It’s almost impossible to escape the virtual world of notifications that dictates our lives. Today a whopping two billion people are active on Facebook at least once a month. LinkedIn has over 500 million members. Twitter has over 320 million users daily. Considering other social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, the impression is like we started to live in a hyper-real world. Entrepreneurs use social media as a marketing tool because through this tool they can build quickly a network of supporters and promote their products which are vital for business growth. Social media can provide a huge boost and today no business can survive without a powerful online presence. It gives a chance to further the reach of the business brand and expand the marketing efforts, connecting with audiences on a deeper and more personal level.

Entrepreneurs are highly motivated to use social media platforms because it requires minimum or even no budget to advertise their products to a huge, targeted mass of people. That is why social media are making young people more entrepreneurial than ever. People are online and that tells us that like never before it is relatively easy to start a business or social cause by just using the Internet and smartphones that are now an essential part of our lives. That is why we want to implement this project: to inspire young people to use their smartphones and social media platforms as assets, not liabilities. Let’s use them as young people and youth organisations to raise awareness on social issues or empower our peers and target groups to change and participate in our efforts to make a difference.

The main aim of the project is to bring together 36 young people and youth leaders in order to introduce them with the philosophy of entrepreneurship and social media platforms as an asset for starting or managing businesses and tools for initiating social changes.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

• To raise awareness of 36 young people and youth leaders about entrepreneurship education and improve their entrepreneurial mind-set and skills;
• To stimulate young people’s spirit of initiative, creativity and active participation in society;
• To combat youth unemployment as a common problem in Europe by educating and improving employability skills (especially in ICT) of young people through NFE;
• To foster mutual understanding, intercultural learning and cooperation between 36 young people and youth leaders from different cultures and backgrounds;
• To educate how to use and manage social media platforms in a productive, innovative, meaningful and entrepreneurial way;
• To foster international cooperation and partnership building between 6 youth organisations and promote Erasmus+ programme as a tool for improving young people’s employability and entrepreneurial spirit.

METHODOLOGY:

The youth exchange will use methods that are based on non-formal and experiential education in order to provide all the participants with the information needed to enhance their learning process, but also in order to create an inclusive and learner-centered learning environment. Methods that will be used will include: getting-to-know each other, ice-breakers and team building, energizers, discussions, debates, working in groups, learning-by-doing activities, peer-to-peer work, simulations, presentations, analysis and comparison, theatre and role-playing, personal and group reflections, open-space and outdoor activities.

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The project “Young Online Entrepreneurs” is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union through the Key Action 1: Mobility for young people and granted by the Macedonian National agency for European educational programs and mobility.