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Sail with Social Entrepreneurship in Greece

Early in April, Youthfully Yours dispatched two Slovak volunteers to the Greek city of Thessaloniki to participate in an informal training program called Sail with entrepreneurSHIP.  

The project centered on social entrepreneurship, a relatively new concept in Slovakia. In a nutshell, social entrepreneurship improves the quality of life of local inhabitants and is distinguished from traditional entrepreneurship by the fact that profits must be reinvested in the business, rather than going to the owners' pockets.  

"We got the opportunity to see how social entrepreneurship can encourage a country's citizens to build an atmosphere in which they feel good."  

 

Throughout this course, we visited numerous local social enterprises to observe the application of academic knowledge. The purpose of the businesses was to foster youth initiatives and ensure the social inclusion of the poor.  

 

Once an abandoned warehouse, WE is now a building for antigravity courses, a circus ring, a skiing simulator, snowboarding, a skatepark, and a workspace for young people that accommodates well-known DJs at night and invites both locals and non-locals into its party spaces.  

 

We were enchanted by the concept of social business and lamented that nothing similar existed in our nation.  

In addition to the visits, we discussed the fundamentals of creativity and its application in business, where we proudly displayed the Creative Guru workbook we co-created. Other activities included comparing social entrepreneurship in different countries (Slovakia was not the only one that had not yet introduced it) and progressively learning about the management model PDCA (plan-do-check-act) and design thinking through games and conversations.  

 

However, it was not all about learning and visiting businesses. The first few days were devoted to team-building exercises and activities so that a strong link could be formed between the participants. In addition, we were given a day off during which we visited a local restaurant serving home-cooked meals and observed the beauty of Thessaloniki.  

The project's organizer, InfinityGreece, took excellent care of the accommodations and meals (being a vegan, I had no complaints).  

 

The entire training course consisted of informal activities and exercises designed to strengthen the abilities of young workers. Take use of the opportunity provided by the EU to learn about the cultures and globe in which we live. Whenever if not now 

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