From 20 to 23 November 2023, the last Public Seminar and Study Visit took place in Nikšić, as part of the european project Make it Grow, promoted by the Erasmus+ - Capacity Building in the youth field, in which the Municipality of Cinisello Balsamo is lead partner.
4 people, like young entrepreneurs and administratives, for each country partner (Italy, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro and Turkey) took part in this mobility.
The first day’s public seminar was attended by people of all ages interested in entrepreneurship, the public sector, non-profit organisations, youth engagement, traditional crafts, start-ups, tourism, innovation, media and the Erasmus programme.
The activity took place at the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship IEC Tehnopolis, a centre for the development of start-ups and entrepreneurship in Montenegro and, for the occasion, the project manager of the centre explained to us the services they offer and how they support and foster the creation of entrepreneurial projects.
The seminar was a valuable opportunity to network and talk about entrepreneurship in the Balkans, in particular how to support social enterprises in the area (we also presented the policy paper, the result of the project).
In the afternoon, we visited the Tibor Youth Centre, a shared space where young people from Nikšić can develop skills, unleash creativity and socialise.
The centre includes a multimedia room, a studio, a design desk and a music room, as well as a creative mini-academy where young people can paint, sculpt and do graphic design under the supervision of educators.
On the second day, the participants continued working on their project path towards the Hackaton in Turkey. After leaving Albania with a workshop on project design in which the participants’ project ideas were defined, in Montenegro, Giulia, part of the Meraki - Cultural Desires staff, led a workshop on defining a timeline, in which the participants planned on a timeline every action they want to implement to realise their projects.
Following the workshop, participants from Italy ran an activity on how to create the visual identity of a project.
In the afternoon, we travelled to the rural village of Kraljev Zabran, and were hosted by the Miličić family, who, dealing mainly with agriculture, livestock and gardening, have been attracting rural tourism visitors from around the world for eight years now, offering them an authentic experience of their tradition. During the visit, they let us taste their homemade products and told us about their business and how they want to grow in the coming years.
We then visited the Ethno Village Montegoat, a place where tourism and production come together, demonstrating the family’s commitment to keeping rural communities alive. Besides the restaurant, the ethno village has authentic stone houses, a dairy, a drying plant, a large guesthouse, a swimming pool, bungalows, orchards, greenhouses and gardens. The dairy, built in 2016, processes 4,000 litres of milk per day on the goat farm, creating various goat milk products such as cheese and milk.
The project has attracted the attention of national and local media, the Montenegro project partners have made two television appearances (one of which can be seen at the following link: https://youtu.be/G8wxa6aRbQQ?si=ya8Zq8Wr_D-turIT.), and one on Radio Montenegro.
If you are curious to follow the development of the participants’ projects and what will happen in Turkey, keep following us!
