online Business and e-cOmmerce cOaching for increasing entrepreneurShip among youTh Erasmus Project

Project Title

online Business and e-cOmmerce cOaching for increasing entrepreneurShip among youTh

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

CONTEXT
Youth entrepreneurship, especially youth start-up companies are an essential part of EC’s priorities for the attainment of a sustainable and durable European economy growth. BOOST4youth aims to empower young entrepreneurs with the digital skills and knowledge required in order to help them run and manage a digital businesses successfully and effectively. The BOOST4youth project concerns a complete training program for digital entrepreneurship of youth companies, mainly start ups complemented by smart use of ICT for reduction of operating costs and cross border business activity leading to increase in competitiveness.

The beneficiaries of BOOST4youth, male/female entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 35 have:
– improved their knowledge and skills;
– acquired new skills;
– continued their personal or professional development.

OBJECTIVES
The project aspires to help entrepreneurs to improve their skills and knowledge about issues concerning digital entrepreneurship (e.g. Digital Marketing, e-Commerce, etc.). The objective is not to look into digital entrepreneurship or e-Business/e-Commerce concepts in a vacuum, but address them in direct relation to the adoption of proven digital practices and tools as “healthy” online entrepreneurship that drives revenues and reduces operating costs. Therefore, sustainable financial management cannot be isolated from uses of ICT.

PARTICIPANTS
The partnership comprises 6 partners from 6 countries. A digital strategy agency and an educational software provider, both active in software development for commercial purposes and with their own products and services, a private business school (HE) with focus on youth and woman entrepreneurship and an innovation hub, two VET organisations delivering training around ICT related subjects and with significant experience in youth projects and a technical consultancy and staff sourcing company with primary research in personalised ICT-enabled E&T and digital marketing coaching.

ACTIVITIES
The BOOST4Youth partnership designed, developed, tested, implemented, and disseminated an innovative training framework (modular training course along with online and conventional training materials facilitated by an innovative tools, the Digital Strategy Genie that has supported and will support in the future as well, the in-service training and up-skill of the target groups.

METHODOLOGY
The project methodology can be summarised as follows:
– A comparative analysis from a critical viewpoint of the current state of play of e-Business practices from youth start ups in partner countries (analysed at proposal level initially) and the identification of winning practices (digital strategies, e-Commerce) in these countries.
– The validation of the needs of youth entrepreneurs from partner countries in relation to knowledge and skills for implementing the winning practices and identifying and defining the Digital Entrepreneur profile.
– Elaboration of a training methodology and a set of strategies for youth businesses.
– Elaboration of a list of actions to be implemented by youth businesses for materialising each strategy.
– Design and development of the Digital Entrepreneur Course (DEC) to support the implementation of the actions.
– Localisation of the strategies, actions and content.
– Implementation of the ECVET tools.
– Design of the Online Sales Strategy Genie to personalise the strategies at the level of individual start up and deliver the actions for materialising each strategy.
– Deployment, set-up and configuration of the Genie
– Training a number of appointed instructors/trainers to the methodology, course and delivery tools.
– Organisation of pilots.
– Processing of the results.

RESULTS
The outcomes produced during the life of the project are:
– Digital Entrepreneur Course (DEC): instructor led and e-Learning
– Online Sales Strategy Genie: personalisation of training paths
– ECVET tools for the Young Digital Entrepreneur

LONG TERM BENEFITS
Entrepreneurs that have participated in the project are in the position to implement digital strategies at their business which will ensure sound financial management, reduction of operating costs, increase of revenues through eBusiness resulting to less business failures.

A complete repository comprising all deliverables produced is available online:
http://repository.erasmusplus.website/boost4youth/Final/
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EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 157411 Eur

Project Coordinator

CIVIC COMPUTING LIMITED & Country: UK

Project Partners

• CCS DIGITAL EDUCATION LIMITED
• ASSERTED KNOWLEDGE OMORRYTHMOS ETAIREIA
• A & A Emphasys Interactive Solutions Ltd
• DANMAR COMPUTERS SP ZOO
• VISOKA POSLOVNA SKOLA PAR