AIESEC IN ROMANIA 2015.2016 Become Business Model
Social Problem Definition
The Social Problem Issue name: Career Development, Business Understanding. After the YouthSpeak results, AIESEC s global survey on youth s path from Education to Employment, we realized that 43% of the student from Romania want to become entrepreneurs and another 40% want to work in a multinational company which means that almost all of them want to do one of these two things. However, students don t get enough practical experience with their university education, which is way too theoretical and has almost no space for skills and behaviors development. The issue is, then, that university students have a huge gap between defining what they want for their professional careers (based on lack of understanding of the business or entrepreneurial work) and the actual planning of their career development steps. This results in a high unemployment rate, and furthermore in very low personal and professional satisfaction with the jobs the students get in the future.
Needs & Opportunity Analysis 1. Market Needs Motivation for learning: which means that the students need to see the relevance in what they re doing in order to have the right motivation Practice: one of the main issues for a student in Romania is that there s nothing practical in their faculties which lead us to unprepared students for the market. Being open to the market: it s really hard for a common student to be visible for the market and also to know what s going on in the market, so he can understand the possibilities and trends happening and how it can connect to his future career. Possibility of doing something in your own country: another thing would be that most of the students leave after they finish their faculty just because they don t know what are their possibilities in their own country and don t feel connected to Romania, thus they look forward to emigrate. Foreign Languages: because it s impossible to work in a multinational or to have your own company without knowing at least one more language, specifically English, and also it s more important to practice it than to study it. Promotion: both companies and universities have a difficulties in actually reaching the students and having conversations with them. Attracting students: the universities have a really big problem in making the people that finished the highschool to apply for the local university. Career orientation: due the fact that the faculty is not enough for a student to figure out what they want in their career and a lot of them finish the faculty without knowing what they will do, they need to find out from the first years of faculty at least in order to be able to practice Self- awareness: again, one of the most important things to know, because it s way easier to decide what you can do I your future, what you should improve, at what you re good and what should be your next steps if you re self-aware. Technical skills: nowadays the companies search qualified people to work on their company and only with theoretical skills it s really hard to get all the knowledge that you need. Long tern vision: it s something that it s missing from our thinking for generations and it s really hard to build something and to take some actions if you don t see the end goal of that and that s why it s really important for the students to start having a long term vision.
Needs & Opportunity Analysis 2. Current Trends Economical instability: it affects a lot the whole population of Romania, but more than that the students, because maybe there are a lot of times when they don t have money to invest in their own development. Western countries module: this is something that we can actually work on an bring with our project. Western countries module, referring to the universities module, where they do a lot of practice stuff which help them in their future. Bad media example: there is a big problem in Romanian society that you have nothing to watch on TV. There are only bad examples and this affect the students because it restrict they long term thinking and their possibilities. Virtual orientation: day by day we are going virtual more and more and most of the people that are doing this are the students. Emigration of the young population: there are a lot of students that after they finish their faculties are leaving the country just because of the salaries and because they don t see the possibilities that Romania can offer. The wish to care more and do less: there are a lot of people aware and talking actively about the problems that they have and Romania as a country has but few ones are doing nothing to improve those problems. There is a lack of motivation for actually doing things to improve what s not good. Entrepreneurship: more and more students want to become entrepreneurs after their faculties.
Needs & Opportunity Analysis 3. Root Causes Off-dated educational system: the model is inherited from the industrial era and hasn t been adapted to meet today s demand. The students are taught lots of theory but very little practical activities are held, together with a lack of focus in actual skills and competencies development. No long term thinking: The students themselves don t have a long-term orientation for their lives, which includes their careers. They don t necessarily see the importance of investing in their professional development further than what is taught at universities and to understand what the market is like, and thus they are moved by inertia and not planning their futures. Financial instability : Most of the university students don t have a strong financial stability that allows them to develop the just mentioned long-term thinking, thus focusing mostly in financial survival, which means accepting jobs and making career choices based only or mostly in financial benefits, instead of what might be an actually planned career path.
Needs & Opportunity Analysis 4. Environmental Landscape (competitive analysis) Other NGO s: there are a lot of NGO s that are trying to tackle similar issues with relatively equivalent ideas and that come up with the similar projects. The companies programs that are similar: some companies have their own campus engagement strategies. It can affect us because the students are more likely prefer approaching a company than an student organization and they might also have the chance after the companies programs to be hired there (being a more short-term oriented possibility for them). The universities: some universities are having a similar projects and they can have more visibility then us in the students market.
