The training “Empowering BIH’s Young Entrepreneurs” concluded today. The main purpose of the training was to inform young entrepreneurs from Bosnia and Hercegovina on start-up entrepreneurs, to present them such a supportive environment in Slovenia and to encourage young people to develop their business ideas.

In cooperation with the initiative Start up: Slovenia, more than 20 young people have been invited to Slovenia, who have signed up a total of 9 different business ideas at the competition Podim Challenge. They had to prepare a short presentation of their ideas and five of them were selected and included in a special catalogue of the conference, which was available to all investors who are currently looking for interesting projects. All the participants met many investors during the two-day conference and had the opportunity to present their ideas and also learn from tips and questions from the mentors.

Training began on Wednesday, 13 May 2015, when participants took part in the largest and leading corporate conference in the Alps-Adria Region, PODIM. They actively participated in all lectures, workshops on the topic how to prepare the presentation, search for partners and creating business plans. Active program continued also on Thursday, 14 May 2015, when participants spent most of their time gathering experience by presenting their own ideas, they learned from the other’s mistakes and listened to interesting success stories from around the world.

Participants met on the final day of their training at Jable Castle, where the day began with a greeting from Ambassador Mitja Štrukelj, Head of the Directorate for International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who stressed out Slovenia’s commitment to support the Western Balkans on the road to European integration. His words were supported by the concrete commitments and projects presented by Alenka Košir, from the Department for Enlargement and south-Eastern Europe and Peter Grk, coordinator for the Western Balkans. Deputy Head of Mission from British Embassy in Ljubljana, James Hilton highlighted the importance of social entrepreneurship as a guide for positive change in society. Their work and possibilities for funding of interesting and promising companies were presented by Business Angels club of Slovenia (Klub poslovnih angelov Slovenije), SPIRIT and British government agency UKTI, which is one of the leading models of supportive environment in Europe.

At the end, participants visited the centre Polygon and Technology Park Ljubljana, which is an excellent example of good supportive environment for young people and future entrepreneurs. At the end, conclusion was that the whole training was extremely interesting, useful and important to them personally as well as for the development of their ideas and concepts. An important part of the action was a also an informal networking at the conference and in Ljubljana, as well as understanding and cooperation among the participants.

The project was part of CEP program activities funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Slovenia, from the funds for international development cooperation and with cooperation of British Embassy in Slovenia.

DANES SE JE ZAKLJUČILO USPOSABLJANJE Z NASLOVOM SPODBUJANJE PODJETNIŠTVA MED MLADIMI V BiH

Danes se je na gradu Jable zaključilo usposabljanje z naslovom Spodbujanje podjetništva med mladimi v BiH. Glavni namen usposabljanja je bilo informirati mlade podjetnike iz BiH o start-up podjetništvu, predstaviti tovrstno podporno okolje v Sloveniji in spodbuditi mlade, da razvijajo svoje podjetniške ideje.

V sodelovanju z iniciativo Start up:Slovenija je bilo v Slovenijo povabljenih več kot 20 mladih, ki so skupaj prijavili 9 različnih podjetniških idej na tekmovanje z naslovom Podim Challenge. Pripraviti so morali kratko predstavitev svoje ideje, nato pa so kar pet izmed njih izbrali in jih vključili v poseben katalog konference, ki je bil na voljo vsem investitorjem, ki iščejo zanimive projekte. Tako so mladi v času dvodnevne konference srečali številne investitorje, imeli možnost predstaviti svoje ideje in se hkrati tudi učiti iz nasvetov in vprašanj mentorjev.

Usposabljanje se je pričelo v sredo, 13.5., ko so udeleženci sodelovali na največji in vodilni podjetniški konferenci v regiji Alpe-Adria, PODIM. Aktivno so se udeležili vseh predavanj, delavnic na temo priprave predstavitev, iskanja partnerjev in oblikovanja poslovnih planov. Aktiven program se je nadaljeval v četrtek, 14.5., ko so večino časa namenili nabiranju izkušenj s predstavljanjem svojih idej, se učili iz napak drugih in poslušali zanimive zgodbe in poti o uspehu poslovnežev iz celega sveta.

Udeleženci so se zadnji dan sestali na gradu Jable, kjer so dan začeli s pozdravom veleposlanika Mitje Štruklja, vodje direktorata za mednarodno razvojno sodelovanje in humanitarno pomoč na Ministrstvu za zunanje zadeve RS, ki je izpostavil zavezanost Slovenije k podpori Zahodnemu Balkanu na poti k evropskim integracijam. Njegove besede sta s konkretnimi zavezami in projekti podprla Alenka Košir iz Sektorja za širitev in jugovzhodno Evropo in Peter Grk, koordinator za Zahodni Balkan. Namestnik veleposlanika Združenega Kraljestva v Ljubljani James Hilton je izpostavil pomembnost socialnega podjetništva kot vodila za pozitivne spremembe v družbi. Svoje delo in možnosti za financiranje zanimivih in perspektivnih podjetij so predstavili še Klub poslovnih angelov Slovenije, SPIRIT in britanska vladna agencija UKTI, ki velja za vodilni model podpornega okolja v Evropi.

Udeleženci so si za konec ogledali še center Poligon ter Tehnološki Park Ljubljana, ki sta odlična primera dobrega podpornega okolja za mlade in bodoče podjetnike. Ob zaključku so se strinjali, da je bilo celotno usposabljanje izjemno zanimivo, uporabno in pomembno za njih osebno kot tudi za razvoj njihovih idej in zamisli. Pomemben del dogajanja je bilo tudi neformalno mreženje, tako na konferenci kot v Ljubljani, kot tudi spoznavanje in sodelovanje med udeleženci.

Projekt je del programskih aktivnosti CEP, ki jih financira Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve iz sredstev za mednarodno razvojno sodelovanje in je bil izveden v sodelovanju z Veleposlaništvom Velike Britanije v Sloveniji.