OPENING OF THE CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS OF SWITCHMED GREEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME: HOW SCP/RAC IS PROMOTING A TRANSITION TO CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN 8 SOUTHERN MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES
SCP/RAC and the Switchers Support National Partnerships launch calls for applications for green entrepreneurs. These unique opportunities will enable selected candidates to benefit from a set of business development methodologies boosting sustainability and circular economy.
In line with its mission to promote circular economy, the Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC) of the United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP) is supporting green entrepreneurs to accelerate the shift to more sustainable consumption and production patterns. The opening of the calls for applications of the Green Entrepreneurship programme that SCP/RAC is leading within the framework of the EU-funded SwitchMed programme is aiming to achieve this objective.
The Switchers Support National Partnerships (the local networks of Business Support Organizations gathered in partnerships and implementing the Green Entrepreneurship programme at the local level) and SCP/RAC are opening such opportunities to support green entrepreneurs from the 8 Southern Mediterranean countries in which SwitchMed is implemented (namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia) develop their sustainable businesses. In this first phase, the successful applicants that will have the chance to be selected will receive a tailored training to develop:
– their green business models: for those at ideation stage, that is to say the innovators who have an idea of green business;
– their green business plans: for those at early stage, that is to say the green entrepreneurs who have already started their activity but are at its beginning.
The implementation of this activity is a crucial step of the Green Entrepreneurship programme. It follows the completion of the Trainings of Trainers, who were coached to transfer SCP/RAC cutting-edge tools and methodologies to future beneficiary entrepreneurs, including through the use of the recently lunched platform TheSwitchers.org.
So far, five countries have opened their calls for applications and trainings have started. The calls to select Lebanese and Tunisian green entrepreneurs have already closed but those of Israel, Morocco and Palestine are still running. The remaining three countries are expected to open their calls in the months to come.
The applicants have first to register to the platform and apply to the dedicated section.
With the goal of promoting eco-innovation among youth and contributing to the reduction of youth unemployment, young people will be one of the main targets (along with women) of the trainings for the Green Business Model development. Through SwitchMed Phase I (2013-2018) and the local partners’ commitment, 2 201 green entrepreneurs (38% women) had been trained and supported to develop their green business models across the southern Mediterranean.