Winning team offers publishing houses the opportunity to turn paper textbooks tablet based. Team members believe that this transformation will make teaching and learning more up to date, comfortable and memorable.

Project manager Mikk Kärner says that AndroidÕpik is not a mere copy of a regular textbook. “It has moving pictures, games, videos and other animations that a paper book does not provide. Today we have a working prototype and have created sample materials from some chapters of third grade’s natural history book. Our aim for next year is to take AndroidÕpik into use in five Estonian schools and make the platform even more user-friendly,” Kärner explained team’s achievements and future plans.

Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves who presented the award of the most enterprising students of 2013 said in his speech that Estonia will do just as well as much our youngsters appreciate education and how cleverly our grown-ups are willing to help.

“Our success depends on our knowledge, clever solutions and courage to think big and skills to bring those thoughts into life,” head of Estonia said.

Mait Palts, the director general of Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes the competition was of equal strength and only the fact that ENTRUM got into the final can be seen as a great achievement. Nominated project were of high quality. “Keeping that in mind, we can be even more proud of ENTRUM’s success. Presenting the programme in front of world’s chambers and around 2000 people undoubtedly increased knowledge of Estonia and ENTRUM and enables to export it outside of Estonia. ENTRUM’s win definitely inspires us in the Chamber to continue with supporting youth entrepreneurship, which is one of our most important mission’s in progressing Estonian entrepreneurship,” said Palts.

Darja Saar, CEO of ENTRUM believes that the other four projects in the final with ENTRUM were very strong. “No doubt, I am very proud that ENTRUM won at the Chambers’ international competition. This is the win of our participants, mentors, partners, programme’s initiator Eesti Energia and of all other people who have contributed to ENTRUM, “said Saar. She added that ENTRUM is a fast and effective method for raising enterprising people who are able to take initiative and care for their own and others’ lives even in the most problematic places of the world. “Today’s globalizing world needs that kind of independent young people both in the private and public sector. I am happy that the programme that will start helping different countries around the world is precisely from Estonia,” said Saar.

This year 65 projects from 42 countries participated in the competition held for the eight time. From these 65 projects, 5 best were chosen in five different categories. In addition to ENTRUM, youth entrepreneurship programmes from the Netherlands, Pakistan, Turkey and South-Australia competed for the title of best youth entrepreneurship programme.

World Chambers Competition is the only worldwide competition that acknowledges commerce and industry chambers’ most innovative projects. From it’s initiation in 2003, the competition has selected and presented a great amount of projects demonstrating diversity and inspiration. More information about the competition can be found here.

Dear ENTRUM friend!

Easter and ENTRUM super final „Be the master of your life!“ are behind us. All we have to do now is wait patiently for ENTRUM award gala, where Estonia’s most entrepreneurial yougsters will be announced and rewarded. ENTRUM award gala will take place on May 22 2013. Meanwhile you can read our March news letter. In this news letter we will introduce ENTRUM’s finalists and reveal what entreprisingness means to them.

161 youngsters want the award for the most entreprising youngster of Estonia

All together 161 youngsters from 46 teams got into the final of ENTRUM’s contest „I am entreprising!“. This season there are 13 more ideas in the final than there were last season.

Entrum’s CEO Darja Saar believes that the bigger number shows West Estonians’ activeness and willingness to contribute to increasing their home region’s social and economic wellbeing. „I am happy to see that during the past seven months, the youngsters participating in ENTRUM’s incubation and training program have become people who are not afraid of dreaming, want and can realise their dreams. People like that can manage themselves and their community and are able to see and seize opportunities. The leadership of that kind of people will create value in our society. In the finale on March 21, ENTRUM finalists had the chance to prove who matches these qualities the most,” says Saar.

The most ideas in the final are from Pärnu county – 19 projects. From Viljandi county there are 13, 12 from Saare county and 2 ideas from Hiiu county. There are 14 service economy ideas, 11 creative economy (design industry) ideas, 10 social entrepreneurship ideas, 6 creative economy (music industry) ideas and 5 IT ideas. See ideas that are in the final here: www.entrum.ee/edetabel/

The ideas that got into the final were presented on March 21 at ENTRUM super final “Be the master of your life!”. In assessing these ideas the jury will take into account the study experience acquired during the execution of the idea, the development of team memebers’ etreprising competencies and the effect the execution of the idea has on the community’ social and economic environment. Estonia’s most enterprising youngsters 2013 will be announced and rewarded in May at ENTRUM’s award gala in Pärnu.

What does entreprisingness mean to ENTRUM finalists?

