Success stories

New entrepreneur:
Sara Enrica Marci (Italy)
Age: 32
Company name: (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Hotel, restaurant, tourism, travel services and wellness

Host entrepreneur:
Bijan Khazai (Germany)
Age: 46
www.risklayer.com (23 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Hotel, restaurant, tourism, travel services and wellness

Sara Enrica Marci is a young, aspiring entrepreneur from Settimo San Pietro, Italy. She considered the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs a great opportunity to gain competences and soft skills to fulfil her project, a new form of experiential tourism that integrates sustainable development policies by promoting responsible tourism and environmental integrity, social justice, and the economic development of the local population. Bijan Khazai is the CEO of Risklayer -a company based in Germany working at the intersection of risk analytics and management solutions for different industrial sectors including tourism; he has participated as in the programme as a Host Entrepreneur and was already aware of the opportunities. Bijan and Sara started an exchange together to explore different market opportunities and marketing strategies. Sara expected to improve her marketing and communication expertise and explore with Bijan different ideas for a sustainable business model for her entrepreneurial venture. Bijan expected to identify potential opportunities for expanding the markets for his business products and services in resilient and responsible tourism.

Sara was introduced to the product and services roadmap of Riskalyer, including different operational areas and customer types, and related marketing segments. She and Bijan worked together in the management of the customers' baseline to start a targeted marketing campaign. They focused on digital marketing products in Risklayer’s social media channels: an area of cooperation was an entire revamping of the website. Through intensive collaboration with Bijan, Sara took charge of creating a brand-new website for the company, including the setup of an E-Learning platform and Learning Management System for the launch of a new product. The last part of the exchange was centered on the maintenance of the website and the implementation of the SEO. Sara spent 2 days a week working on her project with frequent feedback from Bijan; she even participated in an online incubator and refined her business plan; she was selected for an innovation award to launch her initiative, which she plans to start in the next months.

Sara was able to get to know a new business and use her knowledge to improve and achieve the objectives that had been set at the beginning of the exchange. New marketing strategies were analysed and the more effective ones were applied through an iterative process to reach a wider number of potential customers. The exchange of experience and competences between the two entrepreneurs has been crucial for their project. Future opportunities for collaboration were planned for the following months; Sara introduced Bijan to key actors in her native Sardinia, where Risklayer’s products and services can be applied. The entrepreneurs are willing to extend their collaboration, implementing additional development of the website and maintaining it, beyond the EYE programme. Sara was able to gain valuable experience through her collaboration with Bijan; she gained essential knowledge about how a business is set up, how to efficiently run it, and finally how to predict and eventually solve unexpected events.

For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:

New entrepreneur's contact point:
MICROFINANZA SRL (Vicenza, Italy)

Host entrepreneur's contact point:
RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG (Heidelberg, Germany)

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