Small businesses are one of the main components of economic growth, social development and quality of life for EU citizens. However, the first steps of growth, especially the transition from being a sole trader to hiring a first employee(s), are not always easy. Lack of knowledge about the regulatory environment is a factor, but studies show that barriers are often perceived, and so hiring a first employee essentially requires sole traders to “cross a psychological threshold for which they are ill prepared.” This lack of preparation has become more evident as reasons for moving into self-employment in the current economic climate have as much to do with the “push” away from other forms of employment, as with the desire to start and grow a new business. The skills gap is further aggravated by the fact that the majority of public sector investment in business training has been directed to high potential growth start ups, while there has been little improvement in the quality of mainstream training for “standard” businesses, including sole traders. Ambition to Employ will develop a new training model to enable self-employed owner-operators to hire their first employee with knowledge, ability and confidence. This requires teaching the practical, legal and financial aspects of employment and sustainable business growth, but also applying new insights into overcoming the psychological barriers and risks involved. In order to meet these needs, our specific objectives are: a) Create a self assessment tool enabling an objective assessment of readiness to employ and generating a personalized learning pathway. (IO1) b) Develop a new training model with comprehensive support for business trainers and advisors on how to impart the knowledge, skills and self-belief required to hire a first employee.(IO2) c) Create and market an open, free online course so that busy self employed individuals can access this new training directly. (IO3) d) Train the first group of business trainers from key VET providers in each region contributing both to quality development, dissemination, and above all, the exploitation and sustainability of the project’s outputs. Ambition to Employ will involve participants in pilot testing and a train-the-trainer learning activity, as well as in multiplier events. As a result, the results will be: - 20 VET providers will integrate this new topic of teaching to their entrepreneurship training and business support services with 40 more planning to use the model /OERs in following 2 years. - 220 self-employed entrepreneurs during the lifespan of the project, and 800 more in the following 2 years, will acquire the skills to take on their first employee, boosting their ability to achieve sustainable business growth and contributing to job creation overall. - Stakeholders in VET and wider business development will increase support for the integration of activities which improve the quality and contribution of self employment above and beyond a regulatory or financial incentive approach. They will recognise the value of combining knowledge creation with new pedagogical approaches to developing entrepreneurial mindsets and softer skills, including risk management and leadership. Against a backdrop of ongoing political and economic insecurity and weak growth, which has caused a notable rise in the number of self-employed entrepreneurs across Europe, Ambition to Employ stands to make a significant contribution to updating our VET systems and increasing our capacity to teach much-needed entrepreneurial competences. The project will also generate strong return-on-investment in terms of its direct relationship with job creation. The overall impact will be a strengthening of our VET systems to respond to the changing patterns of employment and entrepreneurship. To date, many policy makers have either turned a blind eye to the fact that the recent rise in self-employment does not correlate to a rise in growth-oriented businesses; or if they are aware of the structural problems pushing people into self-employment, they have favoured fiscal incentives to encourage growth through employment. This ignores many of the real reasons why self-employed solo entrepreneurs are not growing their businesses. Ambition to Employ establishes a new approach to ensuring the latent potential for solo entrepreneurs to contribute to job creation and wider economic growth are capitalized upon: by creating a new training model and the capacity to roll it out to dozens of training providers across our countries, we provide very practical assistance to this growing target group and show that responsive education strategies can make a difference.
CONTEXT/BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT Small businesses are one of the main components of economic growth, social development and quality of life for EU citizens. However, the first steps of growth, especially the transition from being a sole trader to hiring a first employee(s), are not always easy. Lack of knowledge about the regulatory environment is a factor, but studies show that barriers are often perceived, and so hiring a first employee essentially requires sole traders to “cross a psychological threshold for which they are ill prepared.” This lack of preparation has become more evident as reasons for moving into self-employment in the current post Covid 19 economic climate have as much to do with the “push” away from other forms of employment, as with the desire to start and grow a new business. While this push factor has existed for some time, it has accelerated within the last year and has occurred against a background where the majority of public sector investment in business training has previously been directed to high potential growth start ups. There is less time than ever to invest in improving the quality of mainstream training for “standard” businesses, including sole traders who are in the eye of the economic hurricane that is Covid 19. However there is also much more scope for online training than ever with the widespread move into the virtual world. OBJECTIVES The objective of the project was to develop a new training model and resources to enable self-employed owner-operators to hire their first employee with knowledge, ability and confidence. The intention is to teach the practical, legal and financial aspects of employment and sustainable business growth, but also to apply new insights into overcoming the psychological barriers and risks involved. We have pursued this objective by; • Adopting new technologies effectively and blending the needs of our targets groups with the best pedagogic features of the widely available technology. • Creating innovative learning spaces where learners feel empowered and in charge of their own education process, directing their time to the areas where learning can benefit them most. • Curating knowledge of good practice in critical areas such as growth analysis, legal regulation, job interview processes and also more transversal skills and competences, such as coping with risk, interpersonal communication and managerial skills and above all a leadership mindset. The skills imparted are relevant across all types of employment and in other aspects of civic and personal development, contributing directly to the long term employability and personal development of self employed entrepreneurs. Our specific activities were the: a) Creation and publication of a self assessment tool enabling an objective assessment of readiness to employ and creating a personalized learning pathway. (IO1) b) Development and publication of a new training model with support for business trainers and advisors on how to impart the knowledge, skills and self-belief required to hire a first employee.(IO2) c) Creation and marketing of an open, free online course so that busy self employed individuals can access this new training directly. (IO3) NUMBER AND TYPE OF PARTICIPANT Ambition to employ targeted: VET providers Self employed entrepreneurs Stakeholders in VET and wider business development SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND IMPACT During the project there were 115,541 visitors to the Ambition to Employ website containing the direct access online course and downloadable resources 2100 people downloaded the resources More than 140 self employed entrepreneurs, 20 VET organisations and 75 VET teachers were involved in pilot testing 175 self employed entrepreneurs and stakeholders were involved in multiplier events. 21,061 entrepreneurs and stakeholders were reached via social media and general dissemination This roll out of the training model and resources is a reflection of the projects relevance to changing patterns of employment and entrepreneurship previous to and during the project. Solid plans are in place to exploit the resources by embedding them in higher education, with a committment from leading and national VET educators in the SME sector and with networks of enterprise educators introducing workshops on the value of Ambition to Employ as a key competence for entrepreneurs and economic growth post Covid.