Six months has passed from the beginning of ENTRUM’s season and youngters have developed their ideas a great deal. Now that they have been in this environment, we asked our finalists what does entreprisingness mean to them. Here are some more inspiring answers:

• Team “Flea market and DIY workshop”: Entreprisingness is when I see and deal with the problem in a way that I get something good out of it for me and for others.
• Team “People Unifier”: Entreprisingness is an inner urge and activeness to get something done.
• Team ”Orissaare’s cross country path”: Entreprisingness is an ability and courage to start your idea, to think it through and then to execute it as well.
• Team “Kinkur”: If I want to be independent, get somewhere in life and I am active then I am entreprising.
• Team “Amberella”: Entreprisingness is self-development. It is important so that you could achieve what makes you happy in life.
• Team “Sierra”: Entreprisingness is a big game of chess, where one has to make many risky decisions.

Important dates:

• 29.04.2013 – ENTRUM award gala „I am entreprising!“ invitations
• 05.-19.05.2013 – „People’s favourite“ vote at ENTRUM Facebook page
• 06.05.2013 – RSVP to ENTRUM award gala
• 22.05.2013 – ENTRUM award gala „I am entreprising!“ at Pärnu Concer Hall

Read from the next news letter:

What cool can you wait for at ENTRUM award gala „I am entreprising!“ and how are the preparations for ENTRUM’s new season in North Estonia coming along.

Follow ENTRUM on Twitter

The synopsis of music video was created and conducted by ENTRUM youngsters themselves in cooperation with High Roller Films as part of the CENTRES project with aim to develop youngsters creativity and raise their awareness and practical skills in the field of production process in creative industries, including event management, music production, video production and marketing.

300 youngster, 2 hours brainstorming, 4 hours filming and next morning 10 am we have a new music video!
The production and post-production process was done in incredibly short time: 2 hours for music video synopses brain-storm and pitching, 4 hours for production. Alltogether project participants had only 6 hours to create and implement ideas for video shooting using unique camera Phantom FLEX, 300 youngsters and only one location.

Darja Saar, the CEO of ENTRUM believes that the development of enterprising mentality must be done through the practical exploring of a specific economic domain. “This is the best way for motivating youngsters to start their independent economic life early on. It is important that they would be able to see self-fulfillment opportunities around themselves, that they would know how to organize their activities and resources and that they would take responsibility for their actions. Youngsters loved the experience of music video  production and marketing and it gave them reason to learn the basics of creative entrepreneurship more enthusiastically. Youngsters understand now that there is a wide range of opportunities surrounding them and they need to be able to notice and use these opportunities,” said Saar.

One of ENTRUM’s current season’s youngsters’ Magnus Liir said that filming of the music video was one of the best experiences of his life. “When you learn to know how a music video is made and at the same time contributing into this process yourself, gives way more than listening to yet another boring lecture. This definitely motivated me to give more effort into my business project,” said Liir.

The video has been watched more then 22 000 times on YouTube and shared 200 times on Facebook. The video can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AegtX7RX7RE

ENTRUM music video action is a part of CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) international project that was launched by British Council and where ENTRUM is a member among other organizations from seven European countries. The purpose of the project is to teach youngsters the characteristics and logic of creative entrepreneurship field using practical methods. CENTRES project is financed from European Commission’s funds.

Project partners are:
1. British Council
2. EU Lifelong learning programme
3. Narodni ustav pro vzdelavani
4. Fonden for EntreprenØrskab — Young Enterprise
5. Entrum Foundation
6. Aalto University Small Business Centre
7. Lietuvos Junior Achievement
8. Polskie Stowarzyszenie Kreatywności
9. Zavod mreža podjetništva, CEED Slovenia
10. A New Direction

ENTRUM is Estonia’s biggest energy corporation Eesti Energia’s nationwide Youth Entrepreneurship Programme that is brought to life in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia and Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During its two-year-long operation, ENTRUM has taught entrepreneurship skills to more than thousand youngsters. There are great examples how the youth has contributed to making the life of their home town and therefore the whole country better – more that 185 social entrepreneurship, technology, eco- and creative entrepreneurship projects have been put into practice within the programme. Many of these are still sustainably operating, including the winner of East Estonian season, employment exchange InSpe and the winner of South Estonian season, student exchange programme VeniVidiVici.

ENTRUM (Entrepreneurial Centrum) is Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme launched in 2010 by Estonia’s biggest energy corporation Eesti Energia as long-term CSR initiative.

