For the Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow Erasmus+: Sustainability-driven Entrepreneurship Project

WSX Enterprise is currently involved in a number of Erasmus+ projects. Erasmus+ is a European-funded programme operating in the field of education, training, youth and sport. It aims to tackle socio-economic changes and supports the implementation of the European policy agenda for growth, jobs, equity and social inclusion.

Its main cornerstones include:

• fight unemployment amongst young people
• improve social capital amongst young people
• Improving skills amongst adults with low skills
• Adaptation of recent technologies
• Increasing European business’s competitiveness through talent and innovation.

Erasmus+  Project: Sustainability-driven entrepreneurship

Working with 8 European schools, colleges and universities, WSX has developed a training module around sustainable entrepreneurship. Although some of the partners were offering business and entrepreneur study modules in their curriculum, this project was to encourage sustainable business ideas.

After having completed extensive research among the students of the 8 partners, we project partners agreed on the joint learning objectives and developed the learning materials on three different skill levels: understanding, applying, and applying in a complex environment.

Figure 1. Sustainability -Driven Entrepreneurship 6 learning objectives

Apart from covering the steps to start a business, we introduced learning materials around sustainability; what is sustainability, why it is important to introduce this at the business ideation phase and how to evaluate the impact of sustainability on businesses.

The module’s materials were delivered and evaluated by teaching staff and put to practice in an entrepreneur competition in each partner’s country.

WSX Enterprise role

WSX’s role was mainly to support the development of the materials from a start-up point. None of the partners shared the same level of business essentials knowledge, so our background, resources and input were well received and complimentary.

The highlight of the project was the Entrepreneur Hackathon in Gent, Belgium with 120 students from different counties. All students who had been learning about sustainable entrepreneurship in the preceding months were now putting it to the test.

Apart from developing learning materials and teacher handbooks that can now be used in future Start-Up projects, the project also brought together people from different counties, and cultures, with different experiences and skills. New, different ideas and approaches drive enthusiasm, improvement and innovation.

Things to look out for

As part of the teacher’s handbook, our Belgian partners prepared a guide to organise a hackathon. If you would like to see how they organised the night and the accompanying video of the event, please read the teacher handbook guide in the resources section.

WSX Enterprise  

A non-profit organisation WSX Enterprise runs a wide range of projects delivering business support across the South of England as well as working with partners in Europe.  As some examples, our projects support access to finance, digital skills, start-up guidance, and general business advice. Our team includes a wide range of business advisors from a breadth of industry experience supporting small and medium-sized businesses across our region.