More than one hundred aspiring entrepreneurs for the “Startupper” announcement

“It – could – work”. Giacomo Mazzarino, the director of the Chamber of Commerce of Varese, used the sentence of the famous film Young Frankenstein, by Mel Brooks, to convince the more than one hundred aspiring entrepreneurs, who participated in the presentation of the Startupper announcement, that was worth remaining. The message must have arrived, because most participants remained in order to listen until the end, although the second sentence of Mazzarino was this: “There is no money, but the chosen projects will be given a series of services that are necessary to start a business and training amounting to a total of 108 hours”.

The announcement, which is only for new, young, female, social, innovative and immigrants’ enterprises, and supported in the field of the 2014 equalization fund of Unioncamere, can count on the experience of the Chamber. Just remember the success of the previous “Saturno” and “Start” announcements and the 26 startup that were created. Not all of them will reach the bottom of Startupper, but those, in May, who will be ready to start their new creature, will have a different awareness. The new enterprises often die because the new entrepreneurs do not have specific competences and enough experience in the management of the enterprise exactly in the start-up phase. In this sense, the data speak clearly. Among the new enterprises, the ones which are created by young people, have the highest mortality rate, but this falls by 50% for the enterprises that arranged a coherent business plan.

“The announcement has a funnel structure,” Lanfranco Scippa, of Punto nuova impresa, explained. “In the next days there will be a first phase of consciousness and information and then, in February, the orientation, the training for the business plan, the feasibility assessment, the complement for the access to credit and the eligibility to be financed, and in the end the support to the start up, will start.”

Many women participated, and this trend, according to the Office for studies and statistics of the Chamber of Commerce of Varese, has started some years ago. In 2015 the new female enterprises were 900, 26% of the total, increasing compared to the 24% of three years ago. The enterprises created by foreigners are also increasing, 650 (19.7%) against the 647 of the same period of 2012. The young enterprises are 1026 and count for the 31% compared to the 34% of three years ago.

A very important point, which was reiterated by the speakers and solicited by the questions of the aspiring entrepreneurs, was about the participation in the announcement, which is impeded to those who have already started their business before the training process.

To apply for the project you only need to send an e-mail to the address pni@va.camcom.it, attaching the registration form to the indicative meeting and the questionnaire about the entrepreneurial idea; they are both available online on the website of the Chamber of Commerce.