Training course (EN)

According to the 2017 edition of the OECD report “Missing Entrepreneurs”, people in disadvantaged groups in the EU are still less likely to be involved in business creation and self-employment activities than the mainstream population. The report emphasizes “the need to continue to encourage and support entrepreneurship” and recommends “supporting these groups with entrepreneurship training, coaching and mentoring”. There is a lack of provision in existence to support disadvantaged individuals into entrepreneurship and self-employment.

The Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Adult Education project “ACCESS ENTERPRISE” offers learning resources which support the professional development of new and existing Business Advisers/Educators working with people from marginalised groups including young people, people with mental health issues, people with disabilities, migrants, people from a BME background, people over 50, people from social deprived communities and women in order to help them to access business and self-employment opportunities, and participate fully in society.

The project ACCESS ENTERPRISE is coordinated by Merseyside Expanding Horizons (United Kingdom - UK) with project partners from Spain (Formacion para el disarrollo e insercion, sociedad limitada), Portugal (Aproximar-cooperativa de solidariedade social), Lithuania (SIF -Socialiniu Inovaciju Fondas), Greece (Athens Lifelong Learning institute eastiki mi kerdoskopiki etairia) and Romania (Centru Pentru Promovarea Invatarii Permanente Timisoara Asociatia).

The target groups that will benefit from the project are:

	Professionals: Trainers and Enterprise coaches, supporting the above groups
	People who are disadvantaged based on gender, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion
	Individuals who are excluded from the labour-market

The project‘s results are the following three intellectual outputs:

IO1 State of Art review on Entrepreneurship support and development for marginalised groups mapped the needs of the target groups, current gaps in and barriers to mainstream support and examine existing good practice methodologies. The results of this research showed the need for tailored and person centered training and support packaged for people from marginalised groups.

One of the main aims of the project was developed and produced
IO2 Training Modules and Resources for Business Advisers / Coaches working with people from marginalised groups and training methodology which, through a co-production process (working with Business Advisors and Entrepreneurs from marginalised groups) during the consultation, piloting and strategic positioning of the project, ensure that disadvantaged learners needs are at it’s heart.

IO2 includes the five modules:

• Course Handbook;
• Get to know the entrepreneur;
• Put Idea into Reality;
• Business Planning Tools;
• Step by Step Guide.

IO3 Impact and Assessment, Positional Analysis and Sustainability Report was developed using information and knowledge gained from the piloting phase of IO2 in order to measure the impact and evaluate the Access Enterprise Training Modules and Methodology on two different groups: Business Advisers and the Entrepreneurs themselves as well as to optimize the development of the next steps of the Access Enterprise project.

 

More information about the Access Enterprise project and outcomes may be found on the project website:

https://www.accessenterpriseproject.com/

 

 

Project Coordinator Merseyside Expanding Horizons United Kingdom info@expandinghorizons.co.uk
Formacion para el Desarollo e nsercion Spain info@defoin.es
Aproximar,  Cooperativa de Solidariedade Social Portugal contacto@aproximar.pt
Socialiniu Inovaciju Fondas Lithuania sif@lpf.lt
Athens Lifelong Learning Institute Greece info@athenslifelonglearning.gr
Center for Promoting Lifelong Learning Romania contact@cpip.ro