The "Training for the Brave" program in Slovenia brought entrepreneurs into schools to teach students and teachers about entrepreneurship. The program aimed to show that entrepreneurship is about more than business skills - it is a mindset involving attitudes, thinking skills, and personal skills. Students participated in 6 modules over several months that developed their entrepreneurial mindset and skills like idea generation, networking, and presentation skills. Feedback showed the program increased students' self-confidence, courage, and understanding of entrepreneurship.

1. CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.
www.centres-eu.org
With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union
Training for the Brave, Slovenia
A short resume
In the Training for the Brave, entrepreneurs brought to life what it means to be an entrepreneur
and how everyone can develop entrepreneurial skills.
The program “Training for the Brave” enabled students and teachers to understand that
entrepreneurship is much broader then economic knowledge and that it is a combination of
attitudes, way of thinking, personal skills & business skills.
One of the major insights for educators was there are two concepts we are talking about and
we need to distinguish between them: “being entrepreneurial” as an attitude and mind-set &
“entrepreneurship" as an activity to set-up your own company. Everyone can be
entrepreneurial and of course not everyone has to be an entrepreneur. The key is that mind-
set and soft skills needed, whereas business skills are something you can learn later.
The program consisted of 6 modules which ran mainly on a bimonthly basis, additionally one-
on-one mentorship and feedback from, company visits and networking event “My First Pitch”.
The innovativeness of the approach was involving entrepreneurs in all segments of the
program and bringing them into schools to sharing real life experience and mentor pupils.
Informal education was brought into the formal curriculum - teachers and entrepreneurs
cooperated to support pupils in developing entrepreneurial attitude, skills for life and new
ideas.
Age group
14-18
How does this pilot fit with the curriculum – how do the pupils benefit?
The program was executed in differently in each school:
- part of the curriculum, within an existing subject (“quality and marketing”) and a
class of seniors;
- project assignment that was partially executed within school hours. Pupils came
from different classes and ages joined the program voluntarily;
- credited subject that was fully executed after school hours. Pupils from different
classes and ages joined the program voluntarily.

2. CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.
www.centres-eu.org
With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union
Through the program pupils gained:
Awareness of what entrepreneurship is and who is an entrepreneur
- Awareness of the amount of effort and persistence needed to realise your idea
- Hearing their stories of success and failure - Hearing perspectives that are different to
teachers and parents
- Understanding entrepreneurs do not do everything by themselves- importance of
collaboration
Entrepreneurial attitudes:
- Self-confidence & courage
- Thinking out of the box
- Importance of following ones dreams & setting goals
- Importance of hard work for success
- New attitude towards failure – it is part of the process of success
- Understanding the importance of networking
- Asking questions, especially the right ones
- Being charismatic and enthusiastic about your idea
- Being more patient
- Working with others
-
Skills & knowledge:
- Communication & Presentation skills
- Idea generation & Product development
- Problem solving
- Business model canvas
- Project planning & working in a team
- How to seek information
-
Met new people and connected to opportunities
- Increased their social network and were encouraged to start building their network out
of the school
- Gained Networking skills
- Getting to know school peers better – more support and cooperation also with
teachers

3. CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.
www.centres-eu.org
With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union
Feedback from participants:
“I will remember most from the Training for the Brave that you should never give up and that
all is possible if you really want it”, David, pupil from the wood science school, Škofja Loka
“I notice that after the Training for the Brave I have more self-confidence. It shows when I am
communicating with strangers” Gregor, pupil from the Secondary school of multimedia and
graphic technology, Ljubljana
I liked best that no one had any reservation about what to say. You could ask anything, there
were no stupid questions” Žiga, pupil from Gymnasium Šentvid
“Pupils who participated in the project are much more self-confident. They know how to stand
behind what they do. I was positively surprised by the commitment they had when preparing
for My first pitch event”, Lea Golob, teacher at Secondary school of multimedia and graphic
technology, Ljubljana
For more impressions from pupils and teachers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WCWtH_5gIk&feature=youtu.be
Contact details
The program was developed and implemented by entrepreneurship center CEED Slovenia.
For more information contact Barbara Bregar Mrzlikar at info@ceed-slovenia.org