Needs & Opportunity Analysis 5. Barriers & Opportunities Barriers AIESEC positioning in the student market: depending on the city, AIESEC might not have the most positive positioning in the student market. Furthermore, we have different programs for them (Global Talent, Citizen and Leaders) that might compete against each other and confuse them if not presented properly. Opportunities Need for students in companies: there are a lot of companies that want to grow a lot in the near future and they don t have students with to hire with enough preparation and experience in order to do that. Internationalism: the thing that makes us unique as an organization is that we bring international students to learn together with our students. They can bring new ideas, new perspectives and furthermore a mindset that it can be done. University Relationships: Most of the AIESEC Local Committees have long-term positive relations with their host universities, which allows them to connect this project to the university in order to have a better positioning and endorsement.
Social Business Idea
The Project Idea Social wise Given the fact that the main issue identified is lack of career orientation and business understanding in university students, the project idea is to create spaces, in an organized agenda, where the students can learn in theoretical and practical matters deeper knowledge about different areas of business, broken down into categories (modules), and about entrepreneurship. The content of the program s agenda for each area of category of a business (module) is developed in partnership with companies that work in the field, and with an entrepreneurship specialist organization, generating that way the connection between what employers and entrepreneurs need and what the students will actually learn in the project. Furthermore, the content of the project is not delivered in the classical I teach, you learn methodology, but in a 21 st century new methodology: co-learning. Each student group will have AIESEC international volunteer interns as facilitators that are not experts in the subject, but are very interested and passionate about it. The interns will be trained in how to host co-learning spaces with the university students, and then they ll be responsible for keeping the track of the agenda and the activities that are supposed to happen everyday, but not to directly teach the contents: everyone in the group (both beneficiary students and the interns) are supposed to learn together through the different methodologies planned. Part of the practical experience is that in each group will be composed by 2~3 teams of 2~3 students each, and they have to develop a project related to the area of knowledge in the 6 weeks of duration of the edition. Later on, the best team of each group would be awarded with a fee-free, short-term entrepreneurship exchange experience sponsored by the company responsible for the module. At the end, all the graduated participants from the project pass to be part of a talent pool where they can have contact with the partner companies, and thus creating the opportunity for youth-employer connection and employability.
The Project Idea AIESEC wise From the AIESEC perspective this project has a huge relevance: from the Social Development (IGCDP) side, it allows massive grow through a highly scalable model for exchange realizations by connecting to a relevant need of society (that will have high demand in the long-term and is relevant for the world current trends and trends), and by creating a kind of job description for interns which requirements are not specialists, allowing easy matching and massive volume. From the macro AIESEC perspective, the project responds to the organization s essence of leadership development for youth. We offer a program for our main target as organization, university students, which is relevant to their needs and complementary to the other programs that we as AIESEC offer (exchange and team experiences). In this sense, it generates both brand positioning in them as customers of AIESEC, generating awareness of the organization and possibilities for cross-selling other programs, and at the same time we serve to our core purpose of youth development with an alternative, complementary program. In the organizational results perspective, the basic operational idea goes as following: each area of business has 3 modules, each module has 4 groups, each group has 6 participants and 2 interns. In that sense a local AIESEC office that runs 1 area of business would have 72 participants in total, with 24 interns. Then the number is highly scalable depending on the number of groups per module (which depends in market demand of the project) and on the number of areas of business opened. Last but not least, from the corporate perspective, the project also has a lot of potential to build last-long relationships that could go beyond the project itself and into other dimensions of partnership, as well as positioning AIESEC in the business sector further.
The Project s Vision Every university student will have the power to take Romania to the next level, by creating the future they dream of.
