The EPIC Programme (Entrepreneurs Promoting Innovative Change), under the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs initiative, offers a unique opportunity for both new and experienced entrepreneurs to collaborate internationally and exchange valuable knowledge.
Who can join?
New Entrepreneurs (NEs): Recently started a business or planning to launch one soon.
Host Entrepreneurs (HEs): Experienced SME owners/managers with 3+ years of experience.
Programme Highlights:
Monthly mobility grant for NEs (varies by host country).
International experience and mentoring for NEs.
Fresh ideas, innovation, and collaboration opportunities for HEs.
Placements of 1–6 months across Europe.
📌 Apply via the official portal and select Business & Innovation Center (BIC) as your Intermediary Organisation.
Call for young professionals, students and recent graduates from the Western Balkans!
Do you want to start a new, innovative project/business and learn about the most recent developments in entrepreneurship?
Are you a national of the Western Balkans and currently residing there?
Do you have a good level of English?
Are you 18 to 25?
We are looking for you!
Start your career journey with one of the world’s leading entrepreneurship summer programs for students – European Innovation Academy (EIA) in Porto, Portugal, from July 16 to August 4, 2023. Find out more about the program here.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) offers 30 full-paid scholarships to students, young professionals, and start-uppers from the Western Balkans. Selected finalists will be immersed in a multicultural ecosystem with professionals and mentors from the world’s top institutions, including business leaders from the US, Europe, and Asia, that will help talents emerge and make a difference.
This initiative is an integral component of the engagement of the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) in the field of human capital development, in line with the OSCE mandate and commitments.
For further information, please contact the closest OSCE Field Operation or the local branch office of RYCO or send an email to YDEAS@osce.org.
Applications are open from April 18 to May 7, 2023 (23:59 CET).
The scholarship covers the tuition fee of 1699 EUR (including the 15-day program, mentorship, speaker sessions, tools, networking events, 6 ECTS, etc.), traveling, and accommodation costs. Female candidates are encouraged to apply – 50% of places are reserved for them.
To apply, candidates must fill in the EIA registration form and submit their CV and a video pitch of their business idea of not more than 3 minutes in English. Preference will be accorded to ideas for socially and environmentally impactful businesses, particularly in the field of employment/training, sustainable transport, sustainable tourism, waste management, energy, sustainable agriculture, and pollution reduction.
The OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization. The OSCE works for stability, peace, and democracy for more than a billion people, through political dialogue about shared values and through practical work that makes a lasting difference. You can read more about OSCE HERE.
The Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), established on 4 July 2016, is an independently functioning institutional mechanism, aiming to promote the spirit of reconciliation and cooperation between the youth in the Western Balkans’ region through youth exchange programs. You can read more about RYCO HERE
Are you a student, founder, or an employee of a startup? Maybe you are someone with a solution to an ecological challenge in your community or in your company? Do you have an idea for sustainable work, or you want to realize some green initiative? Then, this Public Call is for you!
Apply for the Green Solutions Hackathon for students and startups that will take place on 15 th and 16 th September 2023, in Tetovo.
The Hackathon is organized by the SEEUTechPark and Liberal Alternative Institute (LAI) with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) under the auspices of the German Cooperation and the SENECA Green and the USAID’s Youth Actively Create Opportunities Activity, implemented by Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC).
What’s in it for you?
Participation in the Green Solutions Hackathon will bring you an amazing opportunity to acquire new skills, exchange experience, learn and network on sustainable, innovative, and green business solutions, business development, increasing market potential and building financial sustainability, as well as take your pitching skills to another level through mentoring sessions and workshops.
In addition, the event will enable you to expand your professional network with likeminded progressive, innovative, and motivated green changers in the society, students, young people, startups. Finally, the Hackathon will provide opportunities for fundraising for your green idea.
The highest ranked green ideas will receive the opportunity to compete for one of the following awards:
• The first ranked team will receive an award price of 30.000 MKD. • The highest ranked 3 teams will participate in a follow-up Investment Rendezvous for Green Solutions with potential financiers in the country and the region organized by the GIZ. • The highest ranked teams will be enabled to participate on a specialized training on 1] Sustainable Corporative Operations and 2] Development of Business Plan organized in cooperation with ProCredit Bank. • The highest ranked teams will be enrolled in a Master Class – From Idea to Startup and a Workshop on Idea Screening with the founder of Networker, Sanja Mitrovska. •The highest ranked teams will receive an invitation to participate in the 700 Accelerator call and get a chance to get an investment up to 40.000 Euros. • The high-school students that will participate on the Green Solutions Hackathon will be invited to take active participation in specialized educational workshop on green business model organized by NGO Liberal Alternative Institute-LAI.
The event will be held in English language.
The deadline for registration is 1 st September 2023, by 12.00.
This initiative is organized by the SEEUTechPark, Liberal Alternative Institute (LAI) and the 700 Accelerator, with the support of GIZ and USAID’s Youth Actively Create Opportunities Activity, implemented by Improving Economies for Stronger Communities, in partnership with Youth Educational Forum and Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development (CEED) Hub Skopje. The author’s views expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect the views of GIZ, USAID or the United States Government.
