Name of the original practice to be transferred

Business Plan

Specific context where the practice has already been implemented/ applied

Lodz is a post – industrial city where the central areas of the city where once inhabited by manufacture owners. During communism period they were forgotten and textile factory workers used to live there. Better off people migrated to the outskirts of the city. As a result the centre was forgotten and slums and ghettos were created inside. Inhabitants of these areas are usually unemployed, under the care of social care institutions. Children and teenagers are not interested in education; the drop-out rate is high. That is why the city decided to revitalise the whole area of the city centre in different dimensions. The most important ones are the social and economic dimension of the areas but also the technical and special one. The profound renovation of the mansion houses and the surroundings is already in place and the activities conducted by LCIC focus on social and economic dimension of the people that live or that are relocated due to the revitalisation process.

I didn’t understand that part. Some still live there while others are relocated to different parts of the city? Yes, because some of the houses are given different roles (e.g. offices) but also the rent is going higher so those that can’t afford it are relocated.

The main aim of the activities was to show them the possibility to run their own business also in the local dimension that means that they run the business located in this area and provide services for their local community (e.g. grocery shops, hairdresser, coffeeshops)  Such activities are meant to not only help the beneficiaries in question but also the area they are implemented in.

Conditions of the original practice

In this context, the activities of BUSINESS PLAN were to support the beneficiaries in running their own business.

The direct target group of these activities were people living in the revitalised areas or that were relocated due to this process – mostly unemployed especially those unemployed for a longer period of time, women outside the job market because of maternity/parental leave, people with low qualifications and the disabled.  Their primary need is to shake off the unemployment status and dependency on the social benefits and to go back to the labour market. The needs of the target group: assessment of own’s abilities and competences in running their own business, business plans preparation as a solid base for starting a business.

The expectations of the target group were:

• the possibility to verify their business ideas in connection to their personal and/or vocational qualifications.
• Verification of business plans logical framework and cohesion which make the business idea more successful
• Support from professional business practitioners

The barriers the beneficiaries were facing was the lack of knowledge on business plans and their importace for business success. The specific barriers for women: stereotypes applied to women as taking sick leaves, lower effectiveness. Barriers for the unemployed: physical barriers, stereotypes applied to the disabled people as being worse and less effective employees.

Structures of the original practice

1. Information and promotion campaigns in the revitalised area – information for the habitants given also by householders, whisper marketing, social institutions, website. Media and internet campaign.
2. Recruitment process: recruitment forms where the situation of the candidates is viewed; assessment of business idea.
3. Workshops for the selected candidates on business plan preparation and its assessment by business practitioner.
4. Individual consultations on business plans, necessary adjustments with business counsellor.
5. On the basis of this business plan, selected candidates with the best results were given subsidies for starting the business and monthly subsidies for business costs (for 12 months) – this part of the practice will not be transferred within this project.

Suggestions on how these will transfer to the new context

BUSINNESS PLAN showed that it is important to apply activities employment in specific areas. NEETs in the project could be approached in the area  they live. These could be areas where immigrants live, poorer areas of the city with high school drop-out rate, unemployment rates. LCIC will help to create certain pathways on how to reach NEETs in these specific areas of the cities and the marketing strategy to be used to make them interested in the project. We believe that giving the good counselling is not enough, the most difficult part is to attract the beneficiaries and draw their attention to the fact that they can. The marketing of this kind of activities could be done by street workers that are in good contact with people. By them the individual session with the street worker and the business practitioners could take place. That would mean transferring the idea of individual vocational counselling sessions to different ground.

The important area of this BUSINESS PLAN tool is to show the target group that it is possible to create their own reality and run your business when given the adequate tools and support. Assessment of business ideas of young NEET will help them believe that they are valuable and can create they own reality with the tools they already possess

The support given to the target group within this tool is the individual business plan creation. It not only helped to verify the ideas of the beneficiary but also helped to match the idea for business with their personal competences. LCIC would present the methodology of assessing the business plans creation.  Workshops for partners and their vocational counsellors will be conducted. ???

The action of creating their own businesses could play an important role for those living for example in areas where immigrants live and that gives them the opportunity to create local business for local community (here the language barriers are not so significant). LCIC will provide best practice on how to show the end beneficiary  they can become useful for local community. Study visits for partners will be organized to show the success and barriers the young entrepreneurs face in their business.