REPORT ON FRIST TRAINING “Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship”
REPORT
S.E.E.D. – Social Entrepreneurship Education Development Project
First Training - “Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship”
Report prepared by: Mila Kjurchinska
Date: 01-05 February 2021
Location: Online via Zoom
Participants:
· High school students and teachers from “Rade Jovchevski Korchagin”,
· “Prva Sushachka Hrvatska Gimnazija”
· Gymnasium of Lizdeika
· three volunteers from ARNO
· one from “Go Green”-Belgium.
In total, more than 40 people coming from 4 different countries
Report Summary
The Social Entrepreneurship Education Development project contains four international trainings, four international meetings, as well as local activities. The first training named Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship took place from 1st till 5th of February 2021 via the online platform Zoom because of the pandemic. In total, participated 34 students (30 of which were from the schools, 3 from ARNO, and 1 from Go Green) along with 10 accompanying people from 3 high schools from 3 different countries (Macedonia, Croatia, and Lithuania) participated. The goal of the training was to introduce the students to the terms of SE and CSR, along with developing creative business ideas and solutions. The students were encouraged to think outside the box and learned that with proper preparation and good grounds every business no matter how small can make a difference. models. SEED project seeks to educate and empower students and suggests that those who pursue social, environmental, and economic value will be considered the entrepreneurs of the 21st century. The project upgrades its objectives by providing a safe space for the students to run Virtual Social Enterprises and empowers them to receive and boost their employability skills by being leaders in organizing events in real life: organizing meetups with successful (Social) Entrepreneurs from their community, Silent Auctions, and Talent Shows for Fundraising, community mobilization as sustainability approach (establishing ALUMNI networks at school), etc.
1. The first day began with a brief introduction about the project and its goals followed by a few fun energizing activities that encouraged the students to introduce themselves and share their interests. After that followed a short discussion on the topic of SE and CSR, that was presented by Irina Janevska the President of ARNO and brought attention on how much the students were familiar with those terms. More information on the topic were provided with the presentation by Katleen Van Waeyenberge & Koen Van Hee that represented Binario. Hey founded Binario in 2010 with the goal to share their experience as Consultants and encourage people to make a difference in this world. They shared their story on how they create programs that raise awareness for the power each individual holds, as well as putting it all in good use and encouraging organizations and social entrepreneurs to make a positive contribution to society. The term Social enterprise was more thoroughly explained along some examples for some SE companies such as:
· the skateroom
· redo papers
· mobileschool
· permafungi
2. The second day started with a presentation on Conscious Leadership and Sustainability presented by one of the Epic Humans Collective founders, Klementina Dukoska, that has great experience with leading multi-million-dollar projects as well as consulting sustainable nonprofits and startups. The collective aims to help startup founders reach their full potential while creating a purpose-driven business. During the presentation, most attention was brought up to where humanity stands, how our surroundings and society influence our development, and most importantly what can we do as humans and as individuals. A discussion followed and then after the short break Klemetina explained how one can find “the sweet spot” which is crucial for successful development for one’s business idea, as well as tips on how to discover, solidify and validate the very same one. The meeting was concluded with a thorough explanation about the homework the students had for the following day. Their homework was to select a business idea (with the help of the previously provided tips on finding the best one that would fit their talents, passions, core ideas) and record a 1-3-minute-long video that would later be posted on social media for feedback from the audience.
3. Abel Alan Diaz Gonzalez opened the third day with his presentation on The business models and financial challenges of SE: insights from the Belgian Ecosystem. As a Ph. D candidate at VUB, that researches the supportive function of the SE ecosystem in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Belgium, his work has been shown at conferences worldwide. Abel reviews conferences, journals, organizes events, and is co-founder of the Belgian enterprise Equalisi BVBA that aims to support Latin American entrepreneurs and help them grow. The students found out about the reasons for the emergence and creation of innovative ideas by social enterprises that lead to resolving the most pressing social and environmental issues. After that, they were introduced to the main challenges that entrepreneurs face and how they affect the ecosystem. Additional explanations on how the ecosystem works followed, which led to a brief discussion. After the break, Aliona Lis stepped up. She is a SE expert that helps in building capacity for civil society organizations while designing and implementing projects for various world-changing causes. She coordinates projects such as SE incubator (Biz4All) and SAP up, mentors and trains social entrepreneurs, also helped the founding of ODB Brussels. Aliona introduced the students to the term MVP – Minimum Viable Product alongside its importance for one social enterprise. The students were able to get a clear image of what a good MVP is thanks to the various good and bad examples that they were given. After the presentations, the students were separated into 3 breakout rooms on Zoom. Each of the schools had a group and they were working with one of the 3 students that participated on the behalf of ARNO. Then they were given instructions for the assignment for the following day, which was to discuss their individual ideas along with the feedback they got from their social media and come up with a group idea (or a few) for a Virtual Social Enterprise. After the creation of the ideas, the teams were supposed to continue with further development of the very same ones.