Starting 2012 ENTRUM creative industries branch is part of CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) a multi-country project co-funded by the European Commission, British Council and several organisations across Europe (www.centres-eu.org/).

ENTRUM’s IT and engineering branch main partner is Startup incubator Tehnopol.

In 2011 ENTRUM programme was acknowledged as the best entrepreneurship developer by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia. ENTRUM was also the best socially responsible entrepreneurship initiative of the Swedish Business Awards 2011 and the best nongovernmental commerce sector initiative of the NENO (Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations).

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the infomation contained therein.

“This acknowledgement from youngsters themselves shows that we are doing the right thing in ENTRUM – young people appreciate development of entrepreneurial abilities and the ones’ that have participated in our programme have also experienced the strong ground ENTRUM gives for entering the real world. I am most happy for Darja as her dedication, hard work and purposefulness has made her a true role model for students,” says Kaja Kilk, CSR manager of Eesti Energia, the initiator of ENTRUM.

Previously, in 2011 ENTRUM was acknowledged as the best entrepreneurship developer by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia. ENTRUM was also the best socially responsible entrepreneurship initiative of the Swedish Business Awards 2011 and the best nongovernmental commerce sector initiative of the NENO (Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations).

Today, ENTRUM has developed into a powerful starting point for more than 1000 youngsters aged from between 14-19. In the first season, ENTRUM operated in Eastern Estonia and in the second season in Southern Estonia. The third season started this autumn with more than 530 students beginning their journey towards success. ENTRUM has great examples how the youth has contributed to making the life of their home town and therefore the whole country better – more that 185 social entrepreneurship, technology, eco- and creative entrepreneurship ideas have been put into practice within the programme. Many of these ideas are still sustainably operating.

The most child friendly organisation is the youth conference “Cool School Day”, which this year concentrates on time management. They have taken the direction of motivating and inspiring youngsters through exciting speakers and the topic itself. The conference takes place for the ninth time this year.

Gertha Teidla-Kunitsõn, the CEO of Estonian Union of Child Welfare said: “We are happy to see that Estonia has people and organisations who have taken it as their mission to motivate and inspire young people. Now it is our turn to acknowledge them.”

Darja Saar and youth conference “Cool School Day” will be honoured on November 21 at Estonian Union of Child Welfare’s conference “How are you doing, Estonian child”.

Darja Saar, the CEO of Entrum says that the number of ideas registered in ENTRUM show that youngsters of West Estonia have great potential and will to make Estonia better. “The mission on ENTRUM is to develop youth’s entrepreneurial potential by giving them knowledge, skills, useful contacts and their first experience in entrepreneurship. In five months, West Estonia will have around 500 young people who are capable of noticing opportunities for progressing Estonian life and willing to catch and bring those opportunities to life,” tells Saar.

The ideas registered in ENTRUM originate from very different domains. For example, in the IT domain, 14-15-year-old students wish to create a website where they will gather information about the price reduction on all of the FMCG products that are about to be expired.

In the creative industries domain, for example, 17-year-old students plan to start photographing national clothing against the background of the specific region’s most important place (building, monument etc.), thereby creating an original visual database for the nation.

The most popular domain turned out to be service economy in which 50 ideas were registered. Most of this domain’s ideas propose generating new catering or leisure activities’ services.

In addition, youngsters’ sensitivity towards society’s burning social problems also deserves attention. There are quite a number of ideas registered in social entrepreneurship domain. Many youngsters feel the need to solve the problems of school violence, single parents or homeless animals.

All ideas registered in ENTRUM divide into six domains: service economy (50 ideas), creative industries: design, cinema, media, theatre (35), social entrepreneurship (29), creative industries: music and festivals (26), IT and engineering (16) and eco-economy (5).

The teams that have registered their ideas in ENTRUM will get into ENTRUM incubation i.e. five-month-long training programme that is carried through by operating entrepreneurs. To implement their ideas, youngsters are given an opportunity to use youth centers’ infrastructure and regional development centers’ support. They can also apply for funds from Youth Initiative Fund. ENTRUM’s training programme will culminate with a contest for the best enterprising idea.

ENTRUM is Estonia’s biggest energy corporation Eesti Energia’s nationwide Youth Entrepreneurship Programme that is brought to life in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia and Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During its two-year-long operation, ENTRUM has taught entrepreneurship skills to more than thousand youngsters. There are great examples how the youth has contributed to making the life of their home town and therefore the whole country better – more that 185 social entrepreneurship, technology, eco- and creative entrepreneurship projects have been put into practice within the programme. Many of these are still sustainably operating, including the winner of East Estonian season, employment exchange InSpe and the winner of South Estonian season, student exchange programme VeniVidiVici.

