Other actions have been designed to complement the promotion of entrepreneurship skills in the education system. Namely, the Romanian
Government, through NASMEC, has been active in the training of potential new entrepreneurs and the support of consultancy services. Indeed, besides the actions taken for the introduction of entrepreneurial
education in the compulsory curriculum of the formal education system, NASMEC launched or participated in a set of initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship amongst young people. In 2003, the budget allocated for youth purposes financed
local actions that aimed to stimulate young people's creativity, especially the technical and scientific areas. The newest programme focused on young people, START, was launched in September 2004 (see box below).
Several proposals were prepared by foreign and Romanian experts on the development of entrepreneurial education in the primary, secondary, tertiary and university education in Romania;
An "Assessment and Certification in Modular Competence Based Curriculum" was prepared on July 2004, and the brochure "Business consultant guide" was edited in September 2004, with the support of international experts from the Project.
The initiatives of the Ministry of Education and Research regarding the education and training of entrepreneurs materialized as follows:
Preparation of normative regulations concerning the inclusion of entrepreneurship notions in the basic curriculum of the educational system;
Edition of alternative textbooks;
Further participation in the ECO-NET Programme through: revising the legislative framework, organizing seminars for disseminating the concept of "training firm" (for professors teaching economic disciplines and for headmasters), including
seven schools in this Programme; partnership between M.E.R. and the Romanian Centre for Economic Education
Box 3.b START Programme for Young People
The programme for entrepreneurial skills development of young people under the education process, and supporting access to finance for business plans prepared by them.
Objectives: promotion of an educational system aimed at facilitating youth mobility
within the labour market as well as entrepreneurial skills' development of youth. This programme is aligned with the specific chapter of the National Development Plan (NDP).
Programme's activities:
The programme will be developed in two stages:
1st stage: training in entrepreneurship development for targeted beneficiaries;
2nd stage: financing the first 100 business plans selected by a competitive process and
providing micro-credits on advantageous terms through the Romanian Commercial Bank
(BCR).
The training courses, which consist of several training modules, will be organized in
several regions of the country: Bucharest, Braov, Constana, Craiova, Iai and
Timioara. The final goal of the training course is to provide the participants with the
required knowledge and skills to be able to prepare a business plan, which is going to be submitted to a contest of projects subject for further financing.
It is envisaged that 600 young people will be trained under the START programme.
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NASMEC assiduously promoted the development and implementation of assistance and training programmes for existing or potential entrepreneurs. Below are listed
some of the most relevant programmes which were managed by NASMEC in the reference period of this Report, namely:
a. EMPRETEC (private initiative support);
b. The programme for enterprises and entrepreneurial development,
focused on SMEs;
c. The National Programme UNDP / NASMEC establishment and
development of business incubators;
d. The programme for the organization for the Fair of SMEs TIMM;
e. The programme for upgrading the quality assurance level in SMEs in the
horizontal auto industry and the reorganization of a supply network
One of the most comprehensive and successful programmes is EMPRETEC. This is an international programme for the development and support of entrepreneurs. The programme is developed under the aegis of the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and is operational in over 30 countries from North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Middle East. Romania is the first European country where this programme has been implemented. NASMEC was
involved in EMPRETEC as UNCTAD's partner and co-financer of the programme.
117 persons participated in the EMPRETEC training courses organized in 2003, of which 56% were women, either company owners or employees of firms with
potential for export. In terms of trainees' residence, 30% were from Bucharest and 70% from outside the rest of the country. The trainees came from different industrial sectors (orthopaedic products, IT -including web design- electric power
distribution, machine building, tools, textiles, office supplies, printing houses, agricultural tools, synthetic fibres, plastics, shoes, pottery and glass, auto spare parts, constructions, wine export, paints production, furniture, wood processing, cosmetics, paper and cellulose, pipe production, aircraft industry, electrical
engines and apparatus and) and the service sector (tourism, trade, transport, training and consulting, interior decorations/design, financial services and real estate (see box below).
Box 3.c The EMPRETEC Programme in Romania
Rationale
It is well known that entrepreneurs have critical roles in the development of an economy. They are recognized as the agents needed to mobilize capital, to add value concerning natural resources, the production of necessary goods and services, new jobs creation and trade means development. The role of the entrepreneur was succinctly described through the saying "no entrepreneurs, no development".
Objectives
EMPRETEC is an international programme for the development and support of entrepreneurs. The programme is developed under the aegis of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and is operational in over 30 countries from North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Middle East. Romania is the first
European country where this programme is implemented. The National Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperation (NASMEC) was involved in EMPRETEC as UNCTAD's partner and co-financer of the programme.
Expected results:
Identification of potential entrepreneurs.
Development of their business capacity and potential.
Quality consultancy and support for the growth of productivity and competitiveness.
Development of modern business techniques.
Encouragement of an exchange of experience and the development of both local and
international relations.
Support in establishing business partnerships with companies around the world. Exports
development.
Assistance and support for entrepreneurs in obtaining finance for development and investment projects.
Target group and beneficiaries
EMPRETEC is designed for current or potential (future) entrepreneurs, including experts
from public or private organizations deemed to behave as entrepreneurs. The envisaged targets are: - Entrepreneurs from the private sector, especially SMEs
Public sector, public clerks.
Start-up businesses.
Business initiatives of women.
Experts, consultants, educational institutes.
Activities
EMPRETEC Programme develops the following main types of activities:
Courses for personal development.
Consulting services for business development.
Services for supporting entrepreneurs in accessing finance and in export development.
Building local capacity through training local trainers.
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The experience achieved to date proves that basic education in entrepreneurship, and further entrepreneurship development training have to be
coupled with the availability of appropriate and continuous business consultancy. In Romania, the activity of Business Centres is not widely recognized, and the existence of specialized Business Consultants is relatively rare. To date, there have been initiatives to create and develop business assistance centres across the
country.
A list of business development and consulting organizations based on the availability of data on various websites is presented in Annex 3. Although the list is quite comprehensive, it is far from exhaustive and there is no indication about
the quality of the services delivered. In the view of NASMEC, a market-driven accreditation process would be required to assure the implementation of the quality control and monitoring measures.
In order to support both those involved in consulting activities, and the SMEs who benefit from these services, NASMEC has disseminated (again under the Phare programme), a set of informative guides. As an example, a "Personal Business
Advisor" Manual has been prepared in such a way that it can be used as a
reference work for experienced business advisers and as a training tool for new, or for less experienced ones.
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