Last March, in the framework of the European project YERAME, we launched a course for young people on Initiation to Entrepreneurship in rural areas. The course took place in the Puerta del Mar building, in the town of San Juan de la Arena, belonging to the municipality of Soto del Barco, Asturias.
This town, despite being located by the sea and close to Avilés, has a total population of 3900 inhabitants, and specifically 1445 in the Arena, which is considered by the state as an area at risk of depopulation. Recruiting participants for the course was a challenge despite the great support of the City Council for the dissemination.
The course was completed by 4 young people, 4 very intense sessions in which the young people began by raising their expectations and needs, analysed market niches, saw the basics of entrepreneurship, market research, business planning and strategy, as well as notions of design thinking, leadership, marketing and began their outline with the canva business model. All this in a classroom course of 20 hours with asynchronous work in parallel, a small initial training to enter into this great adventure of entrepreneurship.
We are now launching the Entrepreneurship competition that will take place on 8 July 2024 at the Clarín Theatre in Soto del Barco, in which young people with an idea for entrepreneurship will be able to present their business ideas, receive feedback from an independent jury, participate in a free mentoring programme until November 2024 and opt for one of the 3 prizes (1000€, 600€ and 300€) that will be awarded in the competition as financial support for the implementation of their business idea.
This phase will be a great challenge for the young people who we hope that through the small formative and economic contribution of the Yerame project, with our support and collaboration with local bodies such as the city council and the approach to more comprehensive programmes of entrepreneurship at regional, national and European level we can provide the necessary support to these young people to undertake in these necessary contexts.