Financial literacy among the adult population remains one of the unsolved questions in European Union. As per recent statistics, more than half of the adult population of certain EU countries (Poland, Romania, Portugal, Spain or Italy) is financially illiterate (https://howmuch.net/articles/financial-literacy-around-the-world). Financial literacy and entrepreneurial intention are interrelated, as explained by Trunk and Dermol (2015). It is widely accepted that effective entrepreneurship is impossible without proper competences in finances, which are essential for correct financial decisions making(Calcagno, Alperovych, & Quas, 2019). It also helps to reduce entrepreneurial risk aversion level (Riepe, Rudeloff & Veer, 2020). Besides that, effective entrepreneurship tackles other relevant problems in EU as youth unemployment, social inclusion and equal opportunities. As one of the solutions, entrepreneurial education should be enhanced and extended to more groups. Considering that its main goal is to create financially literate entrepreneurs since it improves the economic security of all (Arthur, 2018), it is urgent to create and spread specific better trainings in such critical areas as financing management. It will surely improve the capacities for self-employment, to face the current socioeconomic crisis and contribute in a certain manner to the domestic economies. [Arthur, C. (2018). Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship Education: An Ethics for Capital or the Other? The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform, 435-465.] In this context, only students of business in HEIs/VET/adult education have access to entrepreneurial financial education. Specific courses, although available, are usually too short, too theoretical or rather expensive. Even more, this access should not be limited to face-to-face trainings, and must be extended online and granted to cope with the challenge of online learning, and prevent the practical education from being the first to close in pandemic periods. Considering all this, the main proposal of this project is to create digital interactive tools that will help the end-beneficiaries (potential and current entrepreneurs) to develop skills and acquire necessary practical knowledge to effectively apply for funding and manage their financial situation. From the general perspective, our project is expected to contribute to the improvement in financial literacy, especially, among HE students, as potential entrepreneurs, through an effective method of learning by doing. The project aims at covering the gap of practical financial competences considered as a critical barrier for entrepreneurship. Possible solution goes through cooperation between financing actors and educational sector. Thus, common training will be complemented with real practice, which includes individual and collaborative work, very different from traditional school assignments, since it will connect funding agents (banking professionals, investors, mentors and similar) with entrepreneurs and students. This DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT BASED ON COLLABORATIVE LEARNING with financial agents is the core of our innovative proposal. Besides that, the project will deploy actions to empower HE teachers and entrepreneur coaches. Thus, the project will reach the following segments of people: university students, entrepreneurs, teachers, start-up incubators, financial agents for an estimated total of 840 direct participants and 14600 additional reached online. The main project activities will be oriented to the production of four intellectual outputs: 1) Practical cases in entrepreneurial finance for training purposes. 2) Digital Simulator for entrepreneurial finance (trainer’s tool). 3) Digital Simulator for entrepreneurial finance (self-learning tool). 4) Report on recommendations for entrepreneurial finance stakeholders and policy makers. The project implies cooperation of different type of organizations. The HE institutions and Banking/Financial sector will collaborate closely to ensure that we use appropriate content. Representative institutions will incorporate the tools into their trainings and will disseminate the project results properly. Entrepreneurial institutions will support the outputs creation attracting the attention of practitioners and professionals in the entrepreneurial field. The project pursues long term impact by providing HE lecturers, VET/adult training providers and Entrepreneurial institutions with innovative tools in order to spread the practical knowledge on entrepreneurial funding. It is of special interest to raise awareness on the different alternative sources of funding besides the traditional bank loans, such as crowdfunding, business angels, capital venture and so on, and offer current and future entrepreneurs practical training since it will also generate significant impact measured over time.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE: to offer efficient tools that contribute to Entrepreneurship Education through effective financial literacy and decision making in quasi-real scenarios. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: SO1: to create practical cases for training around the most critical financial skills for entrepreneurs: budgeting, liquidity management, funding and investment. SO2: to train strategic decision making in finances and investment considering a global vision of a business and support participants' progress towards meeting their goals related to financial scenarios. SO3: to increase collaborative learning with banking and funding entities. SO4: to provide a sound base for mutual improved understanding between entrepreneurs and banking/financial entities in order to reduce tensions between them.
The global aim within, which FINANCEN_Lab is located, is to foster entrepreneurship among HE/VET students and adults in general through increased specific practical training in financing. For this reason we included the context of entrepreneurship very close to be real, which involves funding barriers, different needs of startups and emerging companies from different sectors and European strategy. It goes in line with the trend of EU governments to foster business creation, for which they design specific policies and offer a great number of incentives. Besides that, the rising complexity of the financial system and a lack of significant and homogeneous financial education in Europe generate an important gap for a large number of the European population still financially illiterate. It is an important barrier for many entrepreneurs since it prevents them from designing and applying effectively for funding and involves difficulties for managing their finances. The EU2020 strategy recognises Financial and Entrepreneurial Education as one of the three essential areas which supports growth and development in the EU through new business creation. Entrepreneurship and financial education sit at the heart of any entrepreneurial ecosystem in European countries. So, it is necessary to stress the importance of a good strategy at policy level, teachers’/instructors’ training of quality and proper assessment of entrepreneurial skills acquired by people, especially university students as a young generation who will have to build their future. Therefore, the FINANCEN_Lab project is aligned with the last two points. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic limited the delivery of face-to-face education and had a very significant impact on practical training (e.g., workshops assisted by an instructor). In this sense, FINANCEN_Lab also focused on an active use of technology to reduce this gap, creating a virtual environment that allows practical training in entrepreneurial finances in an intuitive and enjoyable way. In view of the above, the following needs (N) were identified: N1: TO BE ABLE TO MANAGE ESSENTIAL FINANCIAL SITUATIONS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP. The users are expected to obtain the specific skills in planning and budgeting, which are crucial for good business practices and sound financial management. N2: TO HAVE ACCESS TO PRACTICAL ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCIAL EDUCATION. Generally, only the students who study Business and Economics in HEIs/VET/adult education have access to entrepreneurial financial education. Specific courses, although available, are usually too short, too theoretical or rather expensive. E-learning in this sense is still challenging. N3: TO INTERACT WITH BANKING/FINANCIAL ENTITIES OR PRIVATE INVESTORS AND LEARN FROM THESE INTERACTIONS AND OWN EXPERIENCE. Frequently new knowledge acquisition is done in isolation. However, proper learning of how to become a successful entrepreneur and make relevant decisions in the financial field is possible through interaction with peers and specialists. Besides that, one's own experience also adds to the acquired knowledge. This is what is called learning by doing. N4: TO ALIGN TRAINERS, FINANCIAL ENTITIES AND POLICY-MAKERS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP. The purpose is to update the knowledge of teachers and instructors in financial education for entrepreneurs and to involve professionals in the sector (banking, investors, more mature companies...) as well as the Administration (policy-makers to encourage business creation)