The CSHUB Hackathon in Forlì

CSHUB Hackathon in Forlì took place on two Wednesdays in July, on the 7th and 14th. These two moments were essential to test the skills that aspiring entrepreneurs have developed during the journey with GIM, the name of the HUB of Forlì, and have been important to introduce aspiring entrepreneurs with the local partners of the project.

The CSHUB Hackathon in Forlì took place on two Wednesdays in July, on the 7th and 14th. These two moments were essential to test the skills that aspiring entrepreneurs have developed during the journey with GIM, the name of the HUB of Forlì, and have been important to introduce aspiring entrepreneurs with the local partners of the project. The project launched by GIM in December 2020 received 120 applications. An exceptional figure if we calculate that Italy - according to Eurispes data - is the country with fewer dreams of "entrepreneurship" among young people.

Of the 40 selected for GIM's training-managerial path, 20 startuppers and new entrepreneurs from all over the world, met for the first time live after about 6 months of distance learning during this two events. There was also the presence of 50 representatives of institutions and economic operators - between of which companies, consultants and trade associations, professional associations and banking institutions, trainers and mentors all part of a solid network facilitated by GIM. Below is a brief storytelling of the events.

On Wednesday 7 July, in the setting of the Rocca Malatestiana in Cesena, the first appointment of the Hackathon Impresa Mondo organized by the GIM Hub was held, which promotes sustainable business models for the start-up of new foreign and Italian companies. 15 aspiring entrepreneurs from all over the world, divided into 5 work teams, challenged each other on a theme dear to the municipality of Cesena, namely how to stimulate entrepreneurial culture in a time of crisis.

During the first part of the event, coordinated by Eleonora Sette of Art-Er agency for innovation in Emilia Romagna, many topical ideas for starting a business emerged, inspired by the development objectives of the UN Agenda. 2030. There are 5 candidate proposals from the teams in the field: a Forum and crowdfunding from below among aspirants to face the bureaucracy, a Festival that compares the female entrepreneurs of the world, develop financial skills and business plans with Linkedin, learn the secrets of be an entrepreneur with a successful team to overcome failure, promote generational turnover with a match between aspirants and entrepreneurs at the end of their career.

The teams were accompanied by 3 exceptional mentors: Chris Richmond of the Mygrants startup who opened the challenge with an Inspirational Talk on the effort and beauty of doing business, Kevin Bravi president of the Confidustria ER Young Entrepreneurs Committee and Claudia Iovinelli of Federmanager Forlì -Cesena, who supported the groups during the event.

Despite the tight competition, a professional and rigorous jury still had to express themselves, thanks to the skills of Keltoum Kamal Idrissi Entrepreneur Hijab Paradise (president of the Jury), Matteo Zocca program manager Development and Training of Anci ER, Catia Lorenzini founder of the CNA Cesena Fashion School, Alessandra Roberti of the Romagna Chamber of Commerce Innovation Service.

"All the candidates, who know firsthand the needs of those who want to do business, have made very valid proposals for this area and the jury had to discuss for a long time" says Kamal Idrissi president of the Jury "We are therefore very satisfied with the project awarded for the level of innovation and concrete feasibility ".

After 2 and a half hours of work, the teams presented their proposals to the jury and to a qualified group of GIM partners including Claudio Sirri of Federmenager Forlì Cesena who offered up the tablets for the winners, Lia Benvenuti for Techne Forlì Cesena who manages GIM, Luca Bartoletti of Irecoop for Confcooperative Romagna, Pierluigi Bandini for Confratigianato Forlì Cesena, Pier Domenico Ricci for the Order of Chartered Accountants, Mara Morici and Francesca Scocchera of Cooss Marche representing the leader Open for Italy and of European partners Poland, Germany, Croatia and Austria.

The winning team was “Reborn” a project on the theme of generational change. "We have devised a method to respond to the problem" says Patrick Wafo Noumsi, Cameroonian IT engineer of the winning team, "devising a path to create, together with trade associations, matches between young and adult aspiring entrepreneurs and end-of-career entrepreneurs, to facilitate of trust and the passage in the leadership of the company ". Together with Patrick, the aspiring entrepreneurs Maria Janier from Brazil and Natalia Gravilenko of Russian origin are part of the winning team. 

The event ended with the awarding of the winning team by Carmelina Labruzzo Councilor for Services for people and families of the Municipality of Cesena, also representing the Councilors Francesca Lucchi European Projects and Luca Ferrini Economic Development. "GIM is a project in which this administration strongly believes" said Labruzzo "so that cultural integration becomes a concrete driving force for the development of well-being, economic and professional for the entire Cesena community".

On the second meeting of the Hackathon organized by the CSHub GIM the goal was to support the development of business ideas and, among them, accompany the 10 most structured business projects to the actual establishment of a business.

The meetings, individual in the first part and then more informal during the aperitif, touched on various aspects - financing, partner and customer search, access to credit - and allowed partners and startuppers to get to know each other live, given that the training course to be February to June, it took place entirely "remotely" through the online training platform designed by the partner CNR National Research Council.

Among the participants there were also trainers and 8 of the approximately 20 mentors who supported the "students" free of charge to get into the spirit of the entrepreneur-manager and to develop all those "informal" skills so important to know how to run a business, from knowing how to manage a team success to taking risks, from overcoming mistakes to communicating effectively.

Fabio Petroni, project director of the E4Impact Foundation in Milan, which manages training and business incubators in many parts of the world and in about twenty African countries, spoke for the training staff. "Through training in sustainable business models and a strong network of partners and mentors" - highlighted Petroni - "GIM has shown that it believes in the abilities of foreign citizens by overcoming stereotypes and prejudices on the contribution that everyone can make to their community, a due contribution also in the alliance created with GIM between Italian and foreign entrepreneurs ”.

Then 3 more structured startuppers intervened - coordinated by Elena Salvucci president of coop Casa del Cuculo main partner GIM - including Yusif Fuseini, Ghanaian new entrepreneur of Luxury of Home, a company that offers all-round services for luxury homes, Raffaele Vargas , Forlì startupper of Uilbi, e-commerce that offers personalized diets and organic balanced meals, Josephine Ofoedu Ngozi, Nigerian cultural mediator who plans to produce double-sided bags and supports women in Nigeria.

In addition to the more technical meetings, the startuppers had the opportunity to present their business projects to the partners who sponsored the project, including Paola Casara, councilor for business policies of the Municipality of Forlì and Alberto Zambianchi, president of the Romagna Chamber of Commerce, Aride Missiroli president of the Order of Chartered Accountants, Lia Benvenuti general manager of the Techne agency that manages the project.

 "GIM is the demonstration that by putting together energy, skills and good ideas, great goals can be achieved" - underlined President Zambianchi - "such as increasing the opportunities for citizens to do business, because only in this way can this territory really increase. its indices of development and well-being ".

"These projects are important because by stimulating the young people of the area to get closer to the business and to the entrepreneurial culture" - said Councilor Casara - "to achieve this goal, the institutions we represent can do a lot, offering services to understand and manage bureaucratic aspects, so important, but also complex, for good and correct business management ". 

"These moments of mutual knowledge and exchange give a new meaning to our training courses for job placement and entrepreneurship", concluded the director of Techne Benvenuti.