Background information of NE
Name & surname: Luis Ander Cabrera Ansoleaga
Country: Spain
Status: Would-be entrepreneur/ Start-up
Sector of activity: Consulting
Background information of HE
Name & surname: Kristina Kočet Hudrap
Country: Slovenia
Sector of activity: Consulting
Name of business / website: Tiko Pro / www.tiko-pro.eu
Period of Relationship: 05/06/2019 – 05/08/2019
Duration of Relationship: 2 months
How did Kristina Kočet Hudrap obtain fresh ideas on how to further develop her consulting company?
Kristina (HE) runs a consulting firm that provides professional assistance to companies and organizations for obtaining financial support from EU funding schemes with a focus on tourism, investments, internationalisation and digitalisation of companies, and the energy sector. As she is always keen about getting new business ideas, meeting professionals and being exposed to new approaches in doing business, she was very happy to take on board for two months Luis Ander (NE) – an enthusiastic young entrepreneur from Tenerife, Spain.
With an aim to start his own consulting company, NE was looking for the best way to consolidate his previous knowledge on EU projects and, thereby, achieve insights on central and eastern European markets. The collaboration started thanks to a mutual desire of both HE and EN to get new opportunities that may end up in securing them business advantages and improved visibility on the market.
HE assigned NE a number of tasks that have been successfully accomplished during the programme. At the beginning, HE got familiar with the hosting firm and its personnel, its daily business activities and the working process during the week. Under the supervision of HE, the young entrepreneur from Tenerife was then able to run some analysis on the Slovenian business market and target companies that may have benefitted from project funding opportunities.
During the second half of the programme, HE accurately explained NE how to write successful project applications on behalf of customers as well as how to control for unexpected problems or events that may occur at this stage. During the last week of stay, NE was already quite independent and ready to search for appropriate European calls for Slovenian customers and advise them professionally.
While attentively observing how to manage an EU-project management micro-enterprise, NE learned how to plan, implement and manage complex projects related to or financed by EU funds. He achieved a good understanding of the main challenges, which are part of such projects and thus learned how to adequately manage them.
On the other hand, HE also experienced a positive impact on her business while hosting Luis Ander. In fact, NE brought new points of view to her company, which translated into a feedback of what should be done to achieve some additional improvements in order to run the business even more successfully. In other words, HE benefitted from an ‘external’ evaluation of her core business and was able to obtain fresh ideas on how to implement some changes as part of the development strategy of her own consulting company, which aims at excellence.
Kristina Kočet Hudrap: “As a young entrepreneur Luis Ander proved to be highly motivated and he was successful in sharing his ideas, energy and motivation with me and my staff. All of us have been able to get valuable insights with respect to our work process and our daily business in the field of consultancy. Coming from a motivated young person with some relevant past experience in this field, I really appreciate his feedbacks. I will make use of Luis’ suggestions when looking for new clients and new market opportunities either in Slovenia or abroad.”
Luis Ander Cabrera Ansoleaga: “Under the mentorship of Kristina, I was able to learn how to better interpret calls related to EU-funded projects, how to manage complex projects and eventual challenges when doing consultancy. In sum, I learned how to do my work professionally by aiming at excellent results. This fruitful practical experience will help me starting my own consultancy company with the aim to develop an efficient network of customers as soon as possible.“