1. TOWARDS
EXCELLENCE IN
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND ENTERPRISE
SKILLS
BRUSSELS, 14-16 NOVEMBER 2012
NAME:
Hosted by the
European Economic
& Social Committee
1

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2

3. WELCOME TO THE CONFERENCE!
Dear Participants,
It is a great pleasure and an honour to welcome you to the
conference! Many of you have travelled long distances to be with
us here in Brussels. I welcome you all and particularly the delegates
from our partner countries in the EU pre-accession region, the EU’s
eastern and southern neighbourhood and Central Asia.
The ETF supports its 31 partner countries to harness the potential
of their human capital through the reform of education, training and
labour market systems in the context of the EU’s external relations
policy. We are increasingly aware of the opportunities of sharing
good practice – both for policymakers and education and training
providers. Our conference addresses ‘good practice’ in education
and training. More specifically, the conference is built around two core questions: ‘what is good practice?’
and ‘who determines what is good about good practice?’ in the field of entrepreneurship and enterprise
skills. These are the issues at the heart of the project whose first results feature in this conference.
Through the project, and with the excellent cooperation of a number of education and training providers
from both the EU and partner countries, we have unpacked the notion of good practice and road-tested a
peer review methodology and tools to determine what really constitutes good practice.
Our decision to road-test good practice in education and training developments in the areas of youth
start-ups, women’s entrepreneurship and skills for the internationalisation of small businesses was not
accidental. All three areas are considered fundamental to the EU’s drive for competitiveness and growth.
The same issues equally apply to all ETF partner countries. Never has the time been better for policymakers
and training providers from across Europe and our partner countries to come together, share together and
learn together. This is the objective of the two-day conference where we will be looking at the results of a
small, pioneering project put together by the ETF’s enterprise and entrepreneurship team.
The conference programme has been designed to encourage knowledge sharing and critical reflection
among conference participants. At the same time, the conference aims to gather ideas as to what should
be integrated into the project’s second phase in 2013.
I am delighted that our conference has been hosted at the European Economic and Social Committee
(EESC) and the Committee of the Regions whose excellent work in bringing all parts of society together for
reflection, discussion and input into EU policy has been a recurrent theme in the project. I extend special
thanks to EESC for hosting us over the next two days. Secondly, I would like to thank our colleagues
from the European Parliament, European Council, European Commission and European Committee of the
Regions for their interest and support for the ETF’s drive for more innovative policy solutions which allow us
to exchange know-how and good practice between the EU and its partner regions. Thirdly, I am particularly
indebted to the ministers, ambassadors and other high-level policy officials participating at the conference.
There are already signals from the project which prompt better reflection as to how good practice can
inspire policy. I am also very pleased that we have the direct engagement of enterprise associations, and
business people themselves. And finally, I would like to thank the good practitioners and the ETF team for
taking on such a pioneering project and to the speakers for their inspiring stories.
Please contribute to the discussions and tasks, share information on your own good practice and use
the free time available to network and explore options for cooperation and exchange. The ETF team looks
forward to working with you over the next days.
Madlen Serban
ETF Director
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4. 4

5. TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONFERENCE OVERVIEW 7
AGENDA 9
BIOGRAPHIES 13
PROJECT DOSSIER 27
ETF GOOD PRACTICE INSPIRATION SERIES 69
ETF STAFF WORKING PAPERS 95
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 107
MAPS & PLANS 119
USEFUL INFORMATION 123
NOTES 125
The original documents for the conference were prepared in English. Where possible, the ETF has also
provided translations into French and Russian. These translations are provided as a service to conference
participants. The ETF does not guarantee the accuracy of the translated text. Should any of the translations
be inconsistent with the original, the English version governs.
5

6. 6

7. CONFERENCE OVERVIEW
The conference centres around 12 examples of good practice in the field of entrepreneurial learning and is
designed to optimise strategic networking. More formal areas of the agenda will address the good practice
methodology, peer review tools and wider good practice quality assurance issues. The programme is
designed to encourage reflection, exchange and access to the good practitioners and involves innovative
approaches to information sharing (marathons), keynote speakers addressing the conference policy themes
(inspirations), opportunities for more in-depth analysis of good practices (clinics), sourcing feedback from
conference participants on the good practice (knowledge zone), determining opportunities for good practice
cooperation (market place) as well as high-level panels to set the policy context and perspectives for more
developed good practice sharing.
MARATHONS
The marathons provide a rapid and focused insight to each of the good practitioners’ area of education and
training. The marathon sessions are designed to introduce the examples of good practice to the conference.
More elaborate details will be provided through the clinics and market place (see below).
INSPIRATIONS
The conference will have the opportunity to hear from established experts in each of the three thematic
areas covered by the project (training for youth start-ups, training for women entrepreneurs and skills
for internationalisation of small businesses). The objective is to inform conference participants of the
challenges and opportunities for education and training providers in each of the respective thematic areas
and borrowing specifically on their experience in good practice sharing.
CLINICS
Good practitioners from each of the thematic areas will hold a clinic. The objective of each clinic is to
allow for a more developed diagnosis of the good practice and to learn at first hand from each of the good
practitioners what was of value from the ETF good practice methodology and what could be improved.
This is also an opportunity for conference participants to find out more, compare and contrast training
approaches, as well as to propose ideas for Phase 2 of the project in 2013.
At the end of each clinic all
participants will be asked to
write down the issues which
most impressed them.
These ideas will be recorded
on cards (in English, French
or Russian) and posted in the
knowledge-zone (see below).
Participants will be allocated
to the three simultaneous
clinics on the basis of a)
advance ranking of choice
for the thematic areas and b)
demand (i.e. if one clinic is
over-subscribed, participants
may be asked to attend the
clinic of their second choice).
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8. KNOWLEDGE ZONE
Outside the conference rooms, participants will be able to post their feedback on information shared
through the clinics.
ETF staff will consider the ideas posted and use this as input to the plenary discussion on the morning of
16 November.
MARKET PLACE
The market place is designed to give all good practitioners the opportunity to share information, materials
and expertise related to their training provision. All participants will be able to visit the good practitioner(s)
of their choice. This is also an opportunity for all participants to determine if and how follow-up cooperation
with the good practitioner(s) can be developed. The ETF is not certain about how cooperation could be
supported but a first step is to gather concrete expressions of interest. All good practitioners have been
asked to make a note of the interest from conference participants.
PLENARY PANELS
The conference will open on 15 November with a high-level panel to set the policy context for the
conference. The closing panel on 16 November, again involving high-level participants, will be specifically
asked to give strategic direction and concrete recommendations to Phase 2 of the project (2013), and
beyond.
NETWORKING
With so many people from so many countries working on similar policy areas, the conference provides a
great opportunity to network, network, network. Make contacts, share ideas and agree on ways to keep in
touch after the conference closes.
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9. AGENDA
WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER
GALA DINNER
19.30 – 22.30 Le Plaza Theatre
118-126 Boulevard Adolphe Maxlaan
1000 Brussels
THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER
WELCOME AND OPENING STATEMENTS
Chair: Anthony Gribben, Head of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise, ETF
09.00 – 10.00 Madlen Serban, Director, ETF
Room: 5th floor, Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council
JDE 52
Jan Truszczyński, Director General for Education & Culture, European Commission
Professor Thomas Cooney, President, International Council for Small Business
Karen Wilson, Global Advisor, Global Entrepreneurship Week
GOOD PRACTICE MARATHON I
Chair: Olena Bekh, Specialist in Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Skills,ETF
Jordan: Nayef Stetieh, Business Development Center
Sweden: Gunila Thorstensson, Tillvaxtverket, Women’s Ambassador Programme
10.00 – 10.30
Egypt: Amany Asfour, Egyptian Business Women’s Association
United Kingdom: Martin Glassett, Venture Simulations Ltd
Germany: Thorsten Janke, IQ Consult gmbh
Lebanon: Roula Harb, INJAZ Lebanon
INSPIRATION: TRAINING FOR WOMEN
10.30 – 11.00 ENTREPRENEURS
Madi Sharma, MADI Group - Make A Difference Ideas, UK
11.00 – 11.30 Coffee
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10. GOOD PRACTICE MARATHON II
Chair: Olena Bekh, Specialist in Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Skills,ETF
Tajikistan: Firuza Nabieva, MLO ‘IMON International” LLC
,
Finland: Elina Oksanen-Ylikoski, InnoOmnia
11.30 – 12.00
France: Claire Saddy, Tipi Formation
Armenia: Varazdat Karapetyan, SME DNC
Italy: Alessia Cicuto, New Institute for International Business (NIBI)
Serbia: Aleksandar Jovanović, Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Valjevo
INSPIRATION: TRAINING FOR YOUTH START-UPS
12.00 – 12.30 Dieter Kohn, Triodos Facet (Belgium).
Efka Heder, South East European Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (Croatia)
12.30 – 13.30 Lunch
INSPIRATION: SKILLS FOR INTERNATIONALISATION
13.30 – 14.00 OF SMALL BUSINESSES
Lovat D. Brownlee, SME & International Business Development (UK)
14.00 – 16.00
GOOD PRACTICE CLINICS
Room: 5th floor, Training for women entrepreneurs
JDE 51 Chair: Olena Bekh, ETF
Good practices from Egypt, Sweden, Tajikistan and France
Room: 5th floor, Skills for internationalisation of SMEs
JDE 52 Chair: Gavril Lasku, ETF
Good practices from Serbia, United Kingdom, Italy and Jordan
Room: 5th floor, Training for youth start-ups
JDE 53 Chair: Abdelaziz Jaouani, ETF
Good practices from Finland, Armenia, Germany and Lebanon
16.00 – 16.30
KNOWLEDGE ZONE
Training for women Skills for internationalisation Training for youth start-
entrepreneurs of SMEs ups
Outside Room JDE 51 Outside Room JDE 52 Outside Room JDE 53
16.30 – 17.30 APERTIVO & CLOSURE
10

11. FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER
PLENARY: ISSUES FROM THE CLINICS AND MARKET
09.00 – 10.00 PLACE
Chair: Anastasia Fetsi, Head of Thematic Expertise Development, ETF
10.00 – 10.30 Coffee
10.30 – 12.00
GOOD PRACTICE MARKET PLACE
CONFERENCE CONCLUSIONS
Chair: João Delgado, Head of Unit, DG Education & Culture, European
Commission
Gordan Maras, Minister for Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Republic of Croatia
Staffan Nilsson, President, European Economic & Social Committee
12.00 – 13.00
Montaser Oklah Al-zou’bi, Ambassador of Jordan to the European Union
Stephanie Mitchell, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission, DG for
Enterprise & Industry
Christian Lettmayr, Acting Director, European Centre for the Development of
Vocational Training, Cedefop
Madlen Serban, Director, ETF
13.00 - 14.30 Lunch and departures
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12. 12

13. BIOGRAPHIES
SPEAKERS
MADLEN SERBAN has been Director of the European Training Foundation
since 1 July 2009. Before joining the ETF she was Director of the National
,
Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Romania. She
has spent most of her career working in the field of vocational education and
training and has broad international experience from her work as an expert
and evaluator for international organisations including UNESCO, USAID, the
European Commission, the OECD, the World Bank and the ETF She holds
.
a PhD in social partnership in education and training from the University
of Bucharest. She represented the Romanian government on the ETF’s
Governing Board from 1998 to 2007 and Cedefop’s Governing Board from
,
2007-2009.
HERMAN VAN ROMPUY is President of the European Council. Prior
to taking up his post as head of the European Council in 2009, Mr. Van
Rompuy was Prime Minister of Belgium which followed a number of high-
level public offices including Secretary of State for Finance and Small
Business, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Budget, Speaker of the
House of Representatives and Cabinet posts. Before taking public office,
Mr. Van Rompuy worked for the National Bank of Belgium and taught
economics in Antwerp and Brussels. He has published widely and is the
holder of numerous honorary awards including the Harvard Club of Belgium
Leadership Prize (2010) and the Nueva Economía Forum Prize (Madrid, 2012).
JAN TRUSZCZYŃSKI has been Director-General of the European
Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture since May
2010. He joined the European Commission in January 2007 when he was
,
appointed Deputy Director-General for Enlargement, with responsibility
for the enlargement strategy and communication. From 2001 to 2005, he
worked in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first as Undersecretary
of State, then Secretary of State. In this capacity, he was Poland’s chief
negotiator during its EU accession negotiations. Prior to that, he was
Ambassador of Poland to the EU in Brussels from 1996 to 2001.
THOMAS COONEY lectures in entrepreneurship at the Dublin Institute
of Technology and is Academic Director of the DIT Institute for Minority
Entrepreneurship. He is President of the International Council for Small
Business, Immediate Past President of the European Council for Small
Business, as well as a member of European Commission’s Framework
Programme Advisory Group on SMEs. He is a Board Member of Ireland’s
Network of Teachers and Researchers in Entrepreneurship and is Visiting
Professor at the University of Turku (Finland). Other positions include Board
Member of the Irish Research Council and Chair of the Euro-Science Open
Forum Science-to-Business Programme. He has researched and presented
widely on the topic of entrepreneurship.
13