Universities, Student Organizations,, Curricula Partners, Logistics Partners Global Entity Partners (EP Suppliers), Intern s Experience Delivery Partners Program Development, Marketing & Delivery Sales, Engagement & Reporting Selection & Preparation Logistics, materials, HR, information systems, agenda content, initial capital. Career Orientation Business Understanding International Environment Employer Branding Consumer Branding Access to qualified domestic talent Co-Learning techniques in a practical environment & facilitation skills Community membership Account management Delivery Services B2C Marketing Direct sales Matching Process University Students (beneficiaries) Companies (Regular Sales) Interns Logistics, Copyright, Marketing Sales Costs Accommodation, Delivery Costs, Matching Costs Participation fee, membership fee Partnership Package Sales, Employing Tax Intern Fee (Fixed price, single payment)
Business Model Canvas 1. Customer Segments: who are we selling our project to? 1. Students as beneficiaries: They are the main beneficiaries of the project and the main purpose of it s existence. For them is the core value delivery in order to tackle the issue of career orientation and business understanding. 2. Interns: They are a customer because they are choosing to live their exchange experience in our project and thus we must deliver to them a high quality experience with all the minimum standards. Furthermore, they will pay a TN Fee to be part of this project, so this means that we have an even bigger responsibility to deliver all the standards. 3. Companies: Are a key customer for our project and the fundamental income providers. There are 2 types of packages we as organizers are going to sell. Consumer branding (Support & Content partners): Companies which will want to be associated with our project will give us sponsorships in exchange for advertising. (ex: a food company who wants to position itself in the student sector) Employer branding (Agenda partners): Companies which will want to have access to a pool of talented students from which they can hire after the project, so they invest resources to develop the agenda of the project and support in the delivery.
Business Model Canvas 2 Value Proposition: What do we give to each customer? 1. Career Orientation, Business Understanding, international Environment: By bringing international young people with other perspectives our students will gain strategical thinking when developing a business and being more aware of their professional path. 2. Consumer Branding, Employer Branding, Access to qualified domestic talent: Consumer branding: By partnering with our project, we can help them make their business more known and we can deliver that for them not only on the local and national level, but also on the international scale through our interns. Employer Branding: There are a lot of companies that want to grow in the near future and they lack access to prepared students, since they are attracted by various companies at the same time. By investing in the students, the companies will have a better positioning of themselves as an employer of choice for the students, increasing the possibility they are selected by top students. Access to qualified domestic talent: We can offer the company visibility and also they can co-create the curricula for the project based on what they need. After participating at our project, the students become part of a pool of talented young people that the companies can have access to. 3. Co-Learning techniques in a practical environment & facilitation skills: For the Interns, besides the regular value proposition of the volunteering exchange itself, this project has an added value which is the fact that we will create the project s agenda with professional institutions (ex: a NGO specialized in child education, psychology office, etc) and the interns will be able to train based on it, thus enhancing their knowledge on training & education as well. Furthermore, they will gain facilitation skills and will learn together with the students.
Business Model Canvas 3. Channels: How do we transmit the value proposition to the costumer? 1. Direct sales: For companies and universities, the method is direct sales through sales meetings in order to partner for the project and create long-lasting relations that enable yearly growth; 2. Matching process: For Interns, the way for them to know about the project and it s value proposition is the regular internal matching process of AIESEC, which includes the various International Relations strategies. 3. B2C Marketing: In order to transmit the value proposition to the students properly and to be as visible as possible, we ll promote the project both online(social media channels) and offline(classhouts, bringing friends, word of mouth)
Business Model Canvas 4. Relationship Management: How do we maintain the connections? 1. Account Management: For companies, to have constant communication with the partners in order to guarantee expectation alignment and achievement. Project reporting in different stages from AIESEC to the partners is included in here. The customers need to stay in full contact with the project from the beginning until the end. All of this is to maintain and upscale the longlasting partnerships for project scalability 2. Community membership: For students, we ll create a community that allows them to be connected with the companies, among themselves and with AIESEC, to have a space where they can share their ideas and establish future collaboration. 3. Delivery Services: For interns all the regular services that are provided for a volunteer exchange participant of AIESEC. This includes Exchange Program and Policies, Standard & Satisfaction and Delivery Activities and Programs of AIESEC in Romania.
Business Model Canvas 5. Revenue Stream: Where does the money come from? 1. Participation fee, membership fee: Each student will have to pay a single fee in order to be part of the project in an edition. The people who will want to have access to the community will also have to pay a different access fee with other benefits. 2. Partnership Package Sales: For companies, the project will have different sales packages that adapt to their different budgets and needs. The sales are done locally and they are the main source of income to make the project sustainable. 3. Employing Tax: Furthermore, for the companies who will hire students from the pool of students that we give them access to, will contribute financially to the project with a fixed fee per hired student. 4. TN Fee (Fixed Price, single payment): We will ask for our interns a fee to support in the costs of the project. The exact amount will be standardized across all social projects of AIESEC in Romania.
