"In the last ten years unemployment has increased considerably in Europe. Young people are particularly affected. They face even more difficult conditions to enter the labor market. Did you know that the youth unemployment rate is twice the average rate!The Europe 2020 Strategy took up the issue and invested in the subject of entrepreneurship: “To bring Europe back to growth and higher levels of employment, Europe needs more entrepreneurs”.But making young people want to be an entrepreneur is not easy: 40% of young people indicate an interest in entrepreneurship, but only 4% of them actually try it. How can we try to reduce this gap?Numerous measures for youth entrepreneurship have been put in place in recent years: training in project management, financial support, specific incubators, etc. But much remains to be done to improve the social representations of entrepreneurship and success in European culture. According to the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan, “There is a widespread culture that does not recognize or sufficiently reward entrepreneurial efforts and does not celebrate successful entrepreneurs as role models that create jobs and income. To make entrepreneurship the engine of growth in our economy, Europe needs a profound cultural change “. How to react ?
– by deconstructing social representations of entrepreneurship and success,
– by raising awareness and promoting the informal skills of young people in entrepreneurship,
– by creating the confidence of young women in the entrepreneurial adventure
,– by promoting the integration of entrepreneurship awareness and training modules into initial training,
– by learning from European cultural differences on the subject in order to shake up our stereotypes about youth entrepreneurship.This is why we have built a strategic cooperation partnership for innovation within the Erasmus + Youth and Sport program, funded with support from the European Commission. Five organizations from France, Ireland, Greece and Slovenia have looked into the subject to design the Toolbox that we present to you on the project’s website : stopentrepreneurialcliches.comFor who?Ultimate target group: – Young qualified men and women. Educational target group:– Orientation advisors, teachers, directors of organisations of initial trainings,– Counsellors of organisations helping young job seekers.What tools have we designed to improve the situation?Firstly, we conduct a qualitative study to define what are the motivating factors and stereotypes preventing young people from embarking on entrepreneurship. - IO1: We conducted qualitative interviews in France, Greece, Ireland and Slovenia with entrepreneurs who have tried the adventure of young entrepreneurship. From this work, we learned 10 lessons shared in the report ""Europe needs more entrepreneurs, and more young entrepreneurs"". Secondly on the basis of IO1 work, we design a free Toolbox to educate young people about entrepreneurship. These tools can be used by orientation advisors, teachers, counsellors to raise awareness on entrepreneurship potential for youth. - IO2: The Video “10 reasons why young people shouldn’t set up their own company” to dismantle one by one the clichés linked to youth entrepreneurship, giving a voice to those who have started young. - IO3: The Serious Game “Entrepreneurial skills in daily activities” by sharing the life of Lea, Medhi and Max. The ordinary activities of these three young students highlight the informal skills useful in an entrepreneurial adventure. - IO4: The Turnkey Workshop “Entrepreneurship why not me?” to educate young women about entrepreneurship. Because young women are fewer than young men to choose entrepreneurship, it is crucial to make young women aware of the possibilities available to them by trying this adventure. The ""Entrepreneurship, why not me?” is addressed particularly to them, by identifying with female role-models. - IO5: The Educational Ressource Kit for initial training organizations that includes: - A video teaser presenting the project's Toolbox demonstrating the importance of raising young people's awareness of entrepreneurship in order to encourage initial training organisations to integrate the subject into their training courses and to inform them that free tools are available to them. - An educational kit to put the tools in the toolbox into practice - A portfolio of European Good Practices to go furtherTeachers, guidance counselors, integration counselors… here you will find a free Toolbox to raise awareness of entrepreneurship among young people :stopentrepreneurialcliches.com"