14. KAREN WILSON served as a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation,
a US leading institution known for its pioneering research and promotion
of entrepreneurship education. She is an Advisor and Board Member of
the European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research and is an expert
for the OECD on entrepreneurship and innovation. Karen is also a Visiting
Fellow at Bruegel, a European think-tank and is a member of the European
Leadership Council for Harvard Business School. Other offices at Harvard
include Executive Director of the Global Initiative. In 2004, Karen founded
GV Partners, a research and specialising in entrepreneurship and innovation.
She has authored many publications, including a series of papers for
the World Economic Forum on entrepreneurship education and a recent
OECD publication on seed and early-stage financing. Prior to founding
GV Partners, she worked on venture capital, management consulting and
investment banking. She is a Global Advisor to Global Entrepreneurship
Week. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Mathematics and
Management and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
JACOB HILL, 19, is well known in the UK business community for the
success of his small, innovative firm, The Lazy Camper. His business
provides customised camping kits targeting those enjoying the out-door life.
He runs his business while following studies on enterprise development at
the University of Huddersfield. His entrepreneurial flair was already being
road-tested at the age of 14, when he sold Mars Bars and other delights
at secondary school. The candy initiative grew into a business engaging
staff (school friends), premises (locker space in the school) and a wider
market (neighbouring schools). The basic principles learnt from this venture
have been applied to The Lazy Camper which he plans to take global, with
California and South Africa being targeted as first international trading points.
Like most entrepreneurs, Jacob’s entrepreneurship journey has had its ups-
and-downs. A second venture at the age of 16 in the entertainment business
where he organised music events, left him with £3,000 debt which he
settled. Learning from his two earlier ventures and a steely determination are
paying off. Fellow university students have already invested some £30,000 in
The Lazy Camper.
PERVENCHE BERÈS was elected to the European Parliament in 1994 where
she chairs the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. She is also a
substitute member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. She
has also been appointed rapporteur of the temporary Committee on the
Financial, Economic and Social Crisis. Previous posts include Chairwoman
of the Economic and Monetary affairs Committee (2004-2009) and Vice-
President of the Socialist group in the European Parliament (June 1997-June
2004). From December 1999 to October 2000, Ms Berès was Vice-president
of the European Parliament delegation for elaborating a European Union
Charter of Fundamental Rights. Before joining the European Parliament, Ms
Berès worked in national and local government in France.
DIETER KOHN is an expert in the fields of entrepreneurship, business
creation and micro-small business development services. He has worldwide
experience as a trainer and consultant, working on training needs
assessments, development of training material and training of trainers. He is
a certified International Key Facilitator of the ILO KAB (Know About Business)
program, as well as senior Master Trainer in IYB (Improve Your Business)
and SYB (Start Your Business. He has extensive field experience particularly
in North Africa and the Middle East in capacity building of business
development services. Since January 2006, he has been working for Triodos
Facet.
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15. EFKA HEDER is Director of the South East European Centre for
Entrepreneurial Learning – the first international agency dedicated to building
innovative and sustainable developments within education systems for more
entrepreneurial societies. She has over 20 years of professional experience
as a teacher, teacher-trainer, policy analyst and advisor on entrepreneurial
leaning at national, regional and European level. A graduate of the University
of Zagreb, she is a member of the National Council on Economic Education
(USA) and holds a Master of Science from the University of Delaware.
MADI SHARMA is a founder of “MADI Group” - Make A Difference Ideas.
The Group comprises international private and social enterprises with a
philosophy to create innovative ideas tailored to local action which can
achieve impacts beneficial to global society. It includes an import/export
company, an entrepreneurship education programme, a SME resource
and solutions’ company, and a successful consultancy supporting SMEs in
identifying new markets. Madi is a UK member of the Employers Group of
the European Economic and Social Committee. She is a public speaker in the
fields of entrepreneurship, diversity and gender balance where she presents
and teaches in schools and to forward-thinking organisations. She began her
first company from her kitchen at home. The company grew to two factories
and 35 staff for which she received the Asian Woman of Achievement and
UK’s Best Boss awards. Madi is an ambassador for the City of Nottingham
(UK) and holds the post of East Midlands Business Champion in her home
region in central England.
LOVAT BROWNLEE has wide professional consultancy experience with
firms such as PWC. In addition, he has a range of ‘line management’
experience in international business development roles. His consultancy
experience includes an impressive portfolio of UK and multi-national
companies, as well as an extensive range of high-growth potential SMEs.
He specialises in managing SME international business development
programmes. He is at his best when working alongside management
teams within companies, to prioritise and plan business growth. He is
an experienced trainer and is a strong advocate for strengthening the
internationalisation skills of small businesses. Since 2008, he has worked
as a key expert on the EU-funded ‘5 Year National SME Export Strategy’ in
Syria while in Croatia he has been lead expert on an EU-funded programme
to boost SME competitiveness. Training and mentoring of key managers in
SMEs on international sales and marketing skills were a core component of
his work in both countries.
JOÃO DELGADO is a Portuguese official of the European Commission
and he is currently the Head of Unit in charge of promoting a cooperation
process on Vocational Education and Training Policy, among the European
Union Member States. Furthermore, he manages the Leonardo da Vinci
programme, which supports European transnational traineeships schemes
and innovative projects in the area of Vocational Education and Training.
He worked previously in other departments of the European Commission
(Regional Policies, Development Aid, and Employment) and in the banking
sector and also as an attorney in Lisbon, Portugal. He studied Law at the
Catholic University of Lisbon, Portugal; European Studies at the College of
Europe in Bruges, Belgium; and he holds a Master Degree in Management
from the Solvay Business School, Brussels, Belgium.
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16. GORDAN MARAS was appointed Minister of Entrepreneurship and Trade
on 23 December 2011. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2007 and
offices include Vice Chair of Committee for Finance and State budget. Before
entering politics, Minister Maras worked in sales and business management.
He is Chairman of the South East European Centre for Entrepreneurial
Learning. He graduated in economics from Zagreb University and holds an
executive MBA from Cotrugli Business School.
STAFFAN NILSSON has been a member of the European Economic
and Social Committee since 1999. He was appointed President of the
Committee in 2010. His primary task is to ensure the views of European
civil society feature in policy debates in key EU policy areas such as
innovation, enterprise, education and employment. Other EESC roles include
membership of the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee as well as the
Euro-Mediterranean Committee. Before joining the Committee, Mr. Nilsson
has been a farmer and between 1980 and 2000 led the Swedish Farmers’
Federation. Other offices held by Mr. Nilsson include board membership
of a national association of adult education and training. Mr. Nilsson is a
strong advocate for European cooperation on sustainable growth and social
cohesion. He is a graduate of the University of Gothenburg.
MONTASER OKLAH AL–ZOU’BI is Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom
of Jordan to the European Union. His professional experience spans a wide
spectrum of socio–economic issues for the development and growth of
the Jordanian economy. His accomplishments include capacity building for
management of Jordan’s integration into the global economy. Previous posts
include Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (2004 – 2010),
where he was chief negotiator of the free trade negotiations with Canada,
Turkey and Mercusor. He was responsible for enhancing trade relations
with the EU and heading the trade sub–committee, amongst other related
matters, to the conclusion of advanced status with the EU. He helped
negotiate Jordan’s accession to the WTO on issues pertaining to investment
promotion, as well as the EU–Jordan Association Agreement and several
other trade–related agreements.
16

17. STEPHANIE MITCHELL is a lawyer and Sinologue by training. She studied
at Cornell University and the University of Leicester, obtaining BA, JD and
LLM degrees. Her professional career has taken her to Beijing, where she
opened a law office in the early 1980s, and around the US and the Asia-
Pacific region, where she worked on anti-counterfeiting issues in the 1990s.
She also taught law, edited a legal journal and has been an independent
consultant on international trade and business issues. From 2000-2002 she
was responsible for legal and civil society projects in the EU Delegation in
Beijing and since 2004 she has been an official in DG Enterprise and Industry.
Within DG Enterprise she has served in the unit handling automotive industry
legislation, has been team leader for intellectual property rights issues, and is
now Deputy Head of Unit for Entrepreneurship.
CHRISTIAN LETTMAYR has been Acting Director of Cedefop since
October 2010. He had served as Deputy Director of Cedefop since 2005.
He holds masters’ degrees in business administration and economics and
in vocational and technical education from the University of Illinois, where
he was a Fulbright scholar. From 1985 to 1994 he served as Deputy Director
and subsequently Director (1994-2001) of the Austrian Institute for Small
Business Research (KMU Forschung Austria) in Vienna. In 2001 he took up
an assignment with the Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry at
the European Commission, where he contributed to the benchmarking of
enterprise policies and to competitiveness analysis.
17

18. KEY PARTICIPANTS
DR. AMANY ASFOUR is President of the Egyptian Women Business
Association, which she established in January 1995, having identified the
necessity for targeting the economic empowerment of women and women’s
entrepreneurship as key to economic growth. Her activities focus on
capacity building, development of human resources, with emphasis on equal
opportunity, education and training, the promotion of women and youth in
science and technology, and particularly partnership building with colleagues
and counterparts in Africa, Asia, Europe and further afield. A graduate in
medicine from Cairo University with a Master’s degree in Pediatrics, she
is also a Lecturer in Pediatrics and an entrepreneur, having set up her own
company for medical equipment. She initiated, and is currently President of
the Mediterranean Congress for Business and Professional Women, which
provides a platform for sharing experiences and good practices among
women entrepreneurs, linking Africa with the Mediterranean Region in a
move towards regional cooperation. She is an internationally renowned
advocate for women’s empowerment reflected by the many prestigious
accolades from around the globe in recognition of her efforts.
ANUSH ASLANYAN is the Deputy Executive Director of SME Development
National Center of Armenia (SMEDNC). She is responsible for start-up
training and donor coordination. Prior to joining SMEDNC, she was Senior
Advisor on a German-funded national programme on economic development,
including micro-financing, with specific focus on regions and municipalities.
In 2011, she was part of team of experts which drew up a national SME
Development Strategy with responsibility for education issues.
OLENA BEKH is Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Skills Specialist and a
Country Manager for Belarus at the European Training Foundation. She leads
ETF’s work on women’s entrepreneurship and coordinates implementation
of the SME Policy Index assessments in the Eastern Partner countries in
cooperation with European Commission, OECD and EBRD. She previously
worked as an education specialist at the World Bank and as a senior
manager of the Soros Foundation in Ukraine. She has published books in
the US, UK, Australia and Ukraine, as well as policy reports on human capital
development. She holds a Ph.D. in linguistics, has researched and taught in
Ukraine, UK and the US.
18

