The innovation potential of start-ups by founders currently underrepresented among entrepreneurial communities is undeniable. The MOSAIC project aims to address this and support entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.
The EU Commission identified the potential of Migrant and Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurs as an under-exploited source of economic growth to be addressed specifically through inclusive entrepreneurship. Yet they can face significant challenges, particularly in accessing finance. The MOSAIC project is an EU-funded Erasmus+ project addressing these problems by enabling Adult Educators to provide inclusive, innovative and relevant Entrepreneurial Education to founders from underrepresented backgrounds.
Across Europe, founders who are not from established entrepreneurial segments of the community have limited access to financial resources and face more barriers to obtaining funding than other peers. With the MOSAIC project, we are overcoming these obstacles by providing educators with modular, flexible, and innovative learning and teaching materials that come with skills packages and enable them to leverage their potential impact on a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Europe with equal opportunities for all.
The project consortium brings together different experts with synergetic competencies and experiences. In addition to professional expertise, target group access, diversity of organisational forms, sectors and life cycle phases played a role in the composition of the consortium. Partners from seven organisations in six countries across Europe are working together to identify knowledge gaps and barriers to accessing finance, increasing their investment readiness and raising investor awareness to foster inclusive investing. Regular online meetings ensure effective collaboration and progress in an environmentally sustainable manner.
The methodology used is based on a sound Competence Framework that guides the development of our integrated set of resources. The heart of the approach will be developing an Innovative Assessment web app, which can be used by both in-class Adult educators and Founders. It will analyse financial knowledge gaps, the investment readiness of the startup concept, and links to specific training resources in our interactive Networking Hub, where founders can network with investors informed by the resources provided.
Throughout the project, the consortium will actively engage with Professionals in Adult Entrepreneurship Education, Founders from underrepresented segments of the community, as well as professionals supporting entrepreneurship in the Youth Sector and in Higher Education Institutions.
Momentum is responsible for the Quality Assurance and Impact Evaluation of the project and is working closely with consortium partners on the development of a strategically targeted course curriculum as well as project communication. We will shortly be launching social media channels and a project website where you will be able to keep up to date on the work of MOSAIC, in the meantime, updates will be available on Momentum channels.