4. High school teacher Tatjana Golcheva brought up the topic of student-run enterprise companies. As a passionate teacher that supports her students, she has a lot of experience with various programs, tutoring/mentoring students, and preparing them to run their own businesses. Proof of that are not only the numerous student-run companies of her students but also the award she received for the best entrepreneurship teacher from the Junior Achievement program. Information such as how a student-run company is created, how it’s supposed to be run, the teamwork and creativity it takes as well as the responsibilities it carries, were provided and backed up by the first-hand experience she has. Monika Rizoska jumped in right after the break sharing her journey from idea to implementation. As a co-founder of Ways2Help and founder of WeBond, she has great experience in the IT industry, marketing, sales, human resources, project management in NGOs and various student organizations. She’s a Women in tech Ambassador and was appointed as one of two most inspiring successful women in Southeast Europe for 2019, and has taken participation in 54 international tech events, workshops, conferences as a judge, mentor, public speaker on various topics with great significance. The story of ways to help helped the students understand the dedication and motivation it takes, the roadblocks that might occur on the way to success along with some tips and tricks, lessons for a smoother running a social enterprise. After following through with her story, the students were once again separated into groups to finish the work from the previous day and prepare for presenting their ideas on the last day.
5. The last day was dedicated to the presentation of the ideas that the 3 groups had come up with. Each group had enough time to present and after each presentation followed a discussion that provided feedback from the rest of the students. The great presentations were followed by a break and after that, the moderators of ARNO took over and shared evaluation forms. After the students wrote about their experience, there was a conclusion to the project with a sum up of the reflections, as well as the next steps that are following.
Evaluation form results and questioner
The students were given the opportunity to talk about their experience with this part o the project and give feedback as well as comments and criticism on the overall execution of the training.
There were 3 questions to which the participants in the project could give their full and honest opinion. The questions were:
1. What elements of the training would you keep? And tell us what did you like the most?
· I like everything about this project - atmosphere, people, every one of you is so amazing, so friendly and I feel welcome here. I just want to say thank you for this opportunity. I would keep everything it was amazing and I can’t wait for next time to see all of you. I really can be myself here and I can spend time with people and learn so much more about the things that I am interested in.
· The team was really great, everyone was so nice and cheerful that I’m sorry we couldn’t see each other live. The schedule was well organized.
· The way that the training is presented (through presentations, songs, great atmosphere...). I liked that there is always room for questions and feedback!
2. What would you change? And tell us why!
· Maybe include more exercises with interaction in the presentations, all in all, everything was great.
· Just to have maybe longer breaks, start at 9, have a half-hour break and end at the same time.
· I would like to us meet in person, so we can travel, meet each other, hang out and learn
· together in reality, not by webcams… But you can’t do anything about that it depends on Covid situation... :)
3. Do you have any additional comments for improvement of the entire project? Feel free to write your opinion; it does matter to us, this is one of the ways how we can design the next trainings.
· You guys were awesome. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you for being patient and open with us and our ideas we all feel very welcomed by all of you!
· Maybe we should have more options to communicate with each other. This was great. It`s not easy to make interactive workshops online so I think that you organize them perfectly in these conditions. I learned a lot. You found excellent people with a lot of experience and knowledge for presentations. I`m very happy that I am part of this project. Thank you for everything.
There was also a survey and from the results and feedback, it can be concluded that the participants are overall satisfied with the first training of the SEED project. We can see the results in the following diagrams
