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Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

Outputs and results
All key stakeholders involved in professional guidance, education and training have now joined the
CCIs to support these guidance events; and the initiative has grown rapidly as a result. To date, the
nights have taken place in 30 different cities and attracted between 600 and 5 000 participants per
event. Participation has grown from 3 000 participants in the first year (2007) to 30 000 participants
just two years later (2009). In 2010, the events have already attracted more than 50 000 visitors, with
850 occupations being represented and 1 200 guidance professionals, entrepreneurs and business
professionals providing support. Participants come from a variety of backgrounds, including many
from more marginalised groups of the population. Nearly 40% are upper secondary school students,
one third come from lower secondary schools and 13% are higher education students.
A key lesson generated through the dialogue between entrepreneurs and young people is that
there are no linear pathways or privileged routes that must be taken to achieve one’s career goals,
but that pathways can be multiple and sometimes unexpected. Entrepreneurs have all pursued
different educational pathways, and may also have experienced failure before achieving their aims.
Such exchanges have proven successful in reducing the anxiety that young people can feel about
their career choices, and help them to understand that trial and error is inevitably part of the process.
However, the ACFCI is well aware that the goals of the guidance nights must not be over-
ambitious. The nights do not aim to resolve all career choice issues in one evening, nor do they
represent a kind of ‘express’ career guidance process. It is simply a catalyst for a process that must
be sustained and pursued by the student afterwards.
This approach is unique in many ways; the level of commitment from the chambers of commerce
(in financial and human resource terms) is impressive, as is the number of entrepreneurs and other
company representatives who volunteer their time free of charge to provide guidance for these young
people. The cost of one event is around EUR 20 000-30 000 and it is covered almost in full by the
CCIs. Entrepreneurs and other employers have responded to the initiative very well, as they know
that finding qualified and motivated workers is a challenge. Raising young people’s awareness about
career options at an earlier stage in their lives can act to mobilise local resources and support
economic development. Another reason for the positive response from the entrepreneurs is that they
rarely have the opportunity to talk about their jobs or the skills they have acquired or their
professional pathways. These events, therefore, also provide the opportunity for them to reflect on
their career journey and achievements at the same time as transferring this knowledge to young
people with a genuine desire to learn.

Sources: ACFCI, 2006; ACFCI, 2009.

The French example is also unique in the way it has brought together
partners who have not previously worked together on guidance issues. This
partnership working is proving invaluable in instigating profound changes in the
way in which career guidance is approached in France. The guidance nights
have the potential to be a catalyst for change and provide a new approach in the
process of career guidance.
Some individual schools in Sweden have embraced the role model approach
by involving parents and their companies in the entrepreneurial guidance process
(see Example 4). This approach encourages parents and the businesses which
they own or work in to become ‘mentor companies’ for classes or groups of
students. They encourage companies to engage in a longer term mentoring
process to maximise the impact on both parties. Overall, mentoring examples
involving IVET students are relatively rare in Europe, with small initiatives

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