Business Model Canvas 6. Key Resources: What things are needed to run the project. 1. Logistics & Materials : All the physical resources needed for the organization and delivery of the project: projector, flipcharts, pens, location for the sessions, brochures, flyers, booklets, banners, etc. 2. Human Resources: The people needed to plan and execute the project processes and activities: the national team (national project manager, marketing responsible, processes coordinators), the local team (local project manager, project team, etc) and the interns that will be delivering the sessions to the children. 3. Information Systems: Online systems to manage the information nationwide across all the team. Needed for data centralization, decision making and CRM. 4. Content for the agenda: The content of the agenda, with all the learning strategies and methodologies, which should be created in partnership with specialized organizations. 5. Initial capital: The starting funds to get the project running in the first stages.
Business Model Canvas 7. Key Activities: What should be done for the project to happen? 1. Program development, marketing & delivery: For students, the program (actual agenda with contents and learning methods) has to be developed with a specialized partner and then delivered through the sessions calendar by the intern, according to the timeline predefined. This also involves all the logistics preparations needed, as well as building the partnerships with the universities in which the project will be delivered and setting the delivery expectations for the project. 2. Sales, Engagement & Reporting: With companies, direct sales are done to get them on board with the project according to the different partnership packages. After the contract is signed the companies must be engaged in the project (i.e: inviting them to the events, have constant meetings, etc.) to build a stronger relationship based on purpose. Later on reporting of the status of the delivery of the partnership is done (for transparency in the delivery of the contact) and also updates of what is happening in the project for informative purposes (once again to build a stronger relationship based on purpose). 3. Selection & Preparation: For the interns, selection among all the applicants for the project and all the regular matching and delivery processes. Then preparation before the project starts is really important, as well as constant follow up of their performance and on-going training as needed, to guarantee proper delivery
Business Model Canvas 8. Key Partners: Who do we need to walk side by side with? 1. Universities: They can support us in making the project more visible, reaching out to a bigger amount of students, giving more formality to the project by endorsing and showcasing it and also support us with physical spaces for the classes and other needed logistics. 2. Student Organizations: We believe that a partnership with other student organizations will help us increase the visibility of the project and to reach more students to subscribe as participants. 3. Curricula Partners: For our curricula partners, we need to collaborate with companies in order to create together a professional agenda for all the blocks that we ll have in the project and to be aligned nationally. 4. Logistics Partners: For Logistics Partners, this can be any organization that could help us covering the logistics costs of the project by direct sponsorship. 5. Global Entity Partners (International Suppliers): As all of AIESEC Social Development Projects, International Exchange Volunteers are a core to our activities. In that sense, a fundamental partner are other national AIESEC offices across the globe that can provide us with a steady supply of International Interns to volunteer in the project across the year, in the planned timeline of the project. 6. Intern s Experience Delivery Partners: Any kind of organization that can support us in the delivery of the Interns experience (i.e: accommodation, food, transportation, LEAD for Interns, etc).
Business Model Canvas 9. Costs Structure: What do we spend money on? 1. Logistics, Copyright, Marketing: For students, there are logistics and materials costs (i.e: paper, pens, flipcharts, etc.), copyright of the curricula for intellectual properly, and also promotional costs before and during the project (i.e: flyers, posters, paid ads, etc.) 2. Sales cost: All costs related to sales, such as expenses for/during the meetings with the companies, money for transportation, sales materials; also account management costs for engagement, reports, invitations to events, etc. 3. Accommodation, Matching and Delivery Costs: The interns must be provided with free accommodation during their state in Romania for the delivery of the project, being this one of the main costs of the project. Furthermore there are all the standard matching costs of AIESEC s Social Development Projects (i.e: invitation letters for the interns who need VISA, matching fees, etc) and also standard delivery costs (i.e: welcome packages, leadership development activities, trainings, etc)
Community belonging University Students (beneficiaries) Community Development Business Understanding Community access of like-minded individuals Sessions for business understanding hosted by international students Professional agenda Interns as Facilitators Practical Projects Company spaces Develop practical skills International Perspective Practice English skills Entrepreneurial Thinking Contact with companies Registering and paying Attend sessions International exchange platform Contact with companies Trainings for Interns Different time schedules Group support Interns aren t experts Class frequency English barriers Working with teams and interns Developing a specific project Feedback systems AIESEC organizing errors
