Entrepreneurship as a second career or Entrepreneurship 2.0
Project working meeting 15.12.2023
This project is co-financed with state support from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic within the Sigma Programme.
| Implementation time: | 2023-2026 |
| Financed by: | TA ČR TQ01000115 |
| Project Objectives: | The aim of the project is to develop a concept to support start-up entrepreneurs in the 40+ age category. This will be used to guide the activities of the guarantor and innovation centres towards this group at both strategic and tactical levels. The objective will be achieved through a main output, a strategy document (Hkonc) and sub-outputs in the form of workshops and articles, which will serve as a source of updating existing strategy documents and a basis for the preparation of annual action plans. The main activity of the project is social science research on the socio-economic impacts of starting a business of the target group and research on motivations, behaviour and needs. The expected impact is improved support for business start-ups for this important group, which is the carrier of the experience, knowledge and contacts needed for the creation of innovative enterprises.
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| Project Content: | Description of the implementation of the chosen theme
The project fulfils the criterion in the main theme by looking for ways to better manage the human capital of the selected 40+ cohort, which has the qualitative prerequisites, experience and skills to start their own business, but may nevertheless feel more inhibited (internal/external) than other groups of entrepreneurs who have long been targeted and targeted by public support (young, unemployed, seniors). We see promoting motivation to pursue entrepreneurship as a second career as an important prerequisite for the role model effect for the younger generation that is yet to go through the process of career change. The absence of role models in the previous generation demotivates the next generation to commit to change their style and to stay in an occupational position that does not develop the potential or satisfy the needs of the social group.
The essence of the project design The project is based on a research of the state of current scientific knowledge and the experience of selected technology innovation centres (MSIC) and CzechInvest with innovative and startup entrepreneurs. The selected outputs (Hkonc, workshops and Jost) implement the findings from the conducted empirical investigation into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The core of the project is built on bringing together research organizations (ROs) using empirical research (semi-structured interviews, primary research) and insights from multidisciplinary fields (psychology, sociology, economics, including entrepreneurship), will help to identify the internal and external factors of the 40+ group under study at the crossroads of their careers, so as to actively influence their entrepreneurial behaviour through the external targeted support of an internal application guarantor (IAG), which we see as an opportunity for a new social innovation from the position of the IAG. The outputs of the project will thus help to actively support the career transition of these people from employment to self-employment. |
| Planned outputs: | Application and market potential of outputs/results and knowledge of the target group or market
From the overview of the current situation, SWOT analysis and the focus of both teams and IAG, the need to address the issues of 3 groups emerged: entrepreneurs who have left employment and are running their own business; people who have innovation potential but for reasons as yet unknown remain as employees; people who run a hybrid business (they are both employees and running their own business). The linkage of the researchers to the IAG and others interested in the results of the project, the planned popularization articles with local impact give the project a high application potential in RICs, incubators and interest associations focused on entrepreneurship. An example of a successful business in the 40+ category is CityZen, founded in 2018, which is already a medium-sized company and had a 700% year-on-year increase in sales by 2021. In 2021, they were awarded the title of EY Entrepreneur of the Year Pardubice Region. For zd. 2021, they paid CZK 2.2 million to the state budget. CZK in income tax and CZK 1.7 million in income tax in 2021. CZK in social security contributions. and health. (www.justice.cz, 2022). The market potential of the project outputs after mapping the ecosystem for the 40+ category is high, especially in terms of its contribution to the revenue side of the state budget. For potential entrepreneurs 40+, coming from a corporate background, it can be assumed that social security contributions will be lower. and health. insurance and income taxes will be implemented in their business, and as their employer treated them, they will treat their employees. The project management team has already conducted a cursory survey among the identified potential respondents and verified that there is preliminary interest on their part in the project outputs. Next, the team conducted version 1 of the content analysis to determine how our target group communicates their career change successes and failures. This overview of the representatives of the target group is presented in Annex 8. From this analysis, it can be tentatively concluded that our target group is addressing a problem that has not been addressed in a targeted and systematic way by research organisations or business support bodies. We will be able to meet the needs of people with similar experiences and problems after the implementation of this project. PID: TQ01000115 FX Candidates’ abilities to put research outputs/results into practice Thanks to the mutual cooperation and coordination of the activities of the investigators and the IAG, it is possible to guarantee the translation of research results into practice in the form of changes in the strategy document and the updating of annual action plans. This will ensure the implementation of the proposed measures and the possibility to disseminate best practices in the framework of the outputs to support the cooperation with the target group. FPH VŠE team, esp. The Department of Entrepreneurship has long been working with the Entrepreneurship. IAG, which is the researcher, and other stakeholders interested in the project outputs (ČMAPAM). Apart from teaching in courses dealing with entrepreneurship of young and combined students, it organizes workshops for students and the public. The research team has experience in quality publishing, writing research reports (Country report for Generali EnterPrize White Paper “Fostering sustainability in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”). Doc. The IAG’s requirement in relation to innovation centres is to obtain knowledge that can be applied in strategic documents to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the 40+ category. IAG has been supporting startups for more than 10 years with specific programs (Czech Accelerator, Czech Starter, tech. incubation) and permanent presence in regions, scouting and organizing events like Ideathon or Hackathon. IAG has a network of 13 regional offices in which it can work in the region according to a unified methodology and implement support tools in the Czech Republic. At the same time, it cooperates with other institutions of pro-business infrastructure (incubators, innovation and technolog. Centres. IAG will thus put the project’s outputs into practice as another tool it uses. IAG updates its strategy every 5 years, around 2024 will be a good time to implement Hkoc in the new IAG strategy. Another MSIC stakeholder is focused on developing the innovation ecosystem and improving entrepreneurship. environment, helping SMEs and startups to grow and innovate. It focuses on education, research and development and on collaboration and implementation of new technologies. Gender dimension in the research content The gender dimension of the research can be seen in the different timing of men’s and women’s careers, life values and preferences, which may result in them staying in employment even if they have entrepreneurial potential or run a hybrid business. Encouraging diversity and women’s involvement is not just about spreadsheets, but about creativity and competitiveness, because mixed teams, not only of employees but also of entrepreneurs, are better at performing and coming up with better solutions. Women are more willing to work with and employ men than vice versa. According to Startup Report 2019_2020, only 5% of startup founders are women, but at the same time 57% of startups are in the 30-39 age bracket. The remaining 43% share is shared by younger and older entrepreneurs. Therefore, from the point of view of the involved external Czech-Moravian Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Managers, it will be necessary to consider these variables in the research, which may affect the behaviour of the surveyed respondents, because the path to independent entrepreneurship is quite different and it will be necessary to incorporate partial measures with regard to the gender dimension. The same idea is supported by the externally involved Centre for Entrepreneurship and Employment Support, z.s., which has practical experience in mentoring women with children under 10. |
| Principle Investigator: | Ing. Nina Bočková Ph.D. |
| Contacts: | Prague University of Economics and business
Nina Bočková nina.bockova@vse.cz Silesian University in Opava CzechInvest |