23 young individuals -Greeks & refugees/migrants- were supported in order to become the Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow

SolidarityNow celebrated the completion of the “Migrant & Youth Social Inclusion Through Entrepreneurship”  (MYSITE) program in a closing event that was held in order to celebrate entrepreneurship, employment and social inclusion, at the Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki.

MYSITE lasted 18 months and was the result of a partnership among five organizations from five different European countries with the common goal to promote entrepreneurship as a means of livelihood and financial independence for young people, to promote the social integration of migrants and/or refugees as well as to reintegrate  young people into the labor market in the five participating countries (Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Italy, Spain).

The event for the completion of MYSITE took place on September 26^th, as a side event of the 1^st SolidarityNow’s Job Fair. T

Also, they had the opportunity to follow presentations on a variety of topics related to entrepreneurship and labor market, such as:

• SolidarityNow’s employability programs, strategy and priorities
• Presentation of the lessons learned from the program and best practices for implementing similar entrepreneurship programs
• Presentation of the program’s results while the students, trainer and mentors shared their personal experiences of the program.

MYSITE had three objectives that were achieved during its 18-month implementation, including the training of 23 young people in Athens and Thessaloniki (Greek and refugees/migrants) on key entrepreneurship issues and job advice from experienced entrepreneurs (mentors), the development of 20 business plans with the support of trainers and mentors, and  a research on the landscape and policies for youth and migrant entrepreneurship, as well as the resources made available to young entrepreneurs in each participating country.

For the research aspect, SolidarityNow examined the conditions of entrepreneurship in Greece for young people and migrants, by conducting interviews with experts, young Greek and young migrant entrepreneurs. The resulting report includes information on the Greek national context, the legal, political and institutional framework, opportunities and measures for entrepreneurship, challenges and barriers for entrepreneurs, and recommendations for creating a better more environmentally friendly entrepreneurship environment for migrants and young people in Greece.

Find out more about the results of the research here: https://www.solidaritynow.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Greece-National-Report.pdf.

*MYSITE was implemented with funding by the ERASMUS+ program of the European Commission in 5 EU countries (Spain, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, and Greece) by the following partners: SolidarityNow (Greece), Asociacion Socio Educativa Llere (Spain), S.F.Or. Centro Studi Formazione Orientamento (Italy), Aequitas (Cyprus) and The People for Change Foundation (Malta), as the project leader.

**The Blue Refugee Center, founded in 2016, is supported by the UNHCR and funded by the European Union.