“On May 4th 2016, I opened the door to a new office, one that, by that date, had been unknown to me. Later, I would have an experience that I am now able to define as a choice that I would repeat without further ado.”
This is how Iulia Ghile started her message to us, talking about her Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs experience, few days before leaving Italy. Iulia spent six months in Parma learning how to develop her business in the marketing sector. Her mentor was Sergio Carima and his company Immagica Comunicazione.
Iulia’s expectations were high for this exchange, but each of them was exceeded in the work with Sergio and Immagica group:
“I felt integrated in their activity, I felt a part of their team and I felt that my opinion mattered; I managed to obtain an overview and a much clearer view of what I should do so that my business be a success on the market and survive (starting from the manner of communication and promotion, presentation, management of expenses and income, to the management of failures and potential hindrances and the approach of the market and of the potential clients); moreover, this exchange has taught me completely new things, things related to my work, which are certain to add value to the activities I will perform; they also helped me obtain a long-term relationship with Immagica, the host-company”.
Iulia joined Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme because she wanted to understand better what was behind an activity of an entrepreneur. She wanted to discover the potential things she should NOT do now, at the beginning of her business road, and to learn from other people’s mistakes. She also wanted to validate the directions in her company’s strategic plan and to improve the aspects that were perhaps not approached as they should have been.
Sergio was interested in having in his team someone from another culture that could add value to the activity his company performs. Also he considered that the best way to understand the underlying mechanism of some companies from outside Italy could be best achieved by connections with the corresponding person. So he chose to work with Iulia, as he wanted an active team member, being ready to listen and also to provide input on their projects and work.
At the end of exchange, Sergio felt that he made the right decision about joining the program and by choosing to work with Iulia:
“When your knowledge becomes richer than what I knew in the first place, this is a clear gain for you. But when these new pieces of information, obtained following a contact with a third part (in this case, the fact that I met Iulia) act on your results, the categorical exchange can be called successful. Iulia brought a young and creative view, being eager to make things work, to make things possible. I have definitely learnt a lot about the Romanian market and about how they think and act, especially since we have had indirect contact with clients from this market and we are likely to continue this in the future. I recommend that all entrepreneurs take part in such an exchange experience and I am confident that they will not regret it.”
Before the end of the exchange, Iulia wrote again about her experience and about why she would recommend the exchange to other new entrepreneurs:
“I don’t know what “successful” means for other people, but I do know that this exchange exceeded my expectations, both in terms of the people I met, and in terms of the information I gathered in this period. It’s almost difficult to go back while I know there are so many things I can still learn.
But I am ready, I believe this is the fine feeling I have after this experience: I am ready to approach the entrepreneur’s success and to confront the challenges and the hindrances, starting this journey with a lot of resolve and confidence and with more attention paid to small details that can make a big difference.
I recommend it to all those who, first of all, doubt their own strong points and find it difficult to define a clear direction, their objectives, in other words – their vision, their perspective on the future. Furthermore, I recommend it to all those who are skilled in what they do, but who never had contact with a record of expenses and incomes, since they do not have a well-defined management policy.”