19. RASHAD BIBARS is Senior Director for business development at The
Business Development Center (BDC), Amman. BDC is a non-profit
organization whose aims are to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs and
job creation through the design and management of development programs.
He is certified trainer and advisor on international trade with extensive
experience in export promotion and development of small and medium-sized
businesses. Rashad was a core member of the Jordan National Competitive
Team of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation which
analysed the competitiveness of Jordanian businesses on macro and cluster
levels. Previous posts include expertise inputs to the Jordan-US Business
Partnership. Rashad is a mentor for young entrepreneurs with Queen Rania
Centre for Entrepreneurship. He graduated in business administration.
ALESSIA CICUTO is Head of Department at the New International Business
Institute (NIBI) in Milan. Its mission is to provide high-level executive
education for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises to improve
competitiveness in international markets. Ms. Cicuto is responsible for the
overall coordination of the Institute including planning, course management
and external relations. Prior to joining NIBI, she worked for the Milan
Chamber of Commerce’s specialist agency which promotes the international
activities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Previous
employment includes a research fellowship at the University of Milan as a
research post in the Ministry of Education in Italy.
FRÉDÉRIQUE CLAVEL set up Paris Pionnières, the first Business incubator
in Paris to offer innovative services to women entrepreneurs. She is currently
its Honorary President. At the start of 2008, she extended the activity by
setting up Fédération Pionnières of which she is the President. Its aim is
to develop incubators in new geographical areas on the model of Paris
Pionnières, and it is supported by partners in the public and private sectors.
The Pionnières network currently represents 17 business incubators in
France, Morocco, and Belgium. There are also development projects under
consideration for other interested countries and regions, such as Tunisia
and Martinique. She has been on the boards of several organisations such
as Femmes 3000, Femme Business Angels and, as one of its 12 founding
members, she is also on the Circle of Administrators of INSEAD. Her primary
motivation is to pool efforts to generate the right level of gender balance in
our advanced societies, convinced as she is that our countries will develop
their economies in a better, quicker and more sustainable way as a result.
She is married and has two children.
19

20. ANASTASIA FETSI is Head of the Thematic Expertise Development (TED)
Department in the European Training Foundation (ETF). She is an economist
and joined ETF in 1996. Before becoming Head of the TED Department,
Anastasia worked as senior expert on analysis and design of education and
training and employment programmes in ETF partner countries. Her more
recent work involved development of innovative projects in the areas of
‘flexicurity’ and migration.
MARTIN GLASSETT is the European Account Director for SimVenture - the
multi-award winning business simulation resource providing on-site and
on-line training to teachers and trainers supporting enterprise development
in thirty-six countries. Martin is a training specialist with over fifteen years’
experience at local, national and international levels. His expertise specifically
focuses on assessing training effectiveness. At SimVenture, Martin is
responsible for appointing and managing a SimVenture agent network across
mainland Europe. This includes online training, network support and good
practice sharing. He additionally fought off fierce competition to win a large
EU-supported project providing business simulation software and training to
Vilnius Business College, Lithuania. A postgraduate from Bristol Business
School, Martin was recently invited back to train staff on entrepreneurship
and enterprise.
ANTHONY GRIBBEN heads the enterprise and entrepreneurship
developments at ETF He has over 26 years experience in education and
.
labour market reform at both policy and delivery level of which some
20 years have been spent working within transition and middle–income
economies. He is an experienced trainer and performance management
specialist. A former teacher of undergraduates on entrepreneurship and child
development, Anthony spearheaded the development of an international
policy metrics package for entrepreneurship development which has been
adopted by some 25 countries. Prior to joining ETF Anthony worked on
,
education and labour market developments within non-governmental
organisations, local government as well as at the European Commission.
Other international assignments includes technical advisor to the United
Nations Mission in Kosovo. He blogs widely on entrepreneurship and human
capital issues.
ROULA HARB is the Communications & Programs Team Leader at INJAZ
Lebanon, a non-profit, non-governmental educational organization dedicated
to empower youth in a global economy. A journalist by profession, Roula’s
key achievements include raising the visibility of youth entrepreneurship
through all forms of media. Roula holds a Bachelor in Journalism from
the Lebanese American University, Beirut. As Programme Team Leader,
Roula’s field of expertise lies in designing and implementing special youth
entrepreneurial learning programs, as well as training corporate volunteers
and delivering the organization’s set of programmes. Roula holds a Bachelor
in Journalism from the Lebanese American University, Beirut.
20

21. PETER HARRINGTON is the Managing Director for SimVenture - the multi-
award winning business simulation resource providing highly authentic,
innovative and engaging ways for people to learn about business start-
up and growth. Prior to launching SimVenture, Peter has been a serial
entrepreneur for over twenty years having built businesses in a range of
sectors including research, marketing, print and design. However, passionate
about entrepreneurship and how it empowers people, his most successful
business has been ‘SimVenture’ with focuses on business start-ups, growth
and internationalisation. Peter is responsible for SimVenture’s global strategy
with education and training programmes now running in some 36 countries.
A graduate of University York St College, Peter is the author of the blog: ‘The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to Entrepreneurship’.
MERVI JANSSON-AALTO is a member of the Board of Directors of
InnoOmnia, a development unit of Omnia, The Joint Authority of Education
in Espoo, Finland. She is also Head of the InnoOmnia Learning Solutions
team. She is a qualified teacher with over ten years of teaching experience
ranging from secondary to university level. In addition to running her own
company, Ms. Jansson-Aalto has held management level positions in sales
and marketing. Her first work at Omnia focused on continuing vocational
education before joining a core innovation group which designed a pioneering
entrepreneurial vocational learning environment, InnoOmnia. She now works
on national and international capacity building projects. As MBA graduate,
Mervi is a member of the Finnish National Board of Education (Vocational
Learning Environments Steering Group). She keynotes regularly at national
and international conferences.
AZIZ JAOUANI has been an expert on human capital development in
the European Training Foundation since September 2007 He has over 26
.
years of professional experience firstly as a teacher and director of VET and
higher education schools as well as field experience in managing training
programmes. Aziz has also been an entrepreneur in the textile and clothing
sector. A graduate engineer from the Ecole Supérieure des Industries Textiles
in Lyon, Aziz also holds a Master of Sciences degree from the Mohammed V
University of Oujda.
THORSTEN JAHNKE is a shareholder and has been CEO of iq-consult since
2005. After his training as an industrial clerk and a degree in educational
management and politics (FU Berlin) he sat on various managment boards
within a broad range of businesses and organisations. Mr Jahnke is a
member of the international Social Return on Investment Network.
21

22. ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIĆ is an advisor and trainer at the Regional
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Valjevo, Serbia. The Chamber serves
around 4,000 companies and 15,000 micro-enterprises. The lion’s share of
Aleksander’s work involves training for export management with particular
reference to market research. In 2010, Aleksandar undertook market research
for Serbian producers of dried fruit. The outcomes of the project were a
business-to-business fair involving Serbian producers and Russian traders
and the establishment of National Association of Serbian Prune Producers.
Results are paying off in terms of export of dried fruit from Serbia to Russia.
Aleksandar is a specialist in organisational psychology and is a member of
European Association of Transactional Analysis. He applies psychotherapeutic
approaches in his individual counselling and group training.
VARAZDAT KARAPETYAN is Director of the SME Development National
Center of Armenia (SMEDNC) and led the elaboration of 2011 national SME
strategy. Dr. Karapetyan is the former Chair of the Chamber of Commerce
and Industry of Gegharkunik. His specific expertise is in local economic
development with particular reference to business start-ups and support. Dr.
Karapetyan is a certified entrepreneurship trainer and a promoter of micro-
franchising in horticulture and ICT. He holds a PhD in political economy from
the Lomonosov Moscow State University.
GAVRIL LASKU has more than 15 years of experience in the public sector
and socio-economic development activities with government institutions and
donor programs in Albania through USAID, EU, GTZ, ETF OECD etc,. Building
,
on his expert knowledge of the private sector, particularly in entrepreneurship
and SME development, and his lecturing experience at University of
Tirana and European University of Tirana he has been a key facilitator of
meetings between government officials, investors, entrepreneurs, and donor
representatives. As Executive Director of the SME Agency and Director
of Enterprise Development and Export promotion at Government Agency
for Business and Investment- ALBINVEST, he has worked on “Company
Growth and Competitiveness” component of Business and Investment
Strategy of the government of Albania. In this context he has contributed
to SME development as the National Coordinator of EU Charter and Small
Business Act in Albania (2003-2010). He is currently working as expert of
entrepreneurship and enterprise skills development at the European Training
Foundation.
As project leader for enterprise at ‘iq consult’, DENISE LIST supports young,
unemployed people with business start-up training. An educationalist by
training, her work involves one-to-one assessment of young people prior
to engagement on a training programme. Key to her work is cooperation
with large enterprises (e.g. the German railway company, Deutsche Bahn)
to determine marketable business ideas for those young people considering
business start-up. Inspired by Norbert Kunz, a renowned social entrepreneur,
Denise is driven by the idea of solving social problems in a sustainable way
and her passion to enable young people to create their own future.
22

