- Import from Canada
- Start of OFB-sites in Sweden
- Development in Västernorrland, Sweden
- From a broad concept to specific tools
At the end of the 20th century there was a cooperation between Västernorrland County in Sweden and Nova Scotia Region in Canada. In Nova Scotia they had a concept namned Open For Business who's purpose was to find and develop young people's ideas and drives. The concept was ran by the organization CEED (Centre for Entrepreneurship Education & Development) and had meeting places in the centres of their towns. These meeting places had young staff, specific methods and a broad variety of activities.
Interior of Open For Business in Halifax Canada.
A study trip was arranged where representants from Västernorrland and Örebro countys in Sweden participated. The visiting group were working both with school development as well as business development. The visit was followed by discussions back home leading to projects funding import of the concept to Sweden. There was a mix of local, regional, national and EU-funding in the projects started.
A number of people were recruited to work with the concept in the municipalities that had decided to start an OFB-site. These people went to Canada in 2000 and went through a two week training for becoming managers or staff at OFB-sites. Every OFB-site is supposed to have a manager and 1-3 young staff that meets the customers. The two training weeks contained a lot of customer treating and how to act regarding to the Open For Business core principals. After the two weeks all participants received a diploma as an evidence of their training. Every OFB-site also got a set of manuals related to the concept.
After returning from training in Canada the process of starting up OFB-sites back home continued. In Västernorrland county, Örnsköldsvik and Sollefteå started in autumn 2000 and then a site was opened in Kramfors in spring 2003. In Örebro county a site was opened in Örebro stad in 2000 and then a number of sites opened in the surrounding municipalities after that.
Open For Business in the middle of Sollefteå town.
The sites looked just as they had done in Canada. The walls were painted in green, yellow, orange and blue. The sites were inspiring with young staff, sofas, computers, examples of local entrepreneurs and lots of information. In the beginning most efforts were put on drop-in visitors and activities at the sites.
Young staff meeting visitors at an OFB-site.
As time went by more and more focus was put on external activities. These were mostly held at schools. There were inspirational lectures but mostly there were workshops on different topics for example creativity or marketing. The fysical sites were still the centre for drop-in visitors and for some activities. In the period of 2000-2005 the sites in Västernorrland had more than 100 000 young participants in their activities.
Development in Västernorrland, Sweden
All three OFB-sites in Västernorrland county were launched with funding from the European Union. Although statistics (2000-2007) show an improvement in business start ups and young people's attitudes towards entrepreneurship the sites in Sollefteå and Kramfors have been closed due to shortage of financing. The site in Örnsköldsvik is still open but has moved into the youth activity house in the middle of Örnsköldsvik.
The positive part is that the methodology and the tools have survived and are used in various areas. Open For Business is still an important working method within different parts of regional development in Västernorrland county. Both methodology and tools are also spread to other regions and countries where they are used frequently.
The County Administrative Board of Västernorrland has the ownership and the copyright of all Open For Business concepts and materials. The operative work including development and distribution has been assigned to Technichus MittSverige AB.
From a broad concept to specific tools
When Open For Business was imported from Canada it was a broad concept with developed methodology and a number of small workshop examples. Through out the years the concept has been adjusted and developed to fill the needs in Sweden. As a result of this short time workshops have been put together forming long time programs namned Rockets We now have different rockets for different topics that are flexible to use on children as well as grown ups.
Rocket workshop at OFB in Sollefteå, Sweden.
Another example was when OFB methods were used to stimulate young people to create their own jobs in the summers. This eventually lead to the start of the concept Summerentrepreneur. This concept is now spread to almost 50 municipalities in Sweden.
The concept Business 4 a Day already existed within Open For Business when it was imported from Canada but has been continuisly developed in Sweden to be able to be used at almost any target group.
A common factor for all the concepts is the work put on development and documentation of the methodology. Materials for education and marketing have been produced. The knowledge has been taught and distributed to a number of regions both in Sweden as well as in other countries. This work has been made possible by two different projects. First we had a national pilote project called Entreprenör Y that was followed by a national knowledge distribution project. These projects have been funded by both national and regional level as well as the European Union. We are currently working to create a organizational platform from which the concepts can continue to be developed and distributed.
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