New Entrepreneur (NE)
Name & surname: Javier Orki González Expósito
Country: Spain
Sector of activity: Sustainable tourism
Have you already started your business? Yes, 2 years ago.
Name of business/website: _tivity / www.tivity.es
What is your business? _tivity is a local company which develops sustainable tourism in Tenerife. _tivity derives from “activity and connectivity”, meeting people through activities. Its communication system is an online platform which offers participative leisure activities.
Host Entrepreneur (HE)
Name & surname: Dr. Rüdiger Krüger
Country: Germany
Sector of activity: Education and training services
Experience in running a business: 30 years / 20 years CEO in the current company
Name of business/website: Volkshochschule Reckenberg-Ems gem. GmbH / https://www.vhs-re.de/
What is your business? Our company is a further education institution that offers education and training services as well as educational trips abroad.
Period of Relationship: 09/09/2019-09/10/2019 and 22/10/2019 – 20/12/2019
Duration of Relationship: 3 months
How did Javier develop a long lasting business cooperation with his host company in Germany?
Javier Gonzalez is a New Entrepreneur from the Canary Islands. He has a start-up promoting sustainable tourism and environmental education. Javier discovered Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, because a friend recommended it to him in Tenerife. He saw it as an excellent opportunity to improve his entrepreneur skills and knowledge as well as a way to improve his German and establish a business network abroad.
On the other side, Dr. Krüger is an experienced Entrepreneur from the company VHS Reckenberg- Ems, located in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. He has many years of experience and agreed to have Mr. Gonzalez in his team.
Javier went to Germany from September 9 until December 20 . Once in the company Dr. Krüger, explained to him the company structure and introduced him to his colleagues. Together, Mr. Gonzalez and Dr. Krüger agreed on the tasks and objectives for the EYE programme. The first task for Mr. Gonzalez was to improve his German which was essential for establishing a long term collaboration with the VHS. Dr. Krüger and Mr. Gonzalez decided that the long term collaboration, which was one of the most important pillars of this programme, should be an educational trip to Tenerife. The objectives of their business relationship were widely accomplished:
Javier got a B1 certificate for his German skills which will support the development of his company in Tenerife. He also learned about business structure and team management. Mr. González and Dr. Krüger developed a trip based on sustainable tourism to Tenerife, which will be executed in November 2020. This trip was introduced during an event of the VHS, attended by more than 50 people. This is a perfect example of long term collaboration that they expect to last many years.
In addition, Javier also developed a game to teach German in an enjoyable way. It is based on techniques of gamification and focusses on the integration of migrants. This game pretends to make the process of learning German easier, while also allowing the participants to establish positive connections with other students in the class. This game was presented to the teachers of the VHS and they accepted it with great enthusiasm. This educational tool will be integrated in some class with students and thus meets the long term objectives as well.
The experience of the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme was very positive for both sides. The NE as well as the HE received new points of views thanks to this programme. Mr. González is very grateful to the Erasmus Programme and Dr. Krüger and his team for the opportunity. Now, Mr. Gonzalez will apply to become a Host Entrepreneurs for the next year. He will also introduce all of what he has learned during the exchange and his new know-how in his company, in order to make it more competitive and open to new markets. The EYE programme enables the connection of entrepreneurs throughout Europe, it enhances the opportunities of European markets, and allows the small start-ups to show all their potential abroad. Connecting people, creating new opportunities, sharing knowledge, that’s Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. Reducing the boundaries to nothing and making committed European citizens.