Our Stakeholders Conference was supposed to take place during the first phase of the RESMYLE project but the Covid pandemic stopped this important face-to-face meeting until now. In retrospect the delay was actually advantageous as there was far more concrete action to demonstrate and use as a basis for capitalisation.

Over 80 public, private and NGO participants from the 5 partner countries and regions covered by the project met in Hammamet, Tunisia on 19 to 20 May. The goal: (i) to enrich expertise of the RESMYLE Project, (ii) to create connections between initiatives and projects, and (iii) to accelerate capitalisation efforts.

Here are some key messages resulting from the conference that will further developed for the remainder of the project:

One size does not fit all: Our network of experts and trainers working on our workshops and incubators will seek to tap into different partner initiatives in the North, South and East Mediterranean tuned to local contexts to improve content, supervision and working methods that build young people and their business ideas -  from “mindset to market”.

Not all NEETs are the same!: There are graduate and non-graduate NEETs. The latter are often harder to reach and engage with, local influencers, scouts and groups who know people and the area well, can provide jargon-free explanations, build confidence and persuade them to walk through the door.   

Building bridges to reach further:  Our environmental education tools can be built into other Mediterranean cooperation projects like EdEn-MED, between Italy and Tunisia, or our training system with our sister ENI CBC MED project, HELIOS. Finally, the vision was raised of a future Euro-Mediterranean platform of practical training to foster youth entrepreneurship, from hands-on environmental learning to a consortium of young eco-entrepreneurs resulting from RESMYLE incubators

Being part of a larger ecosystem: RESMYLE cannot expect to make a lasting impact all on its own but other public and private business incubators present in Hammamet were keen to build relations with our eco-incubators as one offer in a much larger and multifaceted entrepreneurial ecosystem, supported by the Tunisian employment agency, Greater Marseille Council and FILSE, the Ligurian financial agency supporting enterprise policy.

The last word goes to our budding young entrepreneurs, some of whom, like Jordanian, Alzaharra’a Alomari, spoke to conference participants about their experiences. Specialised information on products is great but soft skills are vital to build the business and the person behind the business too!