The first Entrepreneurship Camp for Moldovan startups took place in Cahul with the EU and Team Europe support

High school, college and university students and IT specialists from the south of the country learned how to initiate, manage and develop a business activity during the first Entrepreneurship Camp organised by “EU4Moldova: Startup City Cahul”. Being guided by experienced mentors, the young people benefited from informative sessions and studied the steps they need to follow for developing a successful business.

The Cahul region is recognized by specialists as favourable for the development of startups, but despite the fact that the locals want to start a business, they are often not familiar with the notions of business and the procedures they must pursue.

Because entrepreneurship means more than a simple business plan, the participants of the Entrepreneurship Camp learned in detail what both planning and management involve, focusing on the importance of implementing innovations and information technologies.

“A lot of useful information. I studied about all the stages of launching a business and the possibility of integrating the technological aspects”, says Veronica Zbîrciog, one of the participants of the Entrepreneurship Camp, currently student at Cahul Industrial Pedagogical College “Iulia Hasdeu”.

The girls and boys who participated in the Entrepreneurship Camp want to set up a business activity, already having ideas about what they would like to offer: virtual maps, architectural services, medical services, the development of historical tourism, as well as the hospitality industry in Cahul.

“The camp was very well organised. I have acquired a lot of useful information in a very short period of time. We also exchanged experience. Today I am even more motivated to enter the entrepreneurship world”, says Radomir Barbarov, 24 years old.

There were 4 days of informative sessions, workshops and networking guided by local and national mentors from various fields.

“It was a different activity from those that are organised, we focused on the administrative side of a business. We discussed how to estimate a budget, what annual reports are required and why we submit them to the Tax Inspectorate, how to hire people, about the importance of a marketing plan, how we present ourselves and make a pitch, as well as about the integration of IT services.” said Daria Taucci, Startup Manager within the “EU4Moldova project: Startup City Cahul”.

“EU4Moldova: Startup City Cahul”, a project implemented by ATIC with the financial assistance of the European Union and in partnership with the Embassy of Sweden, supports, in particular, economic development through innovation, entrepreneurship, employment in small and medium-sized enterprises outside the capital and offers study opportunities for young people, women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).