Recent testimonies of successful business networking - Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme
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Lisette-Maria Puhalainen (Estonia)
Company name: Lisette-Maria OÜ (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Crafts, art materials and accessories
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs completely fulfilled my expectations by giving me deep knowledge about entrepreneurship and practical experiences that have helped me lift my business to the next level. I wanted to improve my skills in marketing, and thanks to this programme, my knowledge in this area has increased significantly.
Gabriele Lechner (Austria)
Age: 48
Company name: Mondschein (www.mondschein-design.at)
Sector of activity: Advertising,Promotion, Media
Period of exchange: 02/2018 until 04/2018
Duration of exchange: 3 months
Women entrepreneurs help each other grow their business
Lisette-Maria Puhalainen is a young Estonian leather designer who set up her own accessory brand Lisette-Maria OÜ in 2017. She has strong skills in design, but lacked entrepreneurial skills, particularly in marketing and sales. She chose to participate in Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs to gain practical experience in how to get her products to shops, raise the visibility of her brand and communicate with suppliers. In February 2018, Lisette-Maria started her exchange with host entrepreneur Gabriele Lechner in Vienna, Austria.
Gabriele designs fashion and home accessories under her brand Mondschein. The key to their collaboration was the complementarity of their knowledge and skill sets. Gabriele has built a successful business and has many years of marketing experience that she willingly shared with Lisette-Maria. In return, Lisette-Maria gave Gabriele creative input in terms of product design and execution and introduced Gabriele to different materials and new design techniques.
During the exchange, Lisette-Maria and Gabriele mainly collaborated in the areas of marketing and product design. She managed the social-media accounts and was actively following the latest trends in online marketing that she shared with Gabriele. She had the opportunity to attend a Pinterest training and was taught by Gabriele how to use a number of other programmes for managing social media, which she is now using for her own business. Lisette-Maria helped organise photoshoots and contributed to the production of a 2-minute brand film for Gabriele. She also designed a couple of products for Gabriele that went into production. She had the opportunity to visit the factory where the products, including her own designs, were manufactured.
Based on Gabriele’s mentoring and advice, Lisette has decided to expand her marketing activities beyond Estonia to neighbouring countries. She has also adjusted her pricing and sales strategy, with new focus on online sales and a different approach to selling her products to shops. She also renewed her website and reworked the branding. Additionally, she developed new logos, ordered supplies for her products and developed a concrete action plan for her company.
For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:
New entrepreneur's contact point:
CIVITTA EESTI AS (Tallinn, Estonia)
Host entrepreneur's contact point:
WIRTSCHAFTSKAMMER ÖSTERREICH (Vienna, Austria)
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