23. DENISE LOUGHRAN has been working at the ETF in the capacity of
Knowledge Management Officer within the Enterprise Skills Team since
2010, where she has undertaken a number of assignments relating to
entrepreneurship education in ETF partner countries, in particular the
Middle East and in Central Asia. Previously she worked for twelve years
in different UN and EU agencies within the domains of knowledge
management and expertise development. Denise’s interest is primarily in
the field of the learning process and the learning environment, where she
has a specific interest in in the development of teachers and trainers in
entrepreneurship education. She graduated from the Faculty of Economics
of Queen’s University Belfast, and has a Master Degree in Human Resource
Development from the University of Leicester, UK.
RANIA LTEIF JALKH is the Executive Director of INJAZ Lebanon, a nonprofit
non- governmental educational organization dedicated to empowering youth
to succeed in a global economy. Rania leads the strategic efforts of the
organization in supporting the education authorities in Lebanon on curriculum
reform and teacher developments for entrepreneurial learning. She also
leads the engagement of the private sector on entrepreneurial learning
developments. Before joining INJAZ Lebanon, Rania has held a range of
posts in areas such as communication, project management and community
development. She trained on film-making and developed tools to engage
children as agents of transformational development in their community.
In 2007 she produced and directed documentaries promoting human and
,
children’s rights.
MARIA LVOVA is a Project Officer at the European Training Foundation
(ETF). She is currently working on several ETF country projects mostly in the
Central Asian region, as well as the ETF project on qualifications frameworks.
She is the most recent member of the ETF Entrepreneurial Learning Team
contributing greatly with her project management skills, knowledge of
development issues of small enterprises and the Eastern European and
Central Asian regions, as well as her Russian language skills. Prior to joining
ETF she worked in the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in
,
Bilbao, which promotes safety in the work place. She has been actively
involved in the European Good Practice Competition and Healthy Workplaces
biannual campaign. Maria has a degree in History and International relations
from Moscow State University, and a European Master’s Degree in
Knowledge Management from Jaume I University, Alicante.
GULBAKHOR MAKHKAMOVA is the Deputy General Director of IMON, a
microfinance organization in Tajikistan, where she is a member of its Board
of Directors and a frequent keynote speaker at high level events. With more
than 15 years of professional experience in microfinance and the public
sector she has worked on implementing governmental programmes on
equal rights and opportunities for men and women, strengthening women’s
economic status, and eradicating violence and discrimination against women.
She has a Master’s degree in finance and credit from the State University of
Tajikistan, a PhD in gender issues, and is the author of ‘Gender and Equality’,
as well as other socially orientated books where she seeks to inspire the
next generation of woman entrepreneurs. She has been actively involved in
the design and implementation of research projects addressing the status of
women in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Her special interests focus on effective
delivery of services with the full participation and integration of women,
poverty alleviation and economic development through empowerment, as
well as provision of access to micro-financing on a sustainable basis for the
most vulnerable part of the population.
23

24. MAHA MOHY ASHMAWY is passionate about the economic empowerment
of women, building an entrepreneurial culture and supporting, in particular,
women owners of small and medium enterprises. After graduating from
Cairo University with a degree in medicine, she established her own
company in jewellery and handicraft. Today, she is the Head of the Marketing
Committee of the Egyptian Business Women association (EBWA) actively
providing support to women entrepreneurs in helping them to market their
products. Moreover, as a member of the Board of the Hatshepsut Women
business Development Center and Business Incubator. She plays a key role
in further supporting women entrepreneurs to build their capacity, develop
marketing tools and gain access to the global market.
FIRUZA NABIEVA is an experienced trainer and had eight years of
professional experience in Human Resources, working as a director of
the Career center at the State University, prior to taking on the role of HR
Manager in IMON, a microfinance organization in Tajikistan. She has been
involved in the development and implementation of various programs
focusing on improving the quality of education, employment of women,
youth entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment. As expert in staff
development and knowledge management, she has been cooperating with
numerous partner organizations and hundreds of people. She is responsible
for staff hiring and professional development of IMON’s 900 specialists, 37
per cent of which are women. IMON introduced a new start-up loan program
with entrepreneurship training, based on the ILO Get Ahead curriculum.
Firuza is a member of the Executive Management team, she created and
manages a cohort of trainers in IMON. Moreover, she is a member of the
National Association of Business Women of Tajikistan. Her attendance at the
Good Practice workshop in Brussels addresses some of the key challenges in
women empowerment and entrepreneurship in Tajikistan.
ELINA OKSANEN-YLIKOSKI is Director of InnoOmnia, a development
unit of Omnia, The Joint Authority of Education in Espoo, Finland. She is a
member of the Board of Omnia, and has financial and HR responsibility for
over 50 specialists, including teachers and project workers involved in over
100 development projects. She is a member of several steering groups of EU
and nationally funded projects focusing on innovative learning environments
for vocational students and start-ups. Her work experience includes the
development of corporate services at the Aalto University Business School
and planning and implementation of degree studies for professional sales
at the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences. She has also taught and
researched in sales and marketing. She is also one of the founding members
of the Global Sales Science Institute.
24

25. PAOLO PALAMITI is Scientific Director at the New International Business
Institute (NIBI), a specialist training agency of the Milan Chamber of
Commerce. His work particularly focuses on SME training needs for
international markets. He is responsible for the coordination of curricula
and teaching staff for the Institute’s Master’s degree, seminars as well
as customised training for executives. Prior to joining NIBI, he worked for
eight years as an advisor in the European Parliament on budget, internal
market, environment and external relations policies. He is a PhD candidate in
Economics and Philosophy at Sophia University (Vatican State University) in
Florence.
LJUBA PETROVIĆ is Advisor to President of Regional Chamber of Economy
Valjevo, Serbia. She is Secretary of the Board for International Cooperation
and a member of the Association for Banking and Insurance. Prior to joining
the Chamber, she worked for the Regional Agency for SME Development.
Ljuba’s present responsibilities include training and wider support services
for export promotion, and information services to SMEs (start-ups, growing
businesses, internationalisation). She is a member of Strategy Development
Working Group for Šumadija Region (Western Serbia).
With a Master’s degree in Finance and Human Resource Management
from the Sorbonne University, Paris, CLAIRE SADDY is also the founder
and president of two associations of women business managers in Lyon
which actively support the first incubator dedicated to women. As a
business manager, she specializes in consultancy on innovation, organizing
sessions on creativity, and training in inventive management. She advises
numerous large public and private French companies on innovation
incentives. She takes the lead in the organisation of many conferences
on women’s entrepreneurship, and was recognised by ‘Big Lyon’ for her
innovative educational approaches by becoming Forewoman of the ‘Jury
of the Trophies for Innovation’. Finally, Claire is an official member of the
World Entrepreneurship Forum and the “godmother” of a class at the Lyon
III University. She is the mother of a teenager, has a passion for climbing
in the Alps, and her objective is to help women to climb the summits of
entrepreneurship!
NAYEF STETIEH is the CEO of the Business Development Centre (BDC)
in Jordan. His vision is to boost the economic development of Jordan
through empowering Jordan’s young people and its entrepreneurs. An
innovator and social entrepreneur, Nayef brings over 22 years’ experience in
creating, implementing and managing diverse and ambitious projects. Under
his stewardship the BDC has become a national and regional resource,
launching entrepreneurial tools, providing training and mentoring for start-
up, early stage and growing SMEs, as well as providing business and export
development services. Nayef’s deep expertise and entrepreneurial spirit
continue to be the driving force behind BDC.
25

