The fifth regional focus group event in the Stuttgart Region was organised jointly by PP 5 (WRS) and PP 6 (HdM), in accordance with the current local Corona regulations. The main purpose of the event was to connect the members of the two training program rounds with each other and – due to the Corona Pandemic – to meet personally for the first time. In order to inform and inspire the participants the event agenda also included two keynotes: Firstly the presentation of a successful regional startup in the area of social innovation, Female Fellows. This non-profit association is particularly committed to empowering women with refugee and migration background. Their goal is to create a society that lives its diversity and in which everyone has equal rights to help shape it. They offer e.g. tandems between local women and female refugees in order to get to know each other, support in organisational or cultural questions. This company is a great example of how having an idea can lead to a successful organisation with almost 20 employees and a huge societal impact.
The second keynote was the presentation of a fellow Interreg CE project: SIV Social Impact Vouchers. This project is led by Anja Grunow from the regional organisation “Neue Arbeit”, which is also a cooperation partner for the INSITU project. Social Impact Vouchers (SIV) are employment vouchers that have a social impact on the labour market. The innovative voucher system brings together employee seeking companies and job seeking disadvantaged people in a very simple way. The free and uncomplicated employment vouchers enable companies and applicants to get to know each other and test each other over a period of three months with the aim of permanent employment.
The participating (future) startups of our regional training program found both presentations very interesting and inspiring and came up with a few discussion points afterwards.
The program included also a short energizer beforehand and – actually as the main part – an extensive introduction round, where the participants presented themselves and their business ideas and status quo. After the inspirational input there was plenty of opportunity for networking and exchanging experiences, accompanied by food and (non-alcoholic) drinks. It was great to see how the training program participants and the other guests got to know their peers and caught up with the development of their projects.