Description

Our challenge aims at finding a solution to foster entrepreneurial mind-sets, innovation and business creation among frail target group facing the greatest difficulties in finding employment (long-term job seekers, women, immigrant, NEETs generation).
The deep socio-economic changes in global efforts are leading to equally profound changes in the employment market so far known: strong instability due to the quick technological evolutions, relocation of companies, raising of the retirement age and blockade of turn-over, proliferation of short-term employment contracts, etc.
One of the consequences is that steady jobs are becoming increasingly rare, especially for the most disadvantaged populations. Now more than never, job seekers must demonstrate strong adaptation capacities throughout their professions.
Entrepreneurship represents the relatively more relevant and transversal phenomenon in the panorama of contemporary and future professions. It is a growing phenomenon that crosses the generations, the genres, the economic sectors, the professions, the professions, in the main countries and continents.
Formal Educational systems (Schools, Universities, VET) are investing a lot of energy to offer their students courses of business orientation able to develop entrepreneurial skills (vision, guidance, ability to innovate, adaptation, market-oriented mentality ...).
We believe that this training opportunity must also be offered to the most vulnerable targets group. Job seekers (graduates or not) need to develop and improve these skills, to better meet the expectations of the labour market.

Grameen Italia Foundation (GIF) will support these organizations offering methods and tools already tested on people target, microcredit program implementation and Business Development Services (BDS).

Target

The challenge is in the Metropolitan area of Bologna (Emilia Romagna region), an administrative area of 55 municipalities and 1.009.210 inhabitants, whom 388.367 live of Bologna.
The target group is unemployed people facing the greatest difficulties in finding employment as for example job seekers, unemployed, women, immigrant and NEETs. The challenge is addressed at Social Enterprises and local Organizations dedicated to the social services provision and job placement programs to target group, really interested in offering users a package of services useful to stimulate and support entrepreneurial initiatives.
This challenge is perfectly replicable to any area in which there is a community having the characteristics of our target.is scalable: the area of Bologna would serve as a first step, that could be widened and to and networked with other areas or regions in Italy and the EU that are interested in raising awareness and empowering people to take on an entrepreneurial path.

Competencies

Grameen Italia was born in 2010is a non-profit organization that pursues exclusively social solidarity objectives and has as its main goal the study and the promotion of the microfinance and the microcredit in Italy and Europe. mission is to create employment opportunities and promote social inclusion through the provision of microcredit programs to sectors of the population that are excluded from traditional channels of credit. These services include financial education and coaching for start-ups.

The Grameen Italia’s range of activities,
 microcredit programs planning,
 financial education courses for disadvantages people and families,
 microcredit borrowers tutoring and mentoring,
 business simulation courses for schools and universities
 monitoring and impact assessment.

Leonardo Battista is one of the Team members involved in this project. He worked and lead a Start-up Incubator for the University of Bologna, in Forlì.

Innovation

To better meet the expectations of the labour market and to support this profound social and occupational change in the paradigm, this challenge aims at fostering and facilitating the dissemination of an entrepreneurial and innovation mind-set among the target groups, allowing them to imagine themselves as creators of their jobs.
 Creating a training package focused on the entrepreneurship skills and dedicated to the target;
 Creating a network with private and public stakeholder able to support the target group development business process;
 Organizing meetings/exchanges with entrepreneurs, consultants or experts to improve target group business idea;
 Investing in specialized technical courses to improve target group upskills already oriented toward entrepreneurial business

Commitment

To support the implementation of the solution to this challenge, our organization could provide the following resources:

 Information, data and expertise on the issue: entrepreneurial training courses to frail people target;
 Close cooperation and contacts with the Organizations: meeting, focus-groups with beneficiaries, implementation of Grameen Group Methodology;
 Pro-bono consultancy / coaching of the selected solution providers though our support programs for project holders and start-up creators
 Support the target group during the business setup and development phases Connections to potential partners and Microcredit providers
 Funding for increased support of the SPs or directly to the SPs
 Endorsement and promotion

Grameen Italia is part of the Italian network of Microcredit (ENM), allowing the solution provider to reach easily a grant and being helped in the steps needed for the Grant (Financial training, business plan review and Technical training).

Compliance

No ethical issues are foreseen.