Paloma Cantero is the co-founder of YouthProAktiv and one of the Spanish Chamber’s hosting entrepreneurs within the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) program.

This initiative financed by the European Commission, whose objective is to promote the exchange between entrepreneurs from different European countries, put her in contact with Lenka Blichová a brilliant new entrepreneur form Slovakia.

Passionate about leadership and entrepreneurship, six years ago, Paloma created YouthProAktiv with the main aim of supporting proactive individuals ready to invest their talents for the betterment of society and focusing on developing their professional and entrepreneurial skills.

Lenka, after finishing her studies and having different exchange experiences in Spain, was looking for an opportunity less theoretical and more practical about entrepreneurship. Her dream is to create her own company focused on connecting events and non-formal education.

The Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs has given them the opportunity to pair up in this win-win collaboration whereby both will have the opportunity to work together for 6 months.

¿A normal day at the office?

Lenka and Paloma are working on EU projects related to mobilities, mainly Erasmus + projects.

This has given Lenka not only the possibility to have an insight view on entrepreneurship, but also to practice and improve her writing and analytical skills.

Paloma, as an experienced Host entrepreneur, highlights that the program has helped her to develop her leadership skills and to adapt her management style. She is grateful for the contributions of Lenka and Thomas (the former new entrepreneur she worked with) to YouthProAktiv.

If you had to define the EYE program in few words…

Paloma- I would say opportunity, challenge, and innovation.

Lenka- I would say innovation and improvement.

Discover more about the EYE.

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

Riccardo Raffaele Bozano and André De Giorgi are two social entrepreneurs participating in the European program Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) through the Chamber.

Riccardo Raffaele Bozano is the director of Ianus group, a consultancy group who supports innovative entrepreneurs, NGOs, public and private organizations to optimise resources and processes at disposal to maximise benefits and profits in line with the new global trends and needs. He is now working on the creation of an association to support children in Spain and in US.

André De Giorgi is an ambitious Portuguese entrepreneur who has the objective of launching his own football academy to help young adults, boys, girls with or without disabilities to be the best version of themselves. Few months ago, he decided to take part in the EYE program to put in practice all the knowledge he acquired in university.

They found each other through the platform of the program, and now their objective is to work together in Brussels in different projects, so André can better understand the different actors involved in the third sector. This exchange will also allow Riccardo to broaden his network in Europe and US and to get insights from the new entrepreneur.

The exchange between Riccardo and André will last 5 months. It will be an excellent opportunity for both entrepreneurs to share their experience, move forward with their projects and explore potential collaborations.

Last October 9^th, the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg participated in ForumOn, the job fair of the Université Libre of Brussels, introducing the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme.

The event was aimed at students, professors and entrepreneurs of the ULB. Both, students interested in entrepreneurship, and participating entrepreneurs at the fair, were able to get to know more in depth the benefits of the programme.

The Chamber presented the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme to the participants as an opportunity to test their business idea while doing an exchange in a European country with an experienced entrepreneur.

On the 29^th and 30^th of May, the Chamber participated in the consortium meeting for the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) programme. This EC initiative that has been run by the Chamber for 3 years now has the objective to connect entrepreneurs across Europe and to promote the exchange of experiences among them.

The meeting took place in Valencia, city where the two leaders of the consortium are based. 15 partners representing the 10 institutions in the consortium attended the meeting. The event concluded with a dissemination session where future entrepreneurs and potential host entrepreneurs learned about the possibilities in each of the represented countries.

The chamber will be running the programme for 3 more years and this was an excellent opportunity to discuss the future strategy of the partners and the priority lines of actions. The Chamber has considerably increased its number of exchanges; since February 2019 it has managed nearly 15 exchanges between European entrepreneurs.

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