26. L.L.M. ULLA-LISA THORDÉN´s reason for being an ambassador is the same
as her company (Republic Consulting AB) mission since 1995 – to enhance
the importance of entrepreneurship and good salesmanship as key factors
in building successful companies and a healthy society, thereby securing
the future for as many as possible. Her ambassadorship has had a practical
approach through inspirational talks, workshops, promoting interactive
learning and problem solving with women and students, as well as actively
blogging. In addition she has coached individuals, written articles and for
six years now has been in the jury for “My Mission” the largest competition
,
of young entrepreneurial ideas in Sweden. Many entrepreneurs attribute
her as having had a decisive role in their journey towards starting their own
company. Among her books are“How To Sell Yourself and Make Them Pay” ,
sales book of the Year 2005 and “Dirt Poor and Full of Ideas – survival guide
for creative people who hate selling” nominated as marketing book of 2010.
,
GUNILLA THORSTENSSON has been working since 2007 as a Programme
Manager at the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth,
Tillväxtverket, leading a team of ten people implementing the programme
‘Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship’ including the Ambassadors for
Women´s Entrepreneurship until 2015. She has an MBA from Lund
University, specialising in German and marketing. In 1995 she took
up a position at Nutek, where she worked on Start-up Line and the
Entrepreneur´s Guide. In 2001 she became Head of Unit of Business
Information, responsible for setting out the guidelines for the current on-line
Business Guide, www.verksamt.se, and the Start-up Day concept. As an
expert in the field she is a keynote speaker on women´s entrepreneurship
at various events in Sweden and abroad. Since 2008 she has blogged at
www.ambassadorer.se as the “Blogging Bureaucrat” the only employee at
,
Tillväxtverket to do so.
MONICA TOSETTO has been working at the ETF since 2010 as Finance and
Procurement assistant. Before joining the ETF she worked in the European
,
Commission and also in the private sector for many years in the areas of
financial and administrative support within small enterprises. She graduated
in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation in Milan. By participating in the ETF Good
Practice Conference Organising Committee, she has had the opportunity
to learn more about entrepreneurship and enterprise skills, develop her
knowledge of small enterprises and project management skills to further
apply in future assignments within ETF .
26

27. PROJECT DOSSIER
PHASE 1: ETF PEER REVIEW PROJECT
WORKING DOCUMENTS FOR CONFERENCE CONSULTATION
1. INTRODUCTION
With increasing expectations on policymakers and practitioners to develop more cost-effective ways of
developing human capital, good practice sharing is one option to reduce time, cost and effort in bringing
innovation and value to the enterprise world. Good practice developments, however, are constrained by
two factors. Firstly, access to good practice is most often confined to closed networks or specific events
(e.g. conferences, seminars). This means that training providers and businesses often rely on hearsay for
access to more innovative developments in their field. Secondly, good practice is often subjectively defined
i.e. training providers promote their work without any systematic review or evaluation. Borrowing on such
practice therefore introduces risk as to appropriateness, costs and transferability. Given interest and value
in good practice exchange, effort to promote quality assurance in good practice is therefore necessary.
This note provides an overview of a two-year ETF project (2012-2013) developed to bring forward good
practice sharing in training between EU member countries and ETF partner countries, as well as between
ETF partner countries. The note, in particular, addresses the issues and outcomes of the project’s first
phase in 2012, as well as identifying questions to be considered in the project conference to be held in
Brussels, 14-16 November 2012.
2. AIM AND OBJECTIVE
The aim of the project is to explore how the good practice provisions of the EU Council Regulation which
govern ETF activities can be systematically addressed to support its partner countries in developing more
cost-effective ways to promote human capital development.
More specifically, the objective of the project is, through the development of a good practice peer review
method and tools, to improve confidence in good practice exchange between training providers in the areas
of a) entrepreneurship promotion and b) skills for small businesses.
3. THE PROJECT
The project centres on a number of education and training providers (good practitioners) from EU and
ETF partner countries whose knowledge and expertise are the primary source for reflection, critique and
development of a good practice peer review methodology and supporting tools.
I) THE POLICY AREAS
Three policy areas covered in the project were selected given their importance to competitiveness and
employment in all EU and ETF partner countries. All three areas feature in the EU’s 2020 strategy for
growth.
ƒƒ raining for young people’s start-ups (up to 30 years of age);
t
ƒƒ raining/mentoring for women entrepreneurs;
t
ƒƒ romoting skills for small businesses for international trade.
p
27

28. II) THE GOOD PRACTITIONERS
For the project’s first phase, good practitioners were identified following a call for good practice published
on ETF website, as well as dissemination of project information through social media and wider networks.
Expressions of interest involved the completion of an application form which focused on the good practice
being put forward for the project (see Annex 1).
Good practices were sought from any organisation (public, private, not-profit) which designs and delivers
education and training in the above three thematic areas. This included:
ƒƒ usiness support organisations with a developed training profile (e.g. Chamber of Commerce, SME
b
agency);
ƒƒ raining organisations which develop training for specific target groups young people or women
t
(employment service, vocational training centres, specialist NGOs);
ƒƒ small businesses which have in-house training to promote knowledge, competences or skills.
The twelve projects selected to participate Phase 1 of the project are listed at Annex 2. They represent the
following countries with an even breakdown between countries from the EU and ETF partner regions.
PHASE 1 PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES
EUROPEAN PARTNER
UNION COUNTRIES
Finland Armenia
France Egypt
Germany Jordan
Italy Lebanon
Sweden Serbia
United Kingdom Tajikistan
A second call for good practice proposals for 2013 will be launched in November 2012.
III) DURATION OF THE PROJECT
The project runs over a two-year period (2012-2013).
The first phase of the project (2012) was dedicated to developing and road-testing a good practice
assessment methodology and support tools which were elaborated by ETF and the good practitioners. The
second year of the project (2013) will continue the road-testing process, borrowing on lessons learnt from
the previous year, and applying improved peer review materials and procedures.
IV) KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN PHASE 1
Experts from each of the twelve good practitioner organisations participated in two workshops in Turin. A
first workshop in May 2012 developed further detail on the good practice (see Annex 3) and road-tested
peer assessment tools and a peer assessment methodology. The outcomes of the workshops were as
follows:
28

29. ƒƒ ssessment dimensions defined as follows:
a
ƒƒ raining needs analysis
t
ƒƒ training design
ƒƒ training delivery
ƒƒ onitoring and evaluation
m
ƒƒ training improvements
ƒƒ marketing
ƒƒ peer review record tools for individual peers and peer review committees (see Annex 4);
ƒƒ five-step, Likert assessment method agreed backed up with the criteria or descriptors each of the five,
a
incremental levels (see Annex 5);
ƒƒ n appreciation by the good practitioners of the opportunity for peer review and peer learning in the
a
process, as well as thematic networking opportunities.
V) CONSULTATION AND DISSEMINATION: THE NOVEMBER 2012
CONFERENCE
All twelve practitioners from Phase 1 of the project will participate in an ETF conference on 14-16
November 2012. At the conference, the good practitioners will share experience from the project with a
wider group of education and training providers and policymakers. The objective of the conference is to
determine interest and value of the peer review process as well as to garner ideas and recommendations
for Phase 2 of the project which begins in 2013 (see below). The conference will show-case the twelve
good practices and allow for strategic networking and exchange. More formal areas of the agenda will
address the good practice methodology, peer review tools and wider good practice quality assurance
issues.
At the November conference, five questions will be addressed:
ƒƒ hat added value does peer review of good practice bring to a training provider?
W
ƒƒ hat aspects of the ETF peer assessment methodology could be improved?
W
ƒƒ ow can good practice inspire policy?
H
ƒƒ n completion of the 2012-2013 ETF project how could ETF peer review methodology be scaled up?
O
ƒƒ ould the ETF good practice methodology be extended to other ETF human capital areas?
C
VI) PHASE 2
At the November conference ETF will launch a second call for good practice projects to participate in the
second phase of the project which will run from January – November 2013. The call will also be published
on ETF website, with details disseminated through social media as well as policy and practitioner networks.
A list of all countries eligible to participate in Phase 2 of the project with ETF support is listed at Annex
6. Given budgetary constraints only twelve good practitioners can be supported from ETF budget in
Phase 2. However, a further six education and training providers which are able to meet their own project
participation costs may also join the project. Eligibility criteria to be defined following the November 2012
conference will apply to all applicants.
29

