Co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme, this project is implemented by Ascend Consulting in collaboration with Business Impact Lab in North Macedonia, between 15 February and 14 October 2024.
The primary goal of the project is to empower young VET students, recent graduates and social entrepreneurs from both Malta and North Macedonia to drive us towards a more sustainable future. Specifically, by equipping them with the skills and knowledge necessary to identify and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities that can make a positive impact on society.
Dovetailing from here, the main specific objectives of this project are to support:
- Capacity building in the realm of social entrepreneurship and startup creation. Specifically by preparing our target beneficiaries (young VET students, recent graduates and social entrepreneurs) for the challenges and opportunities associated with building truly sustainable businesses from economic, environmental and social perspectives. Hence pursuing triple bottom-line objectives, not just of financial returns for them, but also of greener and more socially supportive communities.
- Cross-Cultural Cooperation by promoting knowledge-sharing and collaboration among participants from both regions.
The project main activities revolved around the implementation of a digital Acceleration Programme for “Boosting Impact Business Skills” along a specific Curricula that was designed and developed in a dedicated experts workshop organised in Malta in April 2024. Check the Curriculum Guidebook here.
In this sense, in March 2024 we launched and widely promoted an Open Call for Participants from Malta and North Macedonia in this Acceleration Programme. Based on the received applications by the closing deadline in April 2024, we selected 10 impact business concepts from each of the two covered countries to be accelerated part of this project and benefit of:
- Free online training & mentoring for 1-2 persons per selected impact business concept
- Free participation in the Demo Day in Skopje for 1 person per selected impact business concept
- Free assistance in creating/enhancing & promoting their brand identity for the top 3 impact business concept
In a Digital Bootcamp style, the Acceleration Program run between mid June and mid September 2024, consisting of weekly group training sessions and individual mentoring provided by a team of 9 international experts, as well as some in-person networking opportunities, including part of an event of Social Entrepreneurs Association Malta.
The Acceleration Program covered the following key topics, as per short videos summarising the learning objectives and implementation approach:
- Testing Ideas and Customer Discovery – overview of learning objectives and implementation approach
- Business Model Canvas – overview of learning objectives and implementation approach
- Go to Market – overview of learning objectives and implementation approach
- Making an Impact – overview of learning objectives and implementation approach
- Storytelling and Pitching – overview of learning objectives and implementation approach
The programme then concluded with a Demo Day in Skopje, North Macedonia, where the trained and mentored impact business entrepreneurs had the opportunity to pitch their business concepts and network with potential investors and collaborators. A total of 21 green and social business concepts were presented (as outlined in this Program Catalogue), with the top three winners being:
- Daniel Vella & Shawn Incorvaja with their Pregju (Malta) – working in the healthy snacks area,
- Mirjana Josifoska – the first Macedonian designer hats brand made from curated textile waste,
- Ballon Chua with his MannaEV (Malta) – advancing electric mobility in the last-mile delivery sector.
However, all participants were winners! All had the opportunity to develop and improve their business planning and pitching skills, their international and inter-cultural networking competencies. Check out this video highlighting the great collaboration spirit we all had!