Shop Around the Block

"There is now a lot of attention for social entrepreneurship and bottom-up activities to improve the quality of life in residential areas, which is why focusing on local and social entrepreneurship is so important. With this project we focus on these elements, in which we offer these local entrepreneurs (who are starting) the opportunity to also offer their business online - bundled with other entrepreneurs. Completely appropriate in this time and specific entrepreneurial need."

"In order to continue to innovate as an entrepreneur, strengthening and continuously developing entrepreneurial competencies is a must. We notice a growing need for digitization of local businesses. This is why we want to work within ShopAroundTheBlock on the digital skills of local entrepreneurs in order to expand their market and strengthen their ties with the local community. "

"Globally, women have less access to starting a business than men: 10% of women compared to almost 14% for men. In other words, women represent only two out of five start-up entrepreneurs worldwide. With our project, we aim to offer opportunities to women who want to start their business, as at least 60% of our participants will be women."

"The idea was to bring together in networking the local entrepreneurs, as a precious resource for the identity of the territory itself. A smart tool for networking, grouping, working together with a common goal to reach: Face successfully market challenges and keep growing even during economic crisis. It is important that local entrepreneurial developments point at a higher aggregative culture and a better ability of management of networking processes that can guarantee to each network the ability to grow and strengthen over time."