BITE: Building Integration Through Entrepreneurship

BITE (Building Integration Through Entrepreneurship) is a project of the European Commission which aims to promote the integration of members of the sub-Saharan African diaspora in the European Union by accompanying them in the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises both in the countries of their residence and in the countries of origin.
In particular, the Municipality of Milan has the role of facilitating the dissemination of the project's objectives among the African diasporas in Milan and of promoting their participation in the project's actions; furthermore, the Municipality is involved in the dissemination activities of the final results of the project and in the organization of the final conference in Milan.

The partners are:

  • Etimos Foundation (leader),
  • E4Impact Foundation,
  • Foundation for initiatives and studies on multi-ethnicity (ISMU),
  • The municipality of Milan, 
  • European Regional Framework for Cooperation (Greece),
  • Integra ab (Uppsala - Sweden).

The project started on January 15, 2019 and ended on April 30, 2021.

 

The specific objective of the project is twofold:

  • ensure that target migrants acquire the knowledge, skills, tools and network needed to start a business in Italy, Greece and Sweden, 
  • allow third parties to replicate the program across the EU easily and at low cost.

 

Awareness and identification

  • Implement awareness campaigns on entrepreneurship as an integration option; carry out screening and evaluation of skills, qualifications and potential beneficiaries in order to identify 100 suitable subjects.

Education and training

  • Launch a training course aimed at improving the knowledge, skills, business model and entrepreneurial action of the 100 selected migrants. Beneficiaries will ultimately have to pass training assessments.

Mentoring and financial inclusion

  • Establishment of a financial support program dedicated to both EU countries and third countries which will later be shared and transferred to the Greek and Swedish contexts. Personalized financial advice will then be offered to each potential migrant entrepreneur in one of the three countries. Finally, the establishment of the financial advisory group is envisaged.

Data dissemination and reproduction

  • Creation of a dissemination and replication strategy for the project through the development of a Toolbox, the creation of social media campaigns and the organization of events on the topic. 

  1. Raising awareness among sub-Saharan African communities in Italy, Greece and Sweden regarding the possibility of becoming entrepreneurs;
  2. Improving migrants' entrepreneurial skills also mapped through the entrepreneurship skills framework;
  3. Selection of 4 groups of migrant entrepreneurs in the project locations (in Milan, Padua, Patras and Uppsala) who will benefit from the capacity building programme;
  4. Provision of training and mentoring programmes, as well as networking and project start-up services;
  5. Sharing a Toolbox through which municipalities, civil society organizations and business support platforms (e.g. incubators) in Italy, Greece, Sweden and across the EU can adopt and replicate the project at low cost .
     

Updated: 02/09/2021