Companies Platform for contact, understanding and attraction of university students Brand positioning Company-hosted spaces for students Database management Visibility among university students Interaction with university students Access to a unique talent pool Providing brand materials Developing the curricula Deliver Sessions Platform for consumer branding Design and delivery frameworks Curricula design and delivery Develop brand attraction strategies Tailored, company made, talent attraction strategies Talent Pool engagement and attraction Feedback the project
Interns Access to knowledge from a professional agenda Skills development spaces Interns hosting colearning spaces Following and understanding a professional agenda Co-learning in an international environment Development of facilitation and hosting skills Participate in initial trainings Prepare the sessions Business understanding spaces Co-facilitate the sessions Showcase their journey Provide the framework for their leadership development Interaction with different cultures 6 weeks of learning by doing Peer-to-peer hosting Follow the agenda Participants engagement Feedback collection and improvement
Value Proposition Canvas 1. Gains 1. For Students: Belonging to another community: contact with other students with similar interests. Business Understanding: how business areas work and get business perspective Develop practical skills; International perspective; Practice English skills; Opening towards entrepreneurial thinking; Possibility of being in touch with companies. 2. For Companies: Visibility among university students; Interaction with the university students Access to a unique talent pool. 3. For Interns: Co-learning in an international environment Developing facilitation and hosting skills
Value Proposition Canvas 2. Gains Creators 1. For Students: Community development for participants Curricula/Agenda created in partnership with companies expert in the field Spaces hosted by international students; Developing a project & working in teams of 2-3 people Participate in the spaces hosted by the companies. 2. For Companies: Brand positioning across the project in different channels and spaces. Hosting spaces and delivering sessions for the university students Project graduate participants database management 3. For Interns: Hosting co-learning spaces for participants Following and understanding a professionally created agenda
Value Proposition Canvas 3. Pains 1. For Students: International facilitators that are not experts in the subjects; Frequency of classes; English language barriers; AIESEC organizing errors 2. For Companies: Designing a curricula adapted for a young audience, that won t be delivered by them but by someone else who s not an expert Attracting and engaging the students of the Talent Pool 3. For Interns: Lack of understanding of how to create a co-learning or peer-to-peer learning space; Difficulties following-up the agenda of the project given limited understanding of the; Difficulties tracking the engagement of the participants and whether they are doing what they should be doing with their projects.
Value Proposition Canvas 4. Pains Relievers 1. For Students: Specific trainings for the interns to be able to deliver the content; Different time schedule for each group; The group as support system for language understanding Feedback systems and continuous improvement from companies, partners, participants, interns. 2. For Companies: Youth insights through a clear framework offered by AIESEC to adapt the agenda to youth audiences Clear delivery frameworks for the Interns co-designed between AIESEC and the companies. Student communication engagement strategies created by the company and adapted by AIESEC accordingly 3. For Interns: Training at the beginning of the project in how to host peer-to-peer learning spaces; Weekly follow-up and explanation about the agenda and the participants projects milestones and objectives for the interns from the project organizing team.
Value Proposition Canvas 5. Job to be done 1. For Students: Registering and paying; Attending sessions; Working with teams and interns; Developing a specific project. 2. For Companies: Provide brand materials; Developing the curricula; Deliver sessions; Develop brand attraction strategies; Feedback the project 3. For Interns: Participate in initial trainings; Prepare the sessions; Co-facilitate the sessions; Feedback collection and improve based on it.
Value Proposition Canvas 6. Products and Services 1. For Students: Community access of like-minded individuals Sessions for business understanding hosted by international students International exchange platform Contact with companies 2. For Companies: Platform for contact, understanding and attraction of university students Platform for consumer branding 3. For Interns: Access to knowledge from a professional agenda Skills development spaces Business understanding spaces Provide the framework for their leadership development, through all the Delivery processes and activities. Showcase their experience, to enhance the meaning of their experience and generate more visibility.
Mid-term Ambition
The 2020 mid-term ambition By 2020, 14.000 Romanian university students will participate in this project.
Achievement Breakdown 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 # of Beneficiaries 792 1800 2592 3744 5256 % of growth compared to previous year - 127% 44% 44% 40% # of Interns 264 600 864 1248 1752 % of growth compared to previous year - 127% 44% 44% 40% Total # of beneficiaries:14.184 Total # of interns:4.728
Jesus Navarro National Director, Social Development jesus.navarropayares@aiesec.net Ionut Ghidarcea National Project Manager ionut.ghidarcea92@gmail.com