HO - Host entrepreneur

 

1. How did you discover EYE?

   I found out about the program from my colleague from our organization and also came across it on social media as someone shared a post about it.
    

2. Why did you choose to participate in this programme? 

   I thought it was a good opportunity to help someone develop some skills they can use later on while they help with our tasks and also a great opportunity to exchange information, skills and experience.
    

3. When did you set up your company? 

   It was officially founded in the end of 2013, but our cooperation of professionals started in 2012.
    

4. How many years of experience do you have? 

   5 years.
    

5. What were your expectations before starting the programme?

   I hoped to share knowledge with a young person, willing to learn and at the same time learn from experience and knowledge of this person. Also to hear different ideas coming from outside and from different perspectives.
    

6. Provide examples of activities carried out by the NE during the exchange (administrative activities, conferences, other)

   Mrs. Mirna Šverko is actively and on a daily basis involved in our activities especially working on our youth programs that we do under ERASMUS+. This involves budgeting activities, preparation of promotional material, selection of participants, preparation of logistics, participation in the program, facilitation and reporting. 

   Also, Mirna is involved in preparation of our local events which she support in terms of logistics, communication and photography.
    

7. What did you learn from the exchange? 

   I’ve learned how to efficiently but naturally communicate with a person under my supervision and also how to delegate tasks, explain them, debrief and provide constructive feedback. Also my English language skills improved.
    

8. How did the NE help?

   Mirna is involved in most of our activities and tasks in a supportive role, learning and contributing in budgeting processes, marketing, organizing, reporting in all the activities we do, from youth programs, to local events, classes and workshops. 
    

9. Are you going to incorporate new ideas and methods proposed by the NE?

   We have already implemented some of the inner processes related to team dynamics that we saw as an improvement and are open to implement as many ideas that came up and will come up as we can.
    

10. How will the exchange benefit the companies? New opportunities: Further partnerships? Cross-border trade? 

    There are already plans in motion for expanding our events to neighboring countries through partnerships that happened with help of Mirna.
     

NE - New entrepreneur

 

1.  Why did you choose to participate in the programme? 

   The program seemed great chance to see how business is conducted in abroad NGO dealing with events and Erasmsus+ programs. What attracted me the most was the fact that I would be involved in many processes that happen in the company which would serve as a platform to gain new valuable experiences and to gain practical knowledge on matters that will help me with my business plans and ideas.
    

2. Did you and when did you set up your company (if relevant)? 

   Not yet.
    

3. What were your expectations before starting the programme?

   I expected big involvement in processes of the hosting organisation where I could see in practice how event planning and executing and Erasmus+ projects come to life from the beginning to the end. I hoped that I could also contribute with my ideas and previous experience to the hosting organisation and that they would gain value from that.
    

4.   How does the HE run his business? How did you actively participate in the day-to-day activities?

   Lorenzo as HE has professional approach to his work but also his approach to colleagues is light but on to the point which I find as a great combination making the environment friendly and stress-less but at the same time professional and with a working atmosphere. I was involved in most of the daily tasks with role depending on the situation but mostly supportive role.
    

5. Provide examples of activities carried out by you during the exchange (administrative activities? Conferences? Other?)

   I was involved in activities of hosting organisation and I worked mostly on local events that hosting organisation does. This was mostly photography, preparing and helping with logistics and communication through mail. I also worked on their Erasmus+ programs with writing, planning, logistics, budgeting, implementation and reporting.
    

6.  What did you learn from the experience? Do you feel more confident about your  business start-up? Would you encourage other would-be/new entrepreneurs to participate in the programme? What is your overall feeling about the programme?

   During this experience I learned a whole lot about Erasmus+ programs and how they come to life from inception to reporting. Also a lot about the whole matter of running local events and what processes does that include. In general this exchange was extremely rich in experience and new gained knowledge on many perspectives related to business. And also on a personal level, I’ve seen a lot of amazing places in free time and during tours with organisation to local events, learned some Italian and also started taking guitar lessons which I’ll continue too.