Imagine this: you’re given a blank sheet of paper, a few strangers from different countries, and the task of building a business from scratch. No experience, no ready-made answers, and no right to say, “I don’t know where to start.” It’s in instances like these that we realize entrepreneurial thinking lives within each of us much deeper than it seems at first glance.
The ENTAR Youth Exchange, part of the Erasmus+ program, brought together young people from several European countries in Szklarska Poręba in the Polish Sudetes from July 20 to 29. The project’s format was based on a principle that any entrepreneur will confirm from personal experience: the best learning happens when you’re already in the process, not when you’re preparing for it. Participants developed business ideas, worked on marketing strategies, took part in the Start-up Challenge, and created board games about entrepreneurship from scratch. Each national team led its own workshops, which turned every participant, in turn, into both a learner and a teacher.
Paula Asensio arrived at her first independent Erasmus+ youth exchange with an explosive combination of determination and anxiety and returned with the realization that this very mix is the starting point for any real growth.
At first, I was very nervous and a little scared. But in the end, I felt true happiness because it was worth it. One of my biggest challenges was English. I’m still learning, but I had the chance to practice it every day, and now I feel much more confident. I also had to give presentations in front of people. It was hard at first, but it helped me believe in myself.
Joselyn Gómez handled each week’s task as a separate exercise, and by the end, she felt how all these exercises came together into a connected whole.
At first, it was a challenge, although with each passing day, I felt more confident and was able to develop my entrepreneurial skills and creativity. I learned about marketing, the Business Model Canvas, and how to build a business plan. But my favorite part was creating a board game about entrepreneurship. Sharing ideas and building something from scratch turned out to be more exciting than I expected.
Cristina Navas took away from the week something she probably hadn’t even planned to take: confirmation that the knowledge you already have takes on a new dimension when you apply it alongside people from other countries.
This was my first project in Poland, and I felt very comfortable. I was able to deepen my knowledge and apply what I already knew about marketing and business. We all supported each other while working on the projects, and it showed in the results. I would definitely do another project like this, where you advance both professionally and personally.
Inés Domínguez put into words what everyone was feeling, though not everyone would have been able to express it that way.
I was lucky to be part of this project. These consisted of days of persistent learning: discovering entrepreneurial tools, the value of fellowship, and the richness of connecting with other cultures. But what I’m really taking home with me are the people.
Gisela Canela arrived with three specific goals: to meet new people, improve her English, and learn something new. The week checked all three boxes and added something she hadn’t planned on gaining.
It was amazing to see how different our backgrounds are and, at the same time, to realize how much we have in common. I learned not only from the workshops, but also from daily conversations, teamwork, and simply spending time together.
Amid the startup presentations and marketing strategies, there was one day during the week when no one gave a presentation. The participants set off for the mountain waterfalls of the Sudetes, and Joselyn wrote that she couldn’t put into words what she was feeling at that moment. That’s probably the most honest thing you can say about an experience that changes something inside you: it just happens, and you know it.
The business plans from that week may not have been implemented yet. But the confidence to speak English in front of an audience, the ability to build something together with people you’re meeting for the first time, and the realization that the fear of getting started fades away by the second day, these are with them forever.
Thank you to Paula, Joselyn, Cristina, Inés, and Gisela for their reflections.
Prepared by Olha Oltarzhevska.