30. 30

31. ANNEX 1
PROJECT APPLICATION FORM
This annex contains the instructions and application forms used in the call for good practice. Intelligence
gathered from the submissions was used to hep the ETF to identify the good prctitioners who participated
in the first phase of the project in 2012.
BRINGING QUALITY TO GOOD PRACTICE
PROMOTION: ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND
ENTERPRISE SKILLS
BACKGROUND
With increasing expectations on policymakers and practitioners to develop more cost-effective ways of
developing human capital, good practice sharing has been identified as one option to reduce time, cost and
effort in bringing innovation and value to the education and training system. Good practice developments,
however, are constrained by two factors in particular. Firstly, access to good practice is often confined
to specific events (e.g. conferences, seminars) and closed networks with many education and training
providers, in particular, particularly on hearsay to enable access to more innovative developments in their
field. Secondly, good practice for the most-part is subjectively defined i.e. training providers adept at self-
marketing make particular efforts to publicise their activities without any systematic effort to assess its
viability for transferability to another environment.
Through this project ETF addresses these two concerns by road-testing a peer review mechanism to
improve confidence in good practice sharing and to determine options for more open access to good
practice.
AIM AND OBJECTIVE
The aim of the project is to explore how the good practice provisions of ETF Council Regulation can be
more systematically addressed to support partner countries in developing more cost-effective ways of
promoting human capital development.
The objective of the project to develop and road test a methodology (and support tools) to improve
confidence and exchange between training providers in the areas of a) entrepreneurship promotion and b)
small business skills.
THE GOOD PRACTITIONERS
The project will involve 12 pre-identified practitioners operational in three policy themes (4 practitioners per
theme):
31

32. ƒƒ raining for young people’s start-ups (up to 30 years of age);
t
ƒƒ raining/mentoring for women entrepreneurs;
t
ƒƒ romoting skills for small enterprises embarking on international trade.
p
The good practitioners will be any organisation which designs and delivers education and training in the
above three thematic areas. This could include:
ƒƒ business support organisations with a developed training profile (e.g. Chamber of Commerce, SME
agency;
ƒƒ raining organisations which develop training for specific target groups young people or women
t
(employment service, vocational training centres, specialist NGOs);
ƒƒ mall businesses themselves which have in-house training to promote knowledge, competences or
s
skills. This could include more innovative ways to promote human resources e.g. staff rotation, on-the-job
mentoring, e-learning.
The good practitioners will work as a team. They will develop and road-test a peer review method which
could ultimately be carried forward for more strategic applications by ETF from 2013 onwards.
ETF will pre-select the good practitioners on the basis of a number of criteria including results/impact of
practice, transferability, duration of good practice and dissemination. Additional criteria for engaging the
practitioner into the project include readiness to share experience and ability to work effectively in English.
THE WORKSHOPS
All good practitioners will be invited to a two-day workshop in Turin in May 2012 (dates to be determined)
whose objective is to develop a peer review method and tools. The workshop will be facilitated by
ETF experts. After the workshop, the experts will continue to liaise with the ETF and fellow experts on
improvements and finalisation of a good practice tool kit. The tool kit will be completed by mid-July 2012. A
final workshop will be called in September 2012.
THE BRUSSELS MEETING
The good practitioners will participate in a three-day meeting in Brussels (13-15 November 2012). The
meeting will comprise policymakers and practitioners from ETF’s 30 partner countries. The partner country
participants will be chosen on the basis of their work and interest in the three themes addressed in
the project: young people’s start-ups, female entrepreneurship and skills for international trade. Other
participants at the meeting include high-level representatives from the Brussels-based EU institutions and
the world of small business.
The meeting will show-case the 12 good practices and allow for strategic networking and exchange. More
formal areas of the agenda will address the good practice methodology, peer review tools and wider good
practice quality assurance issues.
Each practitioner will work with ETF on 13 November to rehearse the proceedings of the meeting and
prepare a good practice market place stand. On 14 November, each practitioner will present their good
practice in plenary session before joining the good practice market place. Through the market place,
conference participants will have direct access to the good practitioners and their products. Finally, all four
practitioners representing each of the three policy themes will host a thematic laboratory. Each laboratory
will allow participants to put more developed questions to the practitioners in relation to a) their good
practice and b) the overall peer review method used for the thematic area.
32

33. CALL FOR GOOD PRACTICES
ETF is presently seeking nominations from good practitioners to participate in the project. Note that while
ETF has a particular interest in policies which enable and promote good practice, this project focuses
specifically what follows policy: hands-on design and delivery of training.
Four good practices will be selected for each of the three policy themes. For each of the themes, ETF is
seeking to identify a) two good practices from EU member countries and b) two good practices from ETF
partner countries.
Good practices should have a very clear and explicit human capital dimension i.e. education, training or
other staff development feature (e.g. mentoring). Consequently, networking which may have an inherent
human capital development line, would not be sufficient unless it forms part of a clearly defined human
capital development initiative.
To assist ETF with the selection of the good practitioners, a form is attached to this note which interested
parties should complete and return to ETF by 23 March 2012.
COSTS
The ETF will pay
ƒƒ urin workshop: travel and costs for an expert (ETF project expert) from each good practitioner
T
organisation selected to participate in the project;
ƒƒ russels meeting: for travel and costs for a) the ETF project experts and b) one companion expert from
B
each of the 12 good practitioner environments.
The project does not involve professional fees.
MORE INFORMATION
Contact Denise Loughran at ETF: tel: +39 011 630 2231, Email: dll@etf.europa.eu
33

34. ETF GOOD PRACTICE FORM
To be considered for participation in the project, please submit this form completing all sections as fully as
possible. Any questions, including completed forms, should be addressed to Denise Loughran (email: dll@
etf.europa.eu; tel: +39 011 630 2231).
Deadline for submission of forms: 23 March 2012.
TITLE
Please provide full title of the training initiative
CONTACT
Name
Organisation
Address
Email
Tel:
SUMMARY OF INITIATIVE AND BUDGET
Please provide a concrete description of the training initiative, including how long it has been going on
and approximate annual running costs
OBJECTIVES
A.
B.
C.
34

35. IMPACT, RESULTS
Please provide summary details of the impact of the training initiative and/or results to date
TARGET GROUPS
Who are the primary target groups of the training (e.g. pupils/students, unemployed, war widows,
immigrants, refugees, women, start-ups, growth enterprises)
EVIDENCE OF DISSEMINATION AND REPLICATION OF THE INITIATIVE
How is information on the training initiative shared (website, newsletter, conferences, other)?
SUCCESS FACTORS AND INNOVATION
Provide 3 success factors associated with the training initiative.
A.
B.
C.
What do you think is innovative about your training environment?
35

36. EVALUATION
Has the training initiative been independently evaluated? Please provide conclusions of evaluation (and
website access to the report, if available)?
What factors point to or have been key to the continuity of training initiative?
SHARING AND CO-DEVELOPMENTS
What aspects of the training initiative are you prepared for share (e.g. curriculum, training materials,
assessment tools; teacher/trainer experience)?
CROSS-CULTURAL COOPERATION AND LANGUAGES
What value does your organisation see in working with training providers from different countries and
cultures?
Will the experts proposed to join the project be able to work effectively in English?
36

37. ANNEX 2
THE GOOD PRACTITIONERS (PHASE 1)
Following the call for proposals 12 training providers were selected to participate in the project. For
each of the three thematic areas (youth entrepreneurship, women’s entrepreneurship and skills for the
internationalisation of small businesses), two training providers from the ETF partner countries were
selected.
ARMENIA EGYPT
SMEDNC of Armenia Egyptian Business Women Association
5 Mher Mkrtchyan Street 14 Syria st, Mohandseen
0010 Yerevan Cairo
FINLAND FRANCE
Omnia Rhone Alpes Pionnieres
InnoOmnia 17 rue Chavant
Kirkkokatu 16 A 69007 Lyon
02070 Espoo
GERMANY ITALY
Gemeinnuetzige iq consult GmbH New International Business Institute
Project Enterprise Via Camperio 1
Schiffbauergasse 7 20123 Milan
14467 Potsdam
JORDAN LEBANON
Business Development Center INJAZ Lebanon
P Box 941865
.O Haber Building,1st floor, Horsh Tabet, Metn
11194 Amman 707 5501 Beirut
SERBIA SWEDEN
Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry National Agency for Regional and Economic
Valjevo Development
Karadjordjeva 64 Box 4044
14000 Valjevo 10261 Stockholm
TAJIKISTAN UNITED KINGDOM
MLO “IMON INTERNATIONAL, LLC
” Venture Simulations Ltd
157 street K.Khujandi
, South Newlands, Selby Road, Riccall
Khujand, Tajikistan YO19 6QR York
37

