Success stories

Mehmet Güloz was a young Business Administration student from Türkiye who dreamed of becoming a successful entrepreneur. 

He was struggling to figure out the best ways to achieve this goal, when he learned about the "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs" programme during a conversation with a friend.

Triggered by the initiative, he did some research about the initiative and realised that collaborating with an experienced entrepreneur from a different country, would actually be a great opportunity to broaden his entrepreneurial knowledge in a different context. Thrilled by his new entrepreneurial adventure, he applied for the programme and was accepted.

It did not take long before Mehmet was contacted by Marcos Horna, owner of Betahaus, Barcelona, who offered him a four-month collaboration.

It was quite a lucky coincidence for Mehmet that a co-working office offered him this  opportunity as their 200+ members, is actually his target audience; the Spanish market.

On top of that, the fact that members are business owners gave him another opportunity learn from them. So he started getting to know Betahaus’ clients and learned about Marco Horna’s business strategies so as to understand the added value he brings to his members. 

During the exchange, Mehmet, focused on the clients learning English and used this as an opportunity to get know them better, identify their issues and bring solutions to them. This included knowing their preferences and the tools used to learn languages. This helped him understand their behavior. 

Acting as a coach for the new entrepreneur, Marco taught Mehmet the mechanisms of running a co-working space and explained him the structure of "Betahaus" business plan. Most importantly, he learned about the merchandising strategy as well as two other important aspects of running a business successfully, accountancy and human resources.

In this regard, Mehmet had performed few accounting tasks that helped him better understand the financial mechanisms of the company and the Spanish tax system. He also obtained insights on how to manage and motivate a team and was involved in strategic problem-solving discussions, that he could implement afterwards.

"I analysed the historical data of the business and their clients. This helped me understand how a company builds trust relationships with its clientele, which is vital for a business.”

Thanks to this exchange, Mehmet is now more aware of the success factors of a business. He understood the vital importance of establishing trust relationships with clients and the importance of identifying their needs and provide the best responses possible. 

He was also able to flesh out his potential target market. The strategies, techniques and skills he developed were invaluable to boost his self-confidence and willingness to create a profitable business.

"I have considerably improved my management and organisational skills thanks to Marco. I got some lessons in Public Relations, improved my communications skills and learned new marketing strategies.”