Entrepreneurs also do Erasmus

It is not only students who go on an Erasmus. For some years, entrepreneurs have also been able to do so thanks to the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme from the European Commission. It allows young people with a business plan to spend up to six months in a company somewhere on the continent to see for themselves the experiences of other entrepreneurs. Mertxe Paris, founder of Mosaics Llibres, took part in 2013. “I came across it by chance when I was at Barcelona Activa making a business plan,” she says. However, despite the positive experiences of most of those who take part, the programme remains largely unknown.

Two-track learning

“If I could, I’d go back and do another one,” Mertxe tells VIA Empresa. She went to Oxford to work at Barefoot Books, a publisher of children’s and young people’s literature, where she saw from the inside how a sector she wished to go into works. “It helped to launch and build my confidence. It was a real boost,” she says. It was an experience she does not hesitate to recommend, and she is convinced it is positive for “anyone to go abroad and see how things are done in their sector.”

According to the founder of Mosaics Llibres, the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs “helps you to see different areas of the business and entrepreneurship. We all have moments of doubt when it comes to starting a business and the Erasmus really helps to make you feel more confident.” In the end, she insists, “you haveet contact with established companies in your sector.”

Paris: “It is good for anyone to go abroad and see how things are done in their sector”

In England, Paris managed “international rights and she focused on the Latin American public in the United States.” The entrepreneur says she “had never worked so hard.” The dedication required an extra effort due to the language. “I thought I had an acceptable level of English, but one thing is getting by travelling the country and another is working for a publisher,” she says.

If on one side there are the entrepreneurs who go abroad, on the other are the companies that take them in. One firm that is happy to welcome young people in Barcelona is Betahaus. Its cofounder, Edu Forte, tells VIA Empresa that they have already hosted eight. “We signed up because when we began as a company, we looked for interns, but we didn’t want someone who came simply to fulfill hours for their University,” he says.

In Germany, where they have another base, they were already using the programme and “it worked well for them.” According to Forte, becoming a host in the European programme is ideal for finding “a different type of profile. Someone who is deeply interested in your company.” What’s more, he points out, the relationship becomes “two-way communication, between what you show them and what you learn from them.”

The main advantage, says Forte, is “the person’s experience. The people who take part in this programme have an entrepreneur’s profile, someone who wants to set up their own business and needs to learn the tools.” In short, they are nothing less than a startup and the cofounder of Betahaus admits that “I have learnt a lot from the people we have hosted. We had an Italian who was great at sales. I thought I knew a lot, but with him I saw new ways of doing it.”

Forte: "The people who take part in this programme have an entrepreneur’s profile, someone who wants to set up their own business and needs to learn the tools”

A good selection

Despite everything, Mertxe Paris recalls that the process before going was very long. “I worried about whether where I was going would actually help me.” Although the programme offers a pool of host companies, Paris “could not find one that fitted her profile.” She was looking for a publisher specialising in children’s literature and got in contact with a few she liked the look of. One of them that responded was Barefoot Books, where “they had no idea about the programme. I got a flight and went to Oxford to explain it to them.”

In her case, she was clear that “face to face was going to be the only way to see if there was a good feeling. As I wanted to take the family with me, it meant a significant investment.” In short, the head of Mosaics Llibres warns that the programme “is positive if you do some preparation about where you’re going beforehand. If not, you run the risk of spending three months doing photocopies, but it depends on what each person expects.” In Oxford, she says, “I made a series of international contacts that otherwise I would never have made.”

Paris: “I made a series of international contacts that otherwise I would never have made”

At Betahaus, says Edu Forte, “we have always received digital profiles related to what we do.” Nevertheless, they have also had a range of people “from graphic designers to people who are good at sales and most recently a young woman who had studied Human resources.” They have also had people of different nationalities “who also provide a variety of cultural backgrounds.”

Requirements and confusion

“As they give you the Erasmus, you have to finish the business plan,” says Mertxe Paris about the programme’s requirements. She did hers with the help of Barcelona Activa and the Terrassa Chamber of Commerce. It is worth mentioning that these chambers, including the one in Barcelona, are the intermediaries for the programme in this country.

It is a programme whose name, agree Paris and Forte, is a little misleading. In fact, the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs has nothing to do with the university programme that this year is celebrating its 30th anniversary. “The name Erasmus is a little confusing because it is strongly linked with university students,” says Edu Forte.

Forte: "It brings a variety of cultural backgrounds”

The confusion could be explained by the fact that the programme for entrepreneurs  “is little known”. For Mertxe Paris, moreover, “it coincides with a time in which entrepreneurs are so concerned that it is not easy for them to consider opening a new front, but it is to be recommended.”

In terms of what could be improved, the founder of Mosaics Llibres points to the fact that the subsidy provided to participants by the European Commission is delivered halfway through the stay and at the end. “I understand they do this to avoid people taking advantage, but it would be better if it were like a monthly salary.” Normally, she says, “from here we go to countries with a higher cost of living and if you do not have a bit of a financial cushion behind you it is difficult to do it.”