EU plans major expansion of 'Erasmus for Entrepreneurs'

Joanna Drake, director for the promotion of SME competitiveness at the European Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry, said she is committed to putting the 'Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs' programme on a permanent footing.

It is, she said, an integral part of the Small Business Act and sits neatly with a number of the flagship programmes set out in the Europe 2020 strategy – specifically 'Youth on the Move', the 'Innovation Union' and the focus on sustainable job creation.

"Looking at 'Youth on the Move', this programme fills a gap as there's nothing for people at the early stages of their careers," said Drake.

She said it was important to spread the word about the programme, but added that additional resources for marketing might not be the only answer. "We need entrepreneurs to be ambassadors for the programme and it is also important that MEPs and regional authorities play a key role in communicating the success stories," said Drake.

Arnaldo Abbruzzini, secretary-general of Eurochambres, said Erasmus for Entrepreneurs meets the need for greater mobility in Europe. However, he said there are a number of flaws which will need to be ironed out.

Abbruzzini, who runs his own business, said he would not sign up as a host entrepreneur because there is no incentive.

"We need a massive information campaign and to indentify the reasons why host entrepreneurs would want to sign up. The benefit for the new entrepreneurs is clear, but it's limited for someone like me who would have to devote time and office space to the programme," he said.

The Eurochambres chief said the scheme should be run on a "much wider scale – 150 is almost ridiculous". He also backed the idea of changing the name to Erasmus for Entrepreneurs in order to encourage experienced businesspeople to get involved as mentors.

Christian Weinberger, an advisor at the European Commission's DG Enterprise & Industry, said the number of people wanting to travel to another country to learn from an established entrepreneur outstripped the number of established businesspeople willing to take part.

He said efforts to raise awareness of the programme had included the use of social networks, and feedback from participants had been positive.

"The indications are that this programme can have a direct effect on EU competiveness. It helps improve the quality of start-ups and makes more entrepreneurs want to internationalise their business," said Weinberger.

Fátima Mínguez, deputy director-general for SME policy at the Spanish Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Trade, said the concept behind Erasmus for Entrepreneurs is sound but the results of the pilot phase were "very modest indeed".

There is a lot of room for improvement, she said, adding that it was far too early to suggest that the programme has had any tangible impact.

"We need to professionalise the work done by intermediary organisations," she said, adding that member states would take ownership of the initiative if teething problems are addressed.

Annie King, who participated in the programme as a host entrepreneur, said the Europe 2020 strategy refers to sustainable businesses and this is an area on which the Commission should place more emphasis.

She said new entrepreneurs should be left to find suitable hosts themselves rather than relying on a complex system of intermediary business organisations who act as matchmakers.

Luca Poli, an Italian surgeon who benefited from the scheme, said the chance to learn from a Spanish businessperson was invaluable because local entrepreneurs are often unwilling to share sensitive commercial information.

He said he knew very little about running a company before he took part in the programme and now has his own private cosmetic clinics in Milan.

Katia Marchesin, a host entrepreneur, said the programme gives businesspeople an opportunity to develop new business models and can serve as "a virtual bridge to other markets". It is a chance for companies to internationalise, she said.

Marko Curavić, head of unit at the Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry, said the pilot phase had given "a good base from which to start and we want to make its impact bigger and permanent".

There is still time to improve the scheme before it moves to a new, permanent, legal basis, he said, adding that this new status would bring an increased budget.

Curavić said 180,000 students per year take part in the Erasmus student exchange scheme so it is not unreasonable to aim to enroll "tens of thousands" of entrepreneurs.

Jack Malan of the Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services, which conducted a review of the pilot programme, said new entrepreneurs tended to be more positive about it than host entrepreneurs.

He said it was too early to accurately measure the impact of the project but the early indications suggest it improves the quality of start-ups, although it does not seem to increase the number of new businesses.

"If 10,000 new entrepreneurs took part per annum – requiring ten times the resources – it could significantly increase competitiveness and growth," he said.

However, Malan stressed the need to raise awareness to generate more applications to the programme and to fill in some "geographical gaps" that emerged during the pilot phase.