Elsa Pardonen, a coordinator at Silta-Valmennusyhdistys, participated in an international training pilot organized by the OBCD (Open Business for Community Development) project during the spring and summer. According to research conducted by the OBCD project, social enterprises require a broad range of both business and social skills. The goal of the training is to enhance the expertise needed in social enterprises. Some participants from the training pilot also had the opportunity to attend the four-day international OBCD Bootcamp held in Rome, Italy, where participants from various countries worked and studied together in stunning historical Rome.
Elsa was also participating at the OBCD Bootcamp. Here’s how Elsa describes her experience from the trip to Italy: “I work at Silta-Valmennusyhdistys as the network coordinator for the YYO, The Center of Expertise for Social Enterprises in Finland. I expected the Bootcamp to offer opportunities for expand my networks and deepen ecosystem thinking. I joined the OBCD project and the training organized by Helsinki Business College because I saw it as an opportunity to deepen my understanding of business models related to social entrepreneurship.
The Bootcamp brought together students from various European countries and different sectors of society, ranging from university students to CEOs. What united us all was our interest in developing social entrepreneurship business practices and international networking. The training took place in the sweltering July heat in Rome at Tor Vergata University. It included small adventures during metro closures, significant insights among the Finnish team, and genuine enthusiasm from both local and international lecturers. The Bootcamp involved substantial collaboration and brainstorming focused on refining business models for social enterprises. We also undertook a couple of study visits in Rome, which greatly enriched our learning—one focused on the “social farming” concept and the other on helping the homeless in Rome through social enterprise methods.
I hoped for valuable discussions and network expansion in July, and I received both. If the saying is true, my lifespan has been significantly extended, given the amount of hearty laughter, new contacts, and fresh ideas that emerged from the collaboration between actors from different countries”.
After the piloting phase, the training content developed through the OBCD project will be published later this fall as MOOC online courses. The course materials will be freely available to everyone, and the training modules will offer comprehensive and diverse information for anyone interested in social entrepreneurship as well as those working in social enterprises. The materials will be available in English, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, and Greek.