38. 38

39. ANNEX 3
THE WORKSHOP QUESTIONNAIRE
To encourage the good practitioners to reflect particularly on the curriculum or course content, as well
as the teaching and learning materials, all of them were provided with a questionnaire which built on the
initial intelligence gathered trhough the application forms. This information provided a spring-board for more
developed discussions in the two workshops as inputs to the good practice peer review tools.
WORKSHOP 1 QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire has been sent to all 12 good practitioners selected to join the ETF good practice project.
As the nominated expert for your project to participate in the workshop, we would be grateful if you could
complete this questionnaire in hand-writing.
The objective of the information provided through the questionnaire is to assist ETF in drawing up the
agenda for 8-9 May; and to identify issues which require more specific attention in the agenda. By
completing the questionnaire, it will also be useful for the expert to prepare for the workshop. This
information will not be distributed to anyone outside the ETF team.
The questionnaire follows a typical training cycle around which the workshop is designed (agenda to
follow). Some questions you will find easier to answer than others. Should you not be able to complete any
of the questions for whatever reason, do not worry. However, please try to complete as fully as possible.
This will help both you and the team at ETF to prepare better for the workshop.
Note that when the questionnaire refers to training this should be interpreted in its widest sense as any
staff development measure whose objective is to improve employability, entrepreneurial capacity or
performance within an existing job.
Please take time to read the questionnaire (all sections) before sitting down to complete it. It is purposely
simple to allow for a quick response from those who work in the training initiative which featured in earlier
expression of interest submitted to the ETF team
We would be very pleased to have your questionnaire completed by hand and returned to Denise Loughran
(fax: +39 011 630 22 00; pdf file: dll@etf.europa.eu) by noon 3 May 2012.
39

40. GENERAL INFORMATION
My name is
My organisation is called
I am from (the country where you provide training services predominantly)
The title of the training project(s) I will share in the workshop is:
My position/role in the training project is:
The thing I like most about the training project :-)
The thing I like least about the training project :-(
TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
For my training project, the steps I took to better understand the training needs of my trainees were as
follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I did not undertake a training needs assessment
40

41. THE TRAINING PROJECT
The name of my training project is:
The primary clients of my training project are:
1.
2.
Secondary clients include:
3.
4.
I did not have any specific client groups
These are the learning outcomes for participants who follow my training project (i.e. what they will know
or what they will be able to do):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
There are no learning outcomes specifically designed for the project
41

42. THE TRAINING PROJECT
I use the following training methods in my project (tick those you use and provide a brief description).
†† Lectures/presentations only
†† Lecture/presentations followed by questions & discussions
†† Skills training with direct instruction by an expert in the field
†† On-the-job training (with general supervision as opposed to instruction)
†† Role play, simulation
†† Structured mentoring (as opposed to general supervisory support)
†† Self learning/homework/assignments
†† Case study
†† Training games
†† Group exercises (e.g. focus groups, activity based group work)
†† Distance learning
42

43. †† Engaging guest speakers or role models
†† Social networking
†† Other training methods (please provide details)
I USE THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS IN MY TRAINING COURSE
Please indicate which materials/examples you would like to share into the workshop
†† Handouts involving exercises Share? †† Yes †† No
†† Audiovisual materials Share? †† Yes †† No
†† Reading materials Share? †† Yes †† No
†† Powerpoints presentations, transparent overheads Share? †† Yes †† No
†† Blackboards or Smartboards Share? †† Yes †† No
†† Personal computers, software Share? †† Yes †† No
†† Social media (e.g. facebook, twitter) Share? †† Yes †† No
†† Other, please specify Share? †† Yes †† No
I undertake
†† An assessment of trainees before they join the training project (entry)
†† Regular assessment of the trainees during the training project
†† An assessment of trainees at the end of the training project (exit)
†† No entry or exit assessment
†† Follow-up tracking of trainees
Please indicate if you are prepared to share examples of your assessment tools at the workshop.
†† Yes
†† No
43

44. My project involves
Tick all boxes which apply to your training project
†† The trainer alone
†† A number of trainers (this could include assistants)
†† Experts (e.g. bank official, entrepreneur etc.) engaged for all or some of the project
†† Training at the premises of the training provider
†† Training on site at the premises of the trainee
†† Training at the premises of business support organisation or training provider
†† Mentoring (face-to-face including telephone, email support)
†† Distance training (no contact with the trainee).
†† Distance training with some contact (telephone, email, video-conferencing) with trainees
†† Distance training accompanied by structured face-to-face sessions with trainees
My project includes
†† Evaluation or structured feedback by those who follow the project
†† Self-evaluation of trainers (e.g. how I could have done better?)
†† Evaluation by independent experts with knowledge in the field
†† Other evaluation activities (please specify)
Please indicate if you are prepared to share examples of your evaluation tools at the workshop.
†† Yes
†† No
I use the following means to publicise my training project
†† Website
†† Newspapers, press, television, radio
†† Social media
†† Conferences
†† Networks
†† Professional publications (covering my training activity and results)
44

45. The last time I made improvements to my training project was
†† Never
†† In the last year
†† More than a year ago
†† Other, please specify.
What prompted me to improve my training project was
†† Feedback from my trainees or clients
†† Ideas I got from my colleagues, networks or others working in my field
†† New policies or regulations which affect my sector
†† Competition from other training providers
†† Something I read in the press or publication
†† Something I read on the internet
†† Ideas I got from my use of social media
†† Inspiration I got from a conference, seminar, workshop
†† Coaching or professional advisory/consultancy services
†† Other, please specify.
45

46. I use the following social media for professional purposes
†† Facebook
†† Twitter
†† MySpace
†† Ning
†† LinkedIN
†† Google Plus/Profiles
†† Other (please specify)
†† I do not use social media for professional purposes
Would you be prepared to use social media in this project? Please tick one box only. Yes
†† Yes
†† No
†† Maybe
Thank you for completing this questionnaire. By going through the issues in the questionnaire it may
already have prompted reflections, questions or new ideas about the training that you design and deliver.
This is what lies behind the project we will be co-working together, kicking off on 7-8 May. We look forward
to working with you.
ETF Enterprising People.
46

47. ANNEX 4
PEER REVIEW ASSESSMENT DIMENSIONS &
DESCRIPTORS
The good practitioners and ETF experts elaborated a number of tools for peer reviewing good practice that
were then road tested by the good practitioners themselves and improved. A number of training levels or
dimensions were defined covering a typical training cycle. Additionally, an activity ladder for each of the
levels using a scale of 1 to 5) (descriptors) was drawn up. These allowed for an assessment of how well
developed each level of the traning was in the training project under peer review.
47

48. TRAINING LEVEL: TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
ƒƒ Evidence of proxy-TNA process: data/analysis borrowed from other training environments with risk that training design is less relevant to local
1
market
ƒƒ TNA tools available but evidence of TNA is confined to ad hoc or one-off data/intelligence gathering
2
ƒƒ TNA is undertaken by training provider but is driven by actors external to the training environment (e.g. donors)
ƒƒ Evidence of non-structured links between training provider and world of enterprise specifically addressing TNA
ƒƒ At least one TNA tool (e.g. survey, focus group) exploited for purposes of training design and delivery
3
ƒƒ At least one example that TNA tools and analysis for project under review are sensitive to specific target groups (e.g. women, youth, special
needs, minorities)
ƒƒ TNA reflects scale of training provision in terms of numbers involved in training and geographical spread
ƒƒ TNA is core feature of training provider’s business or strategic organisation plan and includes a dedicated staff member responsible for TNA
4
48
ƒƒ At least one example shared which convinces peer reviewers of innovation in the TNA process
ƒƒ An example of a signed agreement between training provider with industry or sector-specific association on TNA developments
ƒƒ TNA includes analysis of sector trends (trade, turnover, employment, skills) using primary (e.g. TNA survey) and secondary data (e.g. sector
export study).
ƒƒ Evidence that TNA intelligence from the project has been provided by training provider for wider policy debate e.g. sector-specific, government
5 policies (education, training, employment, enterprise, economic development)
ƒƒ At least one example shared which convinces peer reviewers of innovative use of technology for TNA process (e-surveys).
ƒƒ TNA findings are compiled on a dedicated TNA-knowledge management system.
†† Weak
†† Very good
Final result †† Satisfactory Comments
†† Excellent
†† Good