youngbusiness.net 3

YBN.3 Partners:
Click on a partner
for information

Regional Development Agency, Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia
Empowering and supporting students and young unemployed Roma people

Background

The Regional Development Agency (RDA) in Rimavska Sobota was set up in 1994 as a non-profit organisation, to aid the economic and social development of the area. The RDA has already launched an e-incubator and a full-time youth incubator with a full range of training and counselling services.

The RDA’s specific objectives are to create a supportive environment for local business, assist new entrepreneurs, and provide know-how and best practice, in order to secure better business survival rates. Cross-border cooperation with the youth enterprise centres in Budapest and Eger, Hungary, established with support from the EDW team, is a key feature of the RDA’s current development plan.

Partnership with EDW

From its links with the Neumann Youth Enterprise Centre in Eger, Hungary, the RDA learned about the EDW team’s YBN support project and concluded that the comprehensive enterprise model we offer, in terms of training, business counselling and provision of incubators, would be an appropriate model for Rimavska Sobota.

Within the YBN.2 project, led by the EDW team and funded by the European Commission’s Leonardo Da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme, the RDA set up youth enterprise services from scratch, including training and counselling services and incubation. In the YBN.3 project, also funded by the Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme, the RDA, with the support of EDW and the Neumann Youth Enterprise Centre, worked closely with the new Rimavska Sobota incubator to develop its IT services, as well as helping the Moldava nad Bodvou Regional Development Agency to develop it’s youth business incubation programme.

YBN.3 Achievements

In May 2009, the YBN.3 project was nominated for the European Enterprise Awards 2008/2009 and the RDA, which received recognition from the Vice-President of the European Commission, was happy to represent Slovakia at this international event.

In the wake of the world recession, the RDA has become an important partner of the Labour Offices in the Rimavska Sobota region. Their accredited educational material, developed under YBN.3, has been successfully tested on various target groups.

In addition, in the course of the YBN.3 project:

250 enquiries were received, which led to 102 young people attending enterprise education courses;
77 training modules were held;
26 young people attended business counselling;
33 new businesses were established and two young people entered ‘sheltered’ employment. These businesses were awarded grants totalling €114,125;
5 teachers and 16 trainers, who will continue to provide training in entrepreneurship to young people in the Rimavska Sobota region were trained;
The RDA’s activities have focused mainly on young unemployed people, the Roma minority and people with disabilities.

Future Plans

The RDA is keen to improve its training provision for the Roma minority and to play an active role in the newly established Society for the Promotion of Youth Enterprise in Central Europe. Learning from the YBN.3 model, the RDA also aims to link developments in the Rimavska Sobota incubator and in Moldava nad Bodvou, so that a network can be built up to encourage the transfer of knowledge and experience about youth enterprise throughout Slovakia. From its excellent links with local employers’ groups, schools and the District Labour Office, the RDA will also be able to play a central role in the overall dissemination of the YBN.3 project’s outcomes.