The project consists of two independent parts, which will be connected at their final phase of implementation.
One part focuses on establishing the Youth Support Center for the area of Plock city, which will result in the establishment of 10 new enterprises within the project implementation period and 10 businesses after completing the project, in addition 40 young people, will benefit from the support in form of training and consulting-advisory services.
The second part of the project is more of a research nature and will result in the development of a new micro-financial product – micro leasing. The micro-leasing is a pioneering idea in Poland and entire Central and Eastern Europe. The linkage will take place in the final phase of the project once the micro-leasing product is prepared for testing by young entrepreneurs-beneficiaries of the first part.
Period of implementation:
01/01/2008 – 31/12/2008
Target audience and geographic area:
People in the age range of 20-35, living in the city of Plock and its suburbs.
Project objectives:
The overall goal of the Youth Support Center would be the reduction of unemployment among young people, age 18-35, in Płock through: promoting the idea of self-employment – assistance in the process of establishing own enterprises.
Grant activities, progress markers, and a timeline:
The Youth Support Centre provides business management courses, advisory services, refund for vocational training and loans for young people, age 20-35. The Project contributes to small and medium size enterprises development, promotion of entrepreneurship, and reduction of unemployment in the region.
The project also contributes to the entire micro finance sector operating in Poland by developing a new micro-financial product, which is the micro leasing. It is a new project for the city of Płock but will be based on the experiences and lessons learned by FDPA during the last few years when there had been three Youth Support Centers Projects implemented in other regions of Poland.
The main objective of the Micro Leasing part of the project is to develop a new financial service that could be used by micro entrepreneurs to lower their operating costs. The service after its development phase would be first tested with the beneficiaries of the Youth Support Center in Płock. Young people who would start their own business would get an access not only to a micro loan but also to mircoleasing services and through that they would not only have a better chance to succeed in their business but also learn about using different external financial instruments. It would also help them to gain credit and leasing history, which would open them a door to other commercial financial institutions. On the other hand, the project would be a pioneer in Poland since no other microfinance organization is offering such services.
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Project co-financed by the Levi Strauss Foundation