainability.

8 Annexes Annex I: Mentoring Circles & Multiplier Event Invitation

9 Annex IΙ: Photographs STARS Success Yourself workshop // Dissemination Activity

10 Multiplier Event