Joining entrepreneurial students and the world of business:a case study on the European StartUP Program in Romania

Lucian GramescuOperations Manager

Junior Achievement Romania

Junior Achievement Romania

Since 1993, Junior Achievement Romania (JA Romania) implements programs for students of various levels under the slogan "Invest in education!". JA Romania is part of Junior Achievement Worldwide, USA and JA-YE, Europe.

Our mission is to inspire and prepare the young generation to succeed in a market economy.

Results 2011 - 2012•153 000 students•2400 educators•1100 educational institutions •360 locations•Over 2500 participation in international competitions and events•69 programs, competitions, events and projects•5000 hours of classroom business volunteering provided by professionals and entrepreneurs• More than 50 partners from the business community supporting our programs every year

WHAT

The StartUp Programme gives post-secondary students (aged 19 to 30) the opportunity to experience running their own company, giving them an insight into how their talents could be used to set up in business for themselves.

HOW? The StartUP program difference

Bridging the gap between:

•formal education

•actually launching a business

EUROPEAN DIMENSION

16 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK.

Europe Enterprise Challenge – annual final

HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK?

STARTUP PROGRAM IN ROMANIA

Initially launched in 2005

National development in 2009 – 2012 (3 academic years) with:

•900 students in 21 universities in Romania

•collaborating professors in 13 universities in Romania

•140 business pilots successfully enrolled in the national competition

•80 business volunteers providing advice on strategy, marketing, budgeting and legal issues

ELEMENTS OF THE PROGRAM IN ROMANIA

The START! Business program followed the international model, providing the following components:

•Learning materials on business planning

•Collaboration platform: students, coordinating professors and business volunteers used a common virtual space to share documents and communication

•National and European Final

•E-learning: video and text case studies, learning materials, expert webinars

E-LEARNING COMPONENT

E-learning component brought stakeholders together in the competition stage:

•Collaboration platform: students, coordinating professors and business volunteers used a common platform to share documents and communication and transparently manage pilot businesses

•E-resources: video and text case studies, learning materials

•Expert webinars on Blue Ocean Strategy and Innovation and Financial Management

OBSERVATIONS

Based on the experience of the past three editions, JA Romania has upgraded the program with the following observations in mind:

•Students need more (practical) knowledge in general, especially in business management and startup finance

•Learning by doing is the most powerful entrepreneurship education methodology, but students need specific tools and a safe environment to experiment moving from “thinking” to “doing”

•Students need to learn more about working with mentors, as well as identifying and approaching mentors of their own choice

STARTUP PROGRAM 2012 - 2013

The current edition of the program will bring:

•The StartUP entrepreneurship course, available for educators in all universities in Romania as a means to provide solid business knowledge through top quality learning materials and methodology

•The BizzFactory National Competition to provide a hands-on learning experience for the most motivated students

•Expert webinar for students AND teachers

THE STARTUP ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSE

THE STARTUP ENTREPRENEURSHIP SEMINAR

Pilot Company orBusiness

Management Simulator

BIZZFACTORY NATIONAL COMPETITION

Student teams bringing

real proof that there is

market demand for their

innovative business ideas

COMPANY OF THE YEAR Bucharest, May 2012

EUROPE ENTERPRISE CHALLENGEBrussels, July 2012

STARTUP PROGRAM WEBINARS

… for students on the aspects of launching and managing a business, held by experts from the business community

… for teachers on modern methodologies for entrepreneurship education

The Principle of Effectuation in Entrepreneurship Education17th of October, 18:00 – 19:00

Associate Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy is a member of the Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Ethics area and teaches courses in entrepreneurship and ethics in Darden’s MBA program. In addition, she teaches in doctoral programs not only at Darden, but also in Denmark, India, Croatia and South Africa. In 2007, Sarasvathy was named one of the top 18 entrepreneurship professors by Fortune Small Business magazine.

CONTACT

Lucian GramescuOperations Manager Junior Achievement – Young Enterprise RomaniaEmail: lucian.gramescu@jaromania.orgMobile: 0726 734 271