the youngbusiness.net Central European project Mark 2

Find out about our project building further on the development of the first network of youth enterprise incubator centres in Central Europe

Youngbusiness.net (YBN) is an initiative launched by Wandsworth Youth Enterprise and its Partners to develop and promote good practice in the field of youth enterprise development. The YBN programme help’s young people decide if a career in self-employment is right for them and to provide practical support to those who wish to explore the self employment option and set up their own businesses.

“As the globalisation of the world’s economies continues in an increasingly competitive and fast-moving economic environment, the challenges facing young people in Central and Eastern Europe have never been greater. If they are to meet these challenges, the need for them to be enterprising and acquire flexible, transferable skills is ever more important, both for the young people themselves and the wider communities in which they live. There is clearly a need to provide young people with a range of alternative career options and the skills and support to take advantage of these choices. The self-employment option is important for young people now and is set to be of even greater importance in the future.

However, starting up a new business can be very daunting for a young person with limited life experience and resources. This can be particularly difficult and challenging if they live in a country or region where there is little or no existing ‘enterprise culture’ or support. It is therefore important to establish sustainable enterprise programmes that encourage young people to develop an entrepreneurial approach, while providing them with the support they need to explore the option of self-employment and set up viable businesses.”
Quotation from Youngbusiness.net project – Central Europe Stage One

Founding Principles

The founding principles underpinning youngbusiness.net were developed by Wandsworth Youth Enterprise (WYE). WYE was established in the United Kingdom in 1988 in response to growing problems of unemployment, social exclusion and lack of opportunity for young people in South West London. It was here that the concept of a totally integrated youth enterprise programme was developed, offering solutions to the socio-economic barriers preventing young people integrating with local or regional labour markets through self-employment.

The programme consists of a wide range of services, from intensive outreach activities, dedicated one to one counselling (using a specific methodology), business skills workshops and training courses, to office services and subsidised business premises. This comprehensive ‘all in one’ package of support for the young entrepreneur has been shown to increase dramatically the chances of their businesses surviving during the critical first two years of trading.

The Secret of Success

The secret of success is simple.  Let young people decide for themselves what they want to do and how they want to go about doing it, while providing guidance,  advice and resources through an integrated package of practical support.  This client-centred approach really does work – as many people and organisations all over the world have seen for themselves.  A unique mix of therapeutic counselling disciplines has been adapted to be delivered within a business counselling context enabling the personal needs of young people to be supported - while unleashing the entrepreneurial potential to develop their business ideas and businesses.

The beginning of youngbusiness.net

WYE first started working in Central Europe in 1996, when the Budapest Business Polytechnic Secondary School became interested in WYE’s methods and asked for help in developing similar provision in Hungary. This resulted development of the first Youth Enterprise Incubator Centre in Central and Eastern Europe.  This was supported through funding from the EU’s Phare Partnership fund. 

Youngbusiness.net – Central Europe (YBN1)

Since then project work supported by the UK Big Lottery Fund (formally the Community Fund) extended the work to other areas in Hungary and Slovenia.  This was stage one of the Central European youngbusiness,net programme which ran from 1999 to 2002. WYE has been working to spread information about its methods and techniques both in the UK and abroad.   So there is also YBN- UK Programme, supported by the Big Lottery, and currently operating in the UK with 6 projects around the UK.

Youngbusiness.net – Central Europe (YBN2)

Now stage two of Youngbusiness.net Central European Project (YBN2) aims to carry forward the work with more Partners and develop new approaches to encouraging youth enterprise, so that comprehensive services for young people wanting to become entrepreneurs can be further developed in Central Europe.  YBN2 is supported by the EU’s Leonardo Programme, the Commission’s main instrument to encourage the spread and development of vocational training and education techniques throughout the European Union.  Funding stated in October 2004 and runs until March 2007. 

The YBN.2 Programme funded through Leonardo is divided into 4 areas of work (or “Work Packages”) which aim:

	To further develop enterprise provision for young people in those centres that have it already, and to help new centres develop their provision.
	Similarly to develop enterprise learning for school students, and develop new links with schools where none exist already.
	To accredit standards in enterprise training, counselling, incubation and learning.
	To set up a Central European Youth Enterprise Society to carry forward the work of refining and disseminating youth enterprise techniques and methods once the present Leonardo Funded project ends.

