Conversations with EEPA Category Winners – Future Makers

 

We are delighted to offer you an exclusive insight into the minds of EEPA winners! We seized the remarkable opportunity to engage with winners spanning diverse categories at the European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA).

Throughout this special interview series, we delved into thought-provoking discussions with representatives from the winning projects. Our aim was to unravel the motivations behind their initiatives, comprehend the strategies employed, and explore the visions that set their work apart. Join us on a captivating journey through the experiences of these distinguished EEPA Category Winners.

Today we are proposing the interview to the Category 1, Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit here the award went to Future Makers. They are  an entrepreneurial education programme that connects and supports young people from Romania and Central and Eastern Europe. Over six editions, Future Makers has supported 290 participating teams, awarding a total of €125,000 in prizes to 29 winners.

 

How did you first hear about the European Enterprise Promotion Awards competition and why did you decide to enter?

We found out abut EEPA by working with the Romanian Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism in a working group on public policy and innovation in entrepreneurship. We decided to apply with 2 of our projects – Future Makers for promoting the entrepreneurial spirit and Sustainable Futures at the supporting the sustainable transition section.

 

How did you prepare your application?

We thought the application by focusing on the impact that, in case of the winning project, had on the community it served.

 

What do you think made your application standout?

We think the quality of the Future Makers incubator and its results mattered as well as the fact that the incubator has success outside of Romania, covering 7 countries. We showed that we can design and implement a project with various stakeholders over different geographies and connect people of 2 very important topics: future and entrepreneurship.

 

Could you tell us what it felt winning the award and its significance to you?

It felt amazing. It offers us the opportunity to build our educational projects better and more ambitious as this recognition brought not just visibility but also the necessary energy in the team for our next steps. It also helped to solidify our position in the Romanian and European ecosystem of supporters of SMEs.

 

In what ways has winning the EEPA Awards impacted your ongoing projects/ initiatives?

This award supports our work with SMEs and fundaments our next steps in supporting SMEs in their sustainability and innovation journey. The event in Bilbao also helped us network with relevant European and CEE leaders and already led to several collaboration opportunities.

 

What are your plans for the future?

In our SMEs educational pillar, 2024 brings the scaling of 2 of our projects to CEE countries (Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia) with plans to engage several thousands SMEs in the next year in our educational programs like the Sustainability Academy and Transformator.

 

Why should others enter EEPA 2024? What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

It is an important space for networking and finding partners; contributing to the European conversation on SMEs solutions; and a great opportunity for national recognition. For aspiring entrepreneurs and organizations: to be authentic and innovative in their actions and to put trust in the public-private partnerships.

We believe an innovative, entrepreneurial and sustainable future in Europe, and in particular in Central and Eastern Europe, will be defined by the way in which we connect and collaborate with various stakeholders, how we support each other in our programs and how we build trust among each other.

 

Finally, we invite you to stay updated on the event on the Promoting enterprise news portal and also via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube so stay tuned. It is possible to check the photos from the event also on Promoting Enterprise | Flickr.