From Idea to Business Plan: Leaders4Future Workshops with Young Women

Between May and September 2026, the youth workers trained through Leaders4Future put their new skills into practice with the project’s main target group: young women who want to start their own business. Hosted by the Support Points in the seven partner countries, the workshops combined face-to-face sessions with online activities. They helped participants turn an initial idea into a structured business concept and linked them with the continuing support the project offers.

Our Objectives

The workshops responded to the needs identified through the focus groups and the Breaking Barriers report: gaps in business planning and financial skills, low self-confidence, fear of failure and limited access to support networks. The aim was to strengthen participants’ entrepreneurial knowledge, soft skills and confidence, help them structure their own business idea, and prepare them for individual mentoring at the Support Points and for the national contest “Create Your Own Business Plan”.

The Participants

The workshops brought together 187 young women aged 18 to 30 in Spain, Norway, Greece, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. Participants included students, employed and unemployed young women, and early-stage entrepreneurs. Many of them faced economic, geographical, social or educational barriers. To reach young women with fewer opportunities, partners recruited through employment and social services, youth centres and women’s networks. In Montenegro, workshops were held in the rural northern municipalities of Plav, Petnjica and Berane. In Norway, the participants included many young women with a migrant background. Participants received a certificate of completion.

The Workshop

Each workshop followed a common model. A first session focused on building a safe space, defining a personal vision and SMART goals, and introducing the Business Model Canvas. During a five-day online period, participants then applied the tools to their own idea and prepared a one-minute elevator pitch, with guidance from the youth worker. A second session included a Pitching Lab with peer feedback and an introduction to local funding bodies, incubators and women’s networks.

Partners adapted the format to local conditions. Montenegro replaced independent study with facilitated online sessions that included individual mentoring. Bosnia and Herzegovina brought in external experts in finance and business planning. Kosovo added a session on business registration, and Albania added a SWOT analysis. Greece delivered its workshops fully online, and in Norway they were hosted at StartupLab in the Oslo Science Park.

Key Themes Explored

The workshops built on the Leaders4Future training material, structured around the EntreComp framework:

• Entrepreneurial mindset and vision: identifying personal motivation, setting goals and addressing fear of failure and impostor syndrome.
• From idea to business model: defining target groups and value propositions with the Business Model Canvas.
• Financial planning: estimating costs, setting prices and calculating break-even. Participants found this the most demanding topic and asked for more time on it.
• Presenting the idea: preparing and delivering a one-minute elevator pitch.
• The local ecosystem: finding information on funding, legal requirements and support organisations.

Participants reported clear progress, particularly in their knowledge of the business environment and of the organisations that can support them. In every country where satisfaction was measured, more than 80% of participants rated the workshops 4 or 5 out of 5. They rated the support provided by the youth workers highest of all.

Looking Ahead: From the Workshops to the Contest

Additional workshops will take place in Greece and Norway in October and November 2026. Participants are now continuing with one-to-one mentoring at their local Support Point. They have also been invited to take part in the national contest “Create Your Own Business Plan”, which runs from October 2026 to January 2027. The worksheets and pitches prepared during the workshops are a solid basis for the business plan and video pitch the contest requires. One national winner per country will present her idea at the final conference in Reus, Spain, in February 2027. Two start-up grants of €3,000 will be awarded there.