Young Entrepreneurs Organization of the European Union - JEUNE - REPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF JEUNE UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF PATRIK KOVÁCS IN 2014 Dear members of JEUNE, We are happy to announce the report about the activities of the first year of the presidency of Patrik Kovács following his election at the end of April 2014. It contains all the highlighted news and events of the past seven months. New members have joined our community, JEUNE and the European young entrepreneurs were represented worldwide and also our members were very active at an international level as well. We can proudly say that JEUNE is stronger than ever and there has not been any young entrepreneurship association in the history of the European Union that could match our reach and integrity. The overall reach of the network of JEUNE surpasses 1,660,000 young European people interested in entrepreneurship. There are member organizations from 18 countries of Europe, and this number is continuously growing. President Mr. Patrik Kovács is making great progress and a lot of effort to move forward JEUNE towards new dimensions of supporting and representing young people and entrepreneurs throughout Europe. Due to his tireless work JEUNE was represented at several international events and submitted new applications to move forward the support of entrepreneurial-minded European youth. Due to the enthusiastic engagement of our members and also of our partners we are anticipating a very fruitful 2015! -1-
REACHING 1,66 MILLION PASSIONATE YOUNG EUROPEAN PEOPLE Azerbaijan Bulgaria Croatia Denmark France Greece Hungary Italy Macedonia Moldova Russia Poland Romania Serbia Slovakia Spain Turkey -2-
Summary of JEUNE Activities in 2014-3-
JEUNE in Brussels President Patrik Kovács met with Henri Malosse, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on his first official visit to discuss the state of youth unemployment in Europe and to talk about possible points of further cooperation. Patrik Kovács met with Peter Faross, Secretary General of UEAPME and initiated new discussions about setting a new basis for the cooperation between the two organizations. Patrik Kovács met with Neelie Kroes, Vice-president of the European Commission in Brussels during the Unconvention 2014 conference and discussed the importance of young entrepreneurs in times of economic uncertainty and in fighting the youth unemployment crisis. JEUNE published a Press Release on the occasion. JEUNE has been registered in the Transparency register of the European Parliament, has been officially recognized as a lobby organization, and gained permanent access to the EP. Patrik Kovács with Henri Malosse, President of EESC With Neelie Kroes, Vice-president of EC -4-
JEUNE Projects JEUNE participated and submitted several projects in 2014. Youth in Action: Non-formal Business Project The project has begun in 2013 under the presidency of Florin Jianu. In 2014 JEUNE organized a promotion event in Brussels for presenting the publications which contains the assembled knowledge and best-practices concerning young entrepreneurship education and business development. YES Macedonia JEUNE participates in the YES Network project led by JEUNE member YES Foundation in Macedonia. JEUNE held a 3-day workshop in Skopje and produced training materials for the participants. StartUp Europe Roadshow JEUNE cooperated with European Young Innovators Forum (EYIF), Young Entrepreneurs Association of Romania (PTIR) and FIVOSZ - Young Entrepreneurs Association Hungary in the promotion of the European-wide event series, and opened two of the national workshops in Bucharest and Budapest. JEUNE also submitted new projects in 2014: PROYE CEE Promoting youth employment in CEE by improving the representation of young entrepreneurs in industrial relations Social Partners and young entrepreneurs associations for a successful business transfer in CEE - BUSINESS TRANSFER Both project applications were submitted to DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion in a consortium with several other Central- and Eastern European non-governmental organizations, and also with JEUNE members. Erasmus+ Program JEUNE submitted an application which might provide financial support for having a permanent office in Brussels and to hire a full-time working Secretary General who will stay in Belgium and represent JEUNE. -5-
Joining new members Four new members joined us during 2014: Innovative Youths from Malta Young Entrepreneurs Denmark Young Entrepreneurs Association of Slovakia Center for Entrepreneurship from Russia JEUNE Events 3-day Training workshop in Macedonia in the framework of the YES Network Project Non-formal business education and development publication event in Brussels StartUp Europe Roadshow - Bucharest with PTIR & EYIF StartUp Europe Roadshow - Budapest with FIVOSZ & EYIF & EuCham International Day of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Hungary -6-
