Today, supporting enterprise is a key social challenge in Poland. It covers both building competences of young people to prepare them to start their own businesses and strengthening the capabilities of existing companies. By its commitment in this field, the Foundation contributes to the growth of Poland's economy and to the advancement of its innovation edge, as well as to the creation of new jobs. When implementing enterprise support projects, we give particular attention to persuading members of the Polish businesses community (both those who want to establish a company and those who are already present in the market) to think globally. A dedicated package of initiatives is aimed at preparing young companies to expand into international markets.
The Hello Entrepreneurship Program is a new ecosystem-building initiative of Ashoka Poland and Citi Foundation. The program partner is the Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. The Program aims to offer support to migrants' social enterprises in Poland so that their talents and hard work could contribute to the public good, as well as to social and economic prosperity of Poland. The program is designed to advance a long-term and comprehensive system of support for migrants in Poland through introducing friendly policies and funding opportunities indispensable for migrants' social enterprises to emerge.
As an applicant to the Hello Entrepreneurship Program you will get:
- A comprehensive three-month long support tailored to your needs and focused on preparing your project for implementation. E.g., together with you, we'll develop a business model of your project, help you to promote it and establish contacts with potential investors and other businesses.
- An opportunity to present your initiative to investors.
- Support from migrants living in other EU countries
Comprehensive support for 10 migrants' projects
The Program will provide comprehensive support to 10 selected migrants' social enterprises. We would like these initiatives to be an example that can be replicated by other migrants in Poland.
Impact on decision-makers and investors
The Program intends to have a positive impact on local and national policymakers with the goal of creating better legal solutions enhancing social entrepreneurship projects created by migrants. We also focus on heightening the interest of investors towards social enterprises of migrants.
Cooperation
The Hello Entrepreneurship Program aspires to respond to real needs of migrants. That is why we will implement it in close cooperation with representatives of migrants' organizations in Poland and individual migrants. The Advisory Board of the Hello Entrepreneurship Program was set up to oversee this process.
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"Business in Women's Hands" is a program addressed to women who want to start a business. With lectures,
training sessions and individual work with mentors, each participant receives assistance for launching a
business.
"Business in Women's Hands" is delivered in alliance with Foundation for Women's Entrepreneurship and with
the support of City of Warsaw Municipal Office and DELab UW (Digital Economy Lab, Warsaw University).
Goals
The idea behind the program is to facilitate the development of a cluster of women's businesses in Warsaw
metropolitan area. From among all the applications submitted, experts choose the future participants of the
program - women with the most interesting ideas for their business, who have the necessary determination and
are ready to take action. For 6 months, they take part in workshops, training sessions and networking
events. Throughout the period, they also receive mentoring from successful business women. Working together
in a cluster is intended to help newly-launched businesses to network, which strengthens their market
position.
Summary
The program consists of three elements: mentoring, training and networking.
- Mentoring
All participants have access to individual consulting sessions with mentors who supervise their
preparations to launch a startup. The mentor's task is to support the mentee in her efforts towards
registering a business, and teach her how to successfully run a business.
Mentor-mentee pairs develop a relationship, with responsibility on the part of the mentor, and motivation
on the new entrepreneur's part, can last far beyond the duration of the program.
- Training
The training program helps participants to develop a business plan, analyse their market and competitors,
acquire necessary marketing knowledge, learn how to finance their business, identify their market target,
choose branding and advertising. Women entrepreneurs learn also to manage their personal image and become
familiar with the mechanisms of launching new products/services.
- Networking
A series of networking workshops offers participants the opportunity to exchange observations, experiences
and business ideas. It also helps them to form partnerships at an early stage of their business activity,
which makes for excellent training for future business partnerships.
As part of the four editions of the program, 169 companies were created. 80% of them successfully operate on
the market.
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