OREANDA-NEWS. October 24, 2012.  For twelve years now Swedbank has supported young people in putting their innovative and progressive ideas into practice with the help of its Make the Stars Shine entrepreneurship competition. The amount allocated to support youth will be EUR 32,000 this year, as well, reported the press-centre of Swedbank.

“Great ventures spring from small things, you only need one idea. We want to encourage young people to be enterprising, to strengthen their belief in themselves. We want them to believe that they are able to and it is possible for them to do something to achieve success. They are the stars of tomorrow’s economy and our task is to support them in achieving this,” said Robert Kitt, the managing director of Swedbank corporate banking in Estonia.

We welcome all good ideas that promote the enterprising spirit of young people in Estonia, that are written by young people themselves or with the aim of enhancing the lives of young people.

This year the terms of the Make the Stars Shine programme have been renewed. “In the new terms we are more specific in stating which projects we would like to support. The survey conducted by Swedbank showed that there is a lack of cooperation between different fields of activity in Estonia. Hence we consider it important to stress the importance of such cooperation at the time the young people make their first efforts at being involved in business. Therefore, this year projects combining different fields of activity, be it art and business, mechanics and literature, etc., are also eligible for support. These are the kinds of ventures that result in fresh synergy and thinking outside the box,” Kitt said. We also await business projects targeted at promoting community life and projects that develop student companies further. “Naturally we eagerly welcome all kinds of innovative solutions or unprecedented business ideas,” Kitt stressed.

There are no limitations as to the themes, but preference is given to solutions that are distinct and high-spirited and all kinds of hands-on activities are held in high esteem. When applying for aid the applicants will find help in the Project Writing Workbook that gives tips on how to draft a project and enables the applicants to evaluate whether the project has been thought over thoroughly.

We have also changed the assessment process of the project – this year the projects will be evaluated in two rounds: a pre-assessment carried out by the employees of Swedbank and the final assessment carried out by an assessment committee based on the presentations given by the teams. This means that preparing a presentation is as important as writing the project and its timely submission. The objective of this change is to develop young people’s ability to present and defend their ideas.

The terms for taking part in the competition are made available and applications can be submitted on the following webpage: www.swedbank.ee/tahedsarama.

Every idea that improves life in Estonia is a good idea. The deadline for the submission of ideas is 31 October 2012.