“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
I started my Erasmus For Young entrepreneur experience by having this motto in mind. Seeing and learning as much as possible from other successful stories, from another culture and develop and adapt the best practice in my context, Ancona city – Italy.
I started my work exchange on 3rd of July at KPH – Projects, based in Copenhagen.
Københavns Projekthus is a multi-tasking social organisation aiming plural goals within its central mission of promoting and accelerating social entrepreneurship in Denmark. KPH is a community for innovative startups and small growing businesses, where young entrepreneurs can develop their projects, companies and organizations, where there is an optimum framework for networking and interdisciplinary cooperation, where sparring gives entrepreneurs new skills, and where there is an amalgamation of creativity, technology and know-how.
In my first weeks I had a full immersion in all the aspects of the organization and I had the chance to work with my host and her team.
[su_custom_gallery source=”media: 3077,3079″ limit=”33″ link=”lightbox” width=”400″ height=”400″ title=”never”]The first week we had a welcome meeting, in which I learned about the mission and vision of Kph. I’ve met the staff that are working in the community and we discuss the annual report about the social impact and how it affect the society. We also talked about the sustainibility strategy and future projects that they want to develop, in which i’m already involved. With the project development team we are working on Interreg Baltic Sea Programme.
I took part in all the staff meetings. I also met the community manager and the political advisor, in order to have a general idea about the Social Media Plan and the Communication Strategy. With the political advisor we have studied all the partnership development and the networks that are ongoing, mainly with the Universities. I took part in a networking event, where I met the responsible of the international department of Copenhagen Business School, which was very interesting for me.
“Breakfast meeting”, is a weekly meeting of the staff, which takes place every Wednesday morning. Following Trello indicative activities we discuss the financial strategy, the activities that must be carried out in order to convey the annual budget, and also about daily tasks. I had the chance to ask for more information and also to contribute with some suggestions.
During my first days I had the opportunity to meet some of the start-ups incubated in KPH, some of them were very inspiring for me.
Københavns Fødevarefællesskab (KBHFF) is a member-based and member-driven food co-operative in Copenhagen, Denmark. KBHFF is an alternative to the ordinary profit-driven supermarket chains. They focus on offering organic and biodynamic products in season with lots of taste and quality at affordable prices. All tasks are carried out by members so you commit yourself to work for at least 3 hours each month in the Co-Op. You can either take 3-hour shifts in one of the shops, join one of the working groups to work with the development of KBHFF, or you can start some brand new initiative that you think will help develop KBHFF in new ways! As co-owners of KBHFF, all members have a say in the operation and development of the Co-Op. All decisions regarding the products and economy are taken by the members of KBHFF, and every member has the opportunity to influence the decision making.
RED – Refugee Entrepreneurs Denmark (R.E.D.) wants to create the best possible foundations for supporting and developing refugee entrepreneurs, currently in the Copenhagen area of Denmark. The support processes are developed from research based best practices within start-up creation as well as new innovative concepts for refugee support exclusive to R.E.D.
I had the chance to interview the founder and Ceo, Conor Clancy, about their financial strategy and the further development of the project, and also about the results that they have achieved until now.
“We are a social enterprise that facilitates business incubator and accelerator programmes, specifically designed for the support of refugees. The R.E.D. incubator operates on two levels, firstly within an incubation role supporting the entrepreneur in the construction of a business from start-up to a realization stage. Secondly R.E.D. also facilitates an accelerator stage, giving the refugees access to potential investor networks and reciprocal partnerships for mutual benefit. This, and more, is what makes up R.E.Ds incubation and acceleration processes.
We also provide various workshops on idea generation, business creation, as well as consulting to already established businesses or NGOs, private or governmental agencies looking to combine entrepreneurship and integration. “
It was a very inspiring and challenging beginning, and I look forward to continue my work and get to know kph even better.