Central European Partners are:

	The Budapest Business Polytechnic Secondary School/Youth Enterprise Centre – BYEC.  The Business Polytechnic/BYEC is once again working with WYE to extend the number of centres in Central Europe able to offer a full range of youth enterprise services, incliuding incubation.
	The Neumann Janos Vocational School/NIVAK in Eger, Hungary, which took part in YBN.1 is also a Partner in the new programme sharing its knowledge and experise with other centres.
	The Vak Bottyan Vocational School/MIVAK in Gyongyos, Hungary, is new to the programme, but brings valuable experience of vocational enterprise learning techniques so that young people can be helped all the way through from school to becoming entrepreneurs themselves.
	The Regional Development Agency (RDA) in Rimavska Sobota in Slovakia is also new and keen to take advantage of Slovakia’s drive to develop incubators by ensuring that there is complementary enterprise education, training and counseling services for young people.
	The Malopolska Development Agency (MARR) in Krakow,  Poland, has also joined the programme to complement its support of SMEs in the Malopolska Region and help develop enduring vocational entreprise skills among young people locally.

More information about them can be found under “About the YBN.2 Partners” below:

About the YBN.2 Partners

It is a truism to say that the essence of the YBN.2 Programme is the Partnership that underlies it.  The aim is to grow this Partnership so that more bodies concerned to encourage enterprise among young people can take advantage of the methods honed and tested through YBN.  For the present, the 5 Central European Partners of the programme are:

The Budapest Youth Enterprise Centre (BYEC). BYEC was founded in 1996 on the same site, and is closely integrated with, the Budapest Polytechnic Grammar and Secondary School of Economics.  It became fully operational in 1999 and was the first youth enterprise centre in Central Europe adapted from the WYE model.  After 7 years successful operation, it offers young people aged 18-30 who want to start their own businesses, a comprehensive programme of support from initial awareness training to enterprise counselling and incubator units.  In particular the Centre pays attention to the needs of young peoplemdisadvantaged through unemployment, gender and ethnic background.  BYEC and WYE worked together on the YBN.1 programme spreading knowledge about youth enterprise to other areas in Hungary and Slovenia.  In the present programme, BYEC has sought to share its experience and techniques with the “new” Partners through training and business weeks, and through the dissemination of materials.

The Neumann Youth Enterprise Centre (NIVAK) in Eger, Hungary, was opened in 2000 as part of the Neumann Janos Vocational School.  It developed its youth enterprise services following counselling and training programmes adapted from WYE’s model during the YBN.1 Programme.  It now has 16 business units dedicated to supporting young people in terms of incubators, offices and workshops.  On the basis of  4 years successsful operation, it is now working with the “new” YBN.2 Partners to share its experience and disseminate its enterprise counselling techniques.  It has worked particulaly closely with MIVAK and the RDA in Rimavska Sobota on training trainers and has developed a Partner Support programme for Partners new to WP2 about the elements of vocational education.

To these 2 established Partners, are joined 3 “new” Partners:

	The Vak Bottyan Secondary School of Technics and Economics (MIVAK) is one of the largest schools in Gyongyos, Hungary, with 700 pupils between 15 and 20.  It provides education and training in economics, and also plays a significant part in local adult education.  It is now developing its youth enterprise services so these can complement the vocational education provided.  It is keen to concentrate on the practical side of the theoretical professional education that it already provides, because pracical provision is generaly lacking in Hungary; here it is looking to the YBN programme to introduce practical enterprise training and counselling techniques into its curriculum of basic voactional subjects such as economics, business economics and Student Office Practice.
	The Regional Development Agency (RDA) of the Gemer-Malohont Region of Slovakia. The RDA was set up in 1994 as a non-profit organisation to help the economic and social development of the area.  It aims to support local businesses, assist new entrepreneurs and provide know-how and best practice to secure business survival rates.  It has good, close, links with NIVAK in Eger, and these led to the RDA expressing interest in WYE’s youth training and counselling methods and joining the YBN.2 programme. An e-incubator has already been launched, and plans are under way to find funding for a full youth incubator.
	The Malopolska Agency for Regional Development (MARR) was established in 1993 to further the development of the Malopolska Region through a varity of measures including especially support for SMEs.  MARR has taken part in a number of international business start-up projects, and approached WYE for help in developing youth enterprise services including business counsellors and incubation premises.  It has particularly good links with the local Board of Education and has started promoting enterprise in local schools with an emphasis on helping physically disabled students.

Finally there is the sixth Partner, WYE itself.  Information about WYE is included at the start of this web page, and also on WYE’s own web page at www.wyec.org.uk.