The first days of the project focused on getting the participants to know each other and on creating a friendly atmosphere in order to allow them to debate, discuss and take part in the activities in a safe space. We brought up the topic of what entrepreneurship and youth work means and how to work with young people especially from remote areas. They were also given some tasks to be completed by walking around the city of Rzeszow and by visiting a local business – KWADRAT – a co-working space which focuses on helping start-ups. These activities allowed them to familiarize themselves with the city and to get know the start-up reality of a small city in Poland.


On Tuesday, Bohdan Kamiski, a professional trainer introduced the topic of social economy and the participants, divided in groups, in light of Kamiski’s talk on social economy and their new understanding of the concept, designed start-ups which were useful for the local community.


On Wednesday, by using Open Space Technology participants created and realized their own agenda on entrepreneurship coming up with sessions about NGO work, youth entrepreneurial initiatives, start-ups and marketing and advertisement. On Thursday, the project involved a field trip to Bieszczady Mountains region, where participants could visit the folk museum and Ursa Maior brewery in order to get acquainted with examples of successful local enterprises which promote cultural heritage. The field trip also included a visit in the commercial area of the dam of Solina lake, where many traders are making a living thanks to touristic potential.

On Friday morning, participants met with Ela Szczepaniak who introduced them to an online simulation game in which they managed a travel agency office. In the afternoon, Elsa Daniels, a participant and an ex-European Service Volunteer for INPRO, held a session on media literacy and the ways entrepreneurs are portrayed in different medias and how media subsequently affects the way we think about entrepreneurs. The day was concluded with a session by Tiziano Tomassini, a board member in a partnering association but also youth worker and one of the participants, who showed us how NGOs can influence local policies to help young people to develop their business ideas.


On the last day, participants learned more about the Erasmus+ programme and about the Youthpass. Moreover, they reflected on the ways they benefitted from the training and evaluated the overall success of the project. Besides the training course agenda, participants got a sense of INPRO’s work and had the chance to interact with locals by joining our weekly events such as Open Cinema on Monday and Open Café on Wednesday. During Open Café that week, participants presented and offered some typical food and drinks from their countries to the local community. They also visited our office and discovered the Rzeszow Culture Incubator where we work on daily basis.

Thank you all for making “Business for all” happen:
ERASMUS+
FRSE Poland – National Agency for Erasmus+

Project partners:
Bulgarian Youth Forum from Bulgaria
Agrupamento de Escolas de Vilela from Portugal
Koz-Pont Ifjusagi Egyesulet from Hungary
Otimmc Cluj-Napoca from Romania
Europe Link Centre from Macedonia
Socialas Inovacuas Centrs from Latvia
Young Effect from Italy

Local partners:
Estrada Rzeszowska
Rzeszowski Inkubator Kultury