JEUNE Advisory Board JEUNE has set up a new Advisory Board to support the work of the Presidency. The JEUNE Advisory Board is a supportive organizational body of respected entrepreneurs, economic players, policy-makers, and acclaimed companies who share the values of JEUNE, eager to support the next generation in the economy and do care about the future by giving their names to its mission. The main function of the Board is to provide reliable knowledge, information and advises on both strategic and concrete issues which can enhance the visibility, feasibility, functioning, international embedding/networking and cohesion of the organization. The Head of the Advisory Board is Michele Orzan, President of the European Chamber (EuCham) CEE. JEUNE meetings in 2014 General Assembly in Bucharest Administrative Council in Bucharest (election of the new President) Presidency meeting in Brussels General Assembly meeting in Budapest Administrative Council Meeting in Budapest -7-
JEUNE Partnerships and external relations JEUNE has begun a cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) to organize a conference in Brussels in 2015 JEUNE cooperated with European Young Innovators Forum (EYIF) - in the organization and promotion of the StartUp Europe Roadshow JEUNE signed cooperation agreement with FIJE - Iberoamerican Federation of Young Entrepreneurs. JEUNE signed cooperation agreement with Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES) Philippines Fiatal Vállalkozók Országos Szövetsége JEUNE cooperated with FIVOSZ - Young Entrepreneurs Association Hungary to organize the International Day and the ceremonial gala dinner of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Hungary. -8-
JEUNE Worldwide President Patrik Kovács and Michele Orzan, Head of the JEUNE Advisory Board met with Victor Sedov, President of the Russian Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE) in Moscow. During the meeting Patrik Kovács and Victor Sedov discussed the experiences and future opportunities of supporting young entrepreneurship. President Patrik Kovács met with Daniel Fabricius, President of Young Entrepreneurs Denmark on 10th of July and discussed the possible ways of cooperation and transferring know-hows in helping young people of Denmark in venturing into entrepreneurship. President of JEUNE met with Ján Solík, President of the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Slovakia (ZMPS/ YEAS) at the end of May, and talked about the European conditions and opportunities of young entrepreneurship. For enhancing the voice of JEUNE and to provide help with a European wide network for the Slovakian young entrepreneurs they agreed in joining JEUNE. JEUNE was invited to and represented on the following conferences: National Conference of Young Entrepreneurs in Morelos, Mexico, organized by COPARMEX Entrepreneurship Summer School 2014 in Moscow, which was organized by the Moscow State University of Mechanical Engineering (MAMI) G20 Young Entrepreneurs Summit in Sydney, Australia Bled Strategic Forum, Bled, Slovenia Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2014 (GES2014), Bangalore, India Unconvention 2014, Brussels, Belgium -9-
JEUNE Publications JEUNE was co-publisher of the official brochure about best-practices and socio-economic conditions of young entrepreneurship development and business education compiled in the YIA Non-formal business project. JEUNE published two new introductory materials, a textual and a graphic brochure about the organization. In the framework of the YES Network Project JEUNE created 3 training documents and manuals concerning network building. JEUNE published a Press Release concerning the latest trends in Brussels concerning youth policy and employment issues and the nominations of the new European Commissioners. JEUNE built up and launched a new website which provides detailed information about all the member organizations and communicates news regularly. Plans for 2015 In 2015 JEUNE will continue its mission to enhance the support and visibility of entrepreneurialminded young Europeans. This year JEUNE will: (co-)organize at least 6 events 1 4 2 3 publish at least 6 new publications organize at least 5 meetings with members enlarge the community with new members -10-
Any questions and comments you may have please do not hesitate to contact us! Young Entrepreneurs Organization of the European Union - JEUNE - 4, Rue Jacques de Lalaing, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium secretariat@jeune-europe.org www.jeune-europe.org -11-