Creative District is a hub of cultural industries based in Brussels, and one of the Spanish Chamber’s hosting companies within the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneur (EYE) programme. The initiative, financed by the European Commission, whose objective is to promote the exchange between entrepreneurs from different European countries.

Creative District was created in 2014 by Aurelie Rompler and Mulenga Royen. Five years later it has become the hub of creative and cultural industries and new media of Brussels. Since then, they have developed several lines of work inside the company: property management, training, coworking spaces, projects solutions and services, new media management and professional and cultural events. Developing a network of professional and artist to give a global solution to their clients.

Simone Lopez is a journalist and public relations with a wide experience marketing and social media. A few months ago, she decided to come to Brussels to develop her business idea, collaborate with an experienced entrepreneur and learn the different challenges that an event management company faces.

The Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs has given them the opportunity to pair up in this win-win collaboration whereby both have discovered new markets, business partners, and different ways of doing business.

¿A normal day at the office?

In the events management sector does not exist such a thing. Aurelie and Simone explain that every day is different, and workflows vary from one month to the other. For the first weeks, they worked on understanding each other’s work and ways of working.

This period was really fulfilling for them for this reason they think the EYE has been successfully personally and professionally.

Now they are immersed in the events period. They are organizing different events around the city: concerts, afterworks, launching albums events… but there is one they are especially excited about…an haute coiffure show.

Once the peak of work is over, Simone will help Aurelie with the marketing and communication strategy for Creative District, designing the website and promoting the company’s activities through social media and with the objective of increasing the visibility and the attraction of potential clients.

After the exchange

The Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs gave them the opportunity to meet but they both trust that they will keep in touch.

Aurelie thinks there is a space for the internationalization of Creative District in Spain.

After this experience in Belgium, Simone’s ambition is to come back to Spain and continue working on her conscious weddings company Boda Consciente. A new concept of weddings: simple, relaxed, without labels or protocols. “A soul ceremony organized in natural locations: beaches or forests in the region of Malaga”.

The EYE reinforced her ability to find the balance the client’s requirements and her know-how to organise the perfect event.

Discover more about the EYE.

Contact us to register in the programme. erasmus4youngentrepreneurs@e-camara.com

Last 7^th of May the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg received the visit of a group of entrepreneurs from the European Business and Innovation Centre (CEEI) of Burgos.

Marta González, Membership and Business Development Manager presented the activities and functions of the Chamber, highlighting the organization of events and the role of the Chamber as an actor for the dynamization of trade between the three countries.

Subsequently, Arturo Ibañez, Project Manager of the EYE programme (Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs) in the Chamber, explained this European programme, its benefits and the facilities that the Chamber offers to participate on it.

The students had also the opportunity to present their projects and receive feedback on the possibility to commercialize their products and services in Belgium and/or Luxembourg.

Last 18th and 19th of March the Chamber participated in the 23rd Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) Network Meeting organized in Brussels.

In 2019 the EYE programme celebrates its 10^th anniversary, and this event was a good opportunity to review the achievements of this ambitious EU initiative searching to promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences among European entrepreneurs.

Since its launch in 2009, the EYE programme has helped to facilitate more than 7.000 collaborations between new and experienced entrepreneurs across the EU, enabling over 14.000 entrepreneurs to benefit from this EU-funded programme.

The Chamber is one of the 194 contact points all around Europe managing the programme and has recently renewed its participation until 2021. The Chamber has been managing this initiative since 2016 and has concluded more than 40 exchanges in these three years.

The young entrepreneur Antoine Blondiaux, new participant in the European programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) through the Chamber.

Antoine is an ambitious Belgian entrepreneur who has the objective of launching his project DeliveShip, an innovative online shopping solution for seamen. After working for several multinationals, Antoine decided to start developing his own project motivated by the opportunities offered by this market. The next step is now to validate his business idea with an experienced entrepreneur in the sector.

The host entrepreneur chosen by Antoine to carry out the exchange is Alejandro Madico, owner of the Spanish company Madico&Villaroel, located in the surroundings of the port of Valencia. Madico&Villarroel is a family-owned business specialized in the retail market for maritime travelers with more than 30 years of experience in the sector.

Antoine has now the objective to continue working on his project supported by the experience of Alejandro and benefiting from doing his exchange in Valencia, city with the second most important port of Spain in terms of traffic. On the other hand, this exchange will allow the host entrepreneur to broaden his network in Europe and to get new insights from the new entrepreneur.

The exchange between Antoine and Alejandro will last 2 months. It will be an excellent opportunity for both entrepreneurs to share their experience, move forward with their projects and explore potential collaborations.

The past 2^nd and 3^rd of October the Chamber participated in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Network Meeting, where the different contact points of the programme, the support office and the European Commission had the opportunity to meet for two days to discuss the progress and the future of the programme.

During the meeting, the representatives from the European Commission confirmed the continuity of the programme for the next programming period 2021 – 2027 and their ambition to continue consolidating the programme by increasing the budged.

They also reaffirmed their commitment to continue expanding the programme to other countries. Kosovo has been the last country to join and this year was also launched a pilot project to extend it to Israel, USA and Singapore.

On the second day, a consortium meeting was organized to define the priority lines of actions for the coming year.