Presentation of the exchange:
The project was based on very specific activities that the HE showed to the NE connected to the honey production and beekeeping. Implementing the activities both entrepreneurs developed their entrepreneurial skills through a shadowing process.
We together followed the entire process to produce honey and other products such as Propolis, Beeswax, Royal Jelly. We daily checked the beehives, to supervise the health of the bees, swarming intension and overpopulated hives. We produced new colonies, moves all of them in reason of the flowering of the trees, in a quite big areas in the North East part of Greece.
Profile of the entrepreneurs:
Toffolon Daniele Luigi
4 months exchange, Beekeeping and honey production.
Collaborating with an experienced entrepreneur abroad in my field I wanted to improve my business skills, and to have a clear idea of all the difficulties I could face in my own new company in the future. I wanted to improve my ability and skills in organizing activities and in managing different and unexpected situations.
I also wanted to build a plan that could give me the possibilities to grow my production from retail to big quantities, maybe by selling abroad.
Nikos Tselios
Beekeeping and honey production, Kozani, my objective with this exchange and collaboration with the was to grow my business capability. I wished to integrate the ideas of the new entrepreneur into my daily work. Furthermore, I wanted to improve my capacity to explain the methodology around my business to an external audience which I think can be helped by exchanging with a young entrepreneur from a totally different cultural background. I also want to improve my advertising and hope that the NE’s ideas and input will help.
Quote of the NE
The experience was very good for my personal and professional growth.
I had the possibility the follow a well-experienced entrepreneur for months, seeing all the possible problems I could manage in my new activity, I had the possibility to see how he was able to build and organize a well working entrepreneur activity and he told me how he was able to manage economical and another kind of problems (such as environment problems that can occur in different years).
Living in a foreign country alone also increase my self-confidence, and gave my the possibility to know a different culture, that I think is always good for a better view of the world.
I think this experience could be positive for every new entrepreneur, collecting experiences and good contacts around Europe.
Quote of the HE
I had the possibility to revise my own strategy, explaining it to Daniele. We will keep in contact in the future, to consider the possibility the selling abroad of our products, we will probably menage to organize participation to some events in Italy, where I’ll be able to sell my product in a big market such the one present in North Italy. In reason of this possibility, I started to build a plan to increase my honey production. Speaking with Daniele I also took some good new points of view on business and I think this cultural and personal exchange gave me something that the other entrepreneurs in my area are not able to have, and I hove it will help me win their competition.
With Daniele we saw together his business plan, reconsidering it in reason of my personal experience. We tried to detailed more precisely the budget and the market strategy. I show him all the different problems I had to manage in my years of work, and I think this will help him in his personal future experience.
We will continue to keep in contact, to try continuing enriching our personal views also after this important 4 months of activity together.
New and experienced entrepreneurs shall apply for the programme via the web page www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu
For further information about the programme:
Ms A. Sarateanu, CSCS
This article was funded by the European Union’s COSME Programme (2014-2020).
The content of this article represents the views of the author only and it is her sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the Executive Agency of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and the Agency do not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
