Promoting innovation and impact entrepreneurship: this is the essence of E4Impact’s mission, but also a fundamental feature of the Trait D’Union project; an entrepreneurial training project aimed at developing the SFAX region in Tunisia by supporting the creation and the strengthening of circular economy businesses. The project has been funded by the Italian Ministero dell’Interno and its main goal was to enhance entrepreneurship and sustain impact entrepreneurs through a transformative training program that allowed them to concretely develop their ideas and transform them into sustainable models, thanks to workshop activities and individual mentoring sessions offered to the beneficiaries. The project was closed in October 2023 and saw the participation of 15 Tunisian entrepreneurs.
Trait d’Union offered at first a 4-months intensive training, at the end of which the beneficiaries had acquired the knowledge and the tools they needed to define innovative business models able to generate significant impact within the circular economy. The idea was that those businesses should have been able to improve corporate sustainability, and to contribute to the regional development. It was a complete training made of 4 modules which allowed the participants to deeply explore the basic aspects of impact entrepreneurship. They started from the construction of the Business Model Canvas, went through the marketing fundamentals, learnt about the financial aspects of a project, and ended with a focus on investors relations.
In particular, the financial coaching sessions have been a crucial part of the program that focused on the identification of project potential, financing choices and strategic orientation. In other words, it has been extremely important to achieve a positive impact on profitability.
After the training, the best 5 entrepreneurs have been selected to receive extra mentoring sessions. These 5 sessions lasted two hours each and were offered individually to each entrepreneur. They were designed to strengthen the projects’ structure and to further develop the financials and the marketing part, by making the participant work on the financial planning, the feasibility plan, the pricing policy, the go-to-market strategy etc.
Trait D’Union is not only a development project that fosters innovation and progress, but it’s also a great example of collaborative journey, since it has reunited the efforts of several valuable partners that worked for one year towards a common goal. The project involved, indeed, institutions such as Regione Toscana, Fédération Nationale des Communes Tunisiennes, ANCI Toscana, Comune di Milano, Municipalities of Tunis et SFAX, Arci Toscana, TCSE – Tunisian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Finanza Etica Foundation, ASEV – Agenzia per lo sviluppo dell’Empolese Valdelsa and Nosotras Onlus. A dynamic partnership that ensured prosperity of skills and resources within the realization of the project, in order to offer to the beneficiaries a complete impact training.
The conclusion of the Trait D’Union project testifies the efforts of E4Impact Foundation and its partners in taking care and enhancing the Tunisian entrepreneurs’ knowledge. The participant showed great satisfaction indeed, not only for the results they achieved, but also for the stimulating and participative environment they experienced during the training sessions. While increasing awareness and providing pragmatic tools, this initiative trained a generation of innovators, ready to lead a positive change in their Country and to contribute to the sustainable development of their community. The entrepreneurial journey is not only about the creation of enterprises, but also of a sustainable impact heritage.