ENTRUM (Entrepreneurial Centrum) is Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme launched in 2010 by Estonia’s biggest energy corporation Eesti Energia as long-term CSR initiative.

Starting 2012 ENTRUM creative industries branch is part of CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) a multi-country project co-funded by the European Commission, British Council and several organisations across Europe (www.centres-eu.org/).

ENTRUM’s IT and engineering branch main partner is Startup incubator Tehnopol.

In 2011 ENTRUM programme was acknowledged as the best entrepreneurship developer by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia. ENTRUM was also the best socially responsible entrepreneurship initiative of the Swedish Business Awards 2011 and the best nongovernmental commerce sector initiative of the NENO (Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations).

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the infomation contained therein.

ENTRUM’s third season in West Estonia has started! We hope that the opening show on October 17 gave everyone good thoughts, great new friends and inspiration to fulfil one’s dreams. In any case, ENTRUM is full of positive energy and can’t wait for the next session to take place.

So that you would be informed of what’s going on in ENTRUM, we will start sending you monthly news letters. In this news letter you can read about how many students and mentors signed up in the programme and what are the opening show’s most memorable quotes by the well-known enterprising role models of Estonia.

More than half a thousand students participate in ENTRUM

This year interest in ENTRUM is all-time high: the youth entrepreneurship programme’s 500 spots were filled in less than two days. All together 563 students signed up. The study conducted among the enrolled students found that in spite of great interest most of them have never participated in other entrepreneurship programmes nor have studied business at school. Only tenth of the signed up youngsters have an experience in entrepreneurship. Regardless, most of the students think that their entrepreneurial potential is high and show interest in educating themselves in the area.

Darja Saar, the CEO of Entrum, thinks that high interest in the programme clearly speaks about the rising level of activeness in young people. “West Estonia will win a lot from youth’s activeness. Fulfilling one’s will and ideas at a young age contributes to the welfare of the country and creates a good ground so that young people could be successful and responsible in their actions when they grow up,” says Saar.

Exactly 100 mentors will help students fulfil their dreams in ENTRUM

So that the young participants’ first entrepreneurial steps would be less complicated, exactly 100 active entrepreneurs and top specialists will help them realize their ideas in ENTRUM.

According to many of the mentors the motivation in advising students is to break their preconceptions and help them start their journey to success. Imre Toodu, business adviser and ENTRUM’s mentor, believes that enterprising spirit does not arise overnight, it develops in a free environment, one needs to encourage young people to think their ideas through and fulfil them. “Estonia needs more enterprising people who are courageous, positive and who want to accomplish something useful. ENTRUM is an opportunity for that!”

Most memorable quotes by well-known Estonian enterprising role models

At ENTRUM’s third season opening show the Wednesday before the last one well-known Estonian role models – Olympic silver medal winner Heiki Nabi; Estonian Young Entrepreneur 2010 and restaurant owner Anni Arro; Click&Grow flowerpot author Mattias Lepp; singer and Estonian Idol finalist Teele Viira; actor and world traveller Marko Matvere – shared their knowledge and experience with the participants. Their most memorable quotes at the event were:

Heiki Nabi: “In sport I do not focus on my fear of losing, but instead I concentrate on my volition to win! It is important to direct your thoughts on what you want and push aside everything negative.”

Anni Arro: „We all have a passion for something. You do not have to look for it, you should take your time and listen to the voice within – what you really like to do, what gives you energy.“

Mattias Lepp: “As weird as it sounds, my passion in life is to find solutions to problems. I always try to put existing problems into new context. First I started with flower pots, now I’m engaged in farms that will relieve famine in world’s crisis areas.”

Teele Viira: “When I didn’t get into the choir at school I was sad and felt like I had a horrible voice. One morning, though, I woke up and felt different – I became brave and dared to be myself!”

Marko Matvere: “When you feel that you are tired of everything, but learn a trick how to sweep all of your thoughts from your head and gain new energy, then it really helps recuperate.“

In the next news letter: What are this year’s project ideas? What happened at the II session “Think creatively?”

Follow ENTRUM on Twitter: ENTRUM. Check our webpage: www.entrum.ee/en

ENTRUM (Entrepreneurial Centrum) is Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme launched in 2010 by Estonia’s biggest energy corporation Eesti Energia as long-term CSR initiative. Starting 2012 ENTRUM is part of CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) a multi-country project co-funded by the European Commission, British Council and several organisations across Europe (www.centres-eu.org/)

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the infomation contained therein.