MY-WAY’s services had an impact on the ability and potential in launching a new business of young prospective entrepreneurs. As a result of our efforts, the reached students:
• Feel more confident;
• Improved their business-related skills;
• Better understand the entrepreneurship ecosystem surrounding them as well as the wider European ecosystem;
• Created novel connections with key actors of the entrepreneurship ecosystem;
• See entrepreneurship, including social entrepreneurship, as a viable and attractive career option.
Another target of the project, student support centres, have also been profoundly impacted by MY-WAY, as they:
• Expressed their needs and problems to key actors of the European entrepreneurship ecosystem, including accelerators, investors, mentors and others;
• Understood the importance of mapping the local ecosystem and of being more integrated in it;
• Have networked and established new connections with relevant stakeholders;
• Have learned more about current needs and problems of student entrepreneurs willing to launch a business, with a view to improving their services or better representing the youth.
Business actors and policy-makers were also positively impacted by the project, as they better understood the main needs and problems of student entrepreneurs and student support centres. They received evidence-based recommendations, lessons learned and best practices to advance and improve initiatives and programmes on one hand, and legislation and policies on the other hand. By participating in our events, they also became more integrated into the local and European entrepreneurship ecosystems.
From a societal perspective, MY-WAY has contributed to the improvement of a unique, integrated and solid European startup ecosystem, with a specific focus on the role of the next generation of entrepreneurs. In this way, its significance cannot be restricted to the local success stories, but should rather be seen as impacting on the European society as a whole in terms of the societal need of employment, the pursue of the European way of life, fears and aspirations, and its culture and community.
Gender aspects of self-entrepreneurship were taken in consideration throughout the project, as we followed a carefully planned Gender Strategy; this strategy involved strong attention on the participation of women in all events, workshops and meetings organised by the project, as well as specific panel discussions, such as one on Women in Tech held within the last Student Enterprise Conference in Treviso in December 2016.
