05 May FUNDECYT’s first workshop in Navalmoral de la Mata

The 18th of April 2023 marks the official launch of the second edition of the CREA RAISE Youth programme with the celebration of its first workshop, following the format of the Social Service Jams designed within the framework of the RAISE Youth project. Working together with the staff of Zurbarán Secondary School, located in Navalmoral de la Mata, a village in the north region of Extremadura, the team of FUNDECYT-PCTEX were able to engage young people from the Administration and Management and the Commerce Vocational Training programmes in the entrepreneurial process, at least in an introductory level.

During this workshop, young people learned about different business models suitable for rural environment, taking good practices of different companies of Extremadura as examples of these models. They were also trained in the principles of social entrepreneurship as a formula for economic and sustainable balance, generating a debate on entrepreneurship, its possibilities and its impact on the communities and surroundings.

Once they participants understood the concept of social entrepreneurship, they started working on finding solutions to the problems and challenges they have detected. Following the Design Thinking methodology, the participants came up with several business ideas that tackle those challenges the perceived as important in Navalmoral, such as:

• A rental service of transport and agricultural equipment, similar to those of car rental apps, that target people with small agricultural business who cannot afford to own them (e.g. a tractor or a trimmer). This encourages community use in support of the SDGs.
• A company of wending planning and organisation of cultural events specialising in the Muslim community; given the high volume of this population in the area and the few services or businesses focused on them.
• A family-friendly cultural summer camp where different visions and traditions are shared in an idle space that incorporates this multicultural approach (music, traditional events, worship, etc.) into a traditional camp to educate children with the richness of a multicultural perspective.

This first workshop has proven as a success and, according to the impressions gathered after the event, all the participants were highly motivated to keep on working in their business ideas. Little by little, the RAISE Youth project is finding its place in the rural areas of the region and with every activity the concept of social innovation and rural entrepreneurship is becoming more appealing to young people in the territories and we expect it to be a catalyst for change in Extremadura.