We have proposed to the EU a virtual incubation program aimed at helping Micro and small social enterprises (spread across 9 Countries) that are highly affected by the Covid 19 crisis. The ambition is to help these companies increase their business + financial + sustainability literacy while working side by side with stakeholders to review strategy and increase their business model resilience. Several organizations started reaching out to propose the same program locally: we are currently planning cohorts in Greece and Uganda. For more info: manu@babele.co

1. SMEs Resilience
Acceleration Hub 2020

2. Context and challenge
IMF estimates the world will enter into a recession in 2020 with reduction
in trade, investment, growth and employment as a result of the Covid-19
crisis. There are 25 million SME's in Europe. They represent two-thirds of
jobs and are particularly impacted by the new Coronavirus crisis.
One-third of SMEs could run out of business within the next 2 months.
Such businesses are facing very tough trading conditions under current
unprecedented times; challenged with market uncertainty that’s forcing
many businesses to pivot.
Most EU Member States have started new guarantee schemes to allow
companies in financial difficulties to access low interest rates loans. The
goal is to provide financial aid through an easy administrative process.
However, those in difficulty must decide whether taking on more debt is a
feasible solution.
SMEs must reinvent their business model taking into account the
collapsing demand and the disrupted supply chains. Their failure to do
so may cause their insolvency and trigger a financial crisis for the
inability to pay all the debt created.

3. The Solution
200
startups
1
demo day
8
weeks
200
mentors
A virtual incubation program aimed at helping micro and small
social enterprises that are highly affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
The goal is to accelerate support of these companies to increase their business
resilience and financial literacy, so that they can survive the economic crisis
caused by the pandemic. The proposed activity is providing Entrepreneurial
Education for Business Assessment, Definition and Reshape by giving access to
tools and resources while facilitating peer-to-peer knowledge exchange
between stakeholders and other SMEs; for businesses to assess how to pivot
their business models in order to effectively adapt to the new economic
conditions; to ensure sustainable growth, post crisis.

4. The program’s scope
Provide hands-on learning and
mentoring activities to support
SMEs facing the following threats:
Collapsing demand
& access to liquidity
Accessing inputs &
managing inventory
Managing the
work environment
Policy uncertainty &
disrupted supply chains
The results of the activities will focus SMEs to build business resilience by:
• Learning practical skills and knowledge on Management & Leadership,
Marketing, Operations, and Finance & Sustainability. Entrepreneurs will
gain a better understanding of the key performance business levers for
sustainability.
• Creating a SME resilience recovery plan taking into account their
priorities, difficulties, impact of changing market needs and how their
business strategy should evolve in order to survive for growth.
• Engaging a global stakeholder and expert network for peer-to-peer
knowledge exchange and open collaboration, allowing entrepreneurs to
validate and refine their survival strategy through digital mentoring.
Addressed Issues Expected outcome

5. The program Unique Value Proposition
It provides entrepreneurs with a step-by-
step process to transform their business in
ways they could hardly do on their own
It provides access to mentors, advisors, and
industry experts coming from academia,
corporations and civil society
it match-makes SMEs with small and large
organizations interested in scouting
innovative product or services
It helps SMEs to present their strategic plan
to funding organizations and angel
investor networks
It provides sponsorship and in-kind prizes
from partner organizations, for the SMEs
that do a great job to transform themselves
It fosters a friendly business environment,
as it helps federations increasing their
advocacy effort for policy making
Ultimately, it leverages society co-creation: inviting internal and external stakeholders within each SME
(e.g. employees, customer, partners, suppliers) to contribute to the company business modeling effort.
Guided journey Access to talent Access to market
Access to capital Sposorship & prizes
Friendly business
environment

6. Our integrated approach
1. Business webinars 2. Accelerator workspace 3. Online mentoring
We deliver a professional acceleration program that successfully engages innovators,
mentors, and key stakeholders, while providing the tools, know-how and resources
needed to help SMES navigate how to grow effectively, operating post-COVID.
4. peer-to peer
collaboration
5. Access to
industry experts

7. 0. The application process
Each in-country partner SME program will be
compensated for recruiting SMEs, engaging volunteer
mentors and industry experts and promoting the
program locally whilst having the benefit of cross-
border open collaboration for best practices to be
shared amongst different countries.
SMEs from 6 European countries will be invited to
apply to join the digital incubator. To reach volume, we
will partner with known in-country SME accelerator
programs, EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS);
leveraging the communication channel of Chambers of
Commerce and co-working spaces.
The goal is to match one mentor with every SME, upon acceptance of the entrepreneur to establish mentor good-fit.

8. 1. Business webinars
We will hold 8 live webinars, spread across the 8 weeks of program,
which provide innovators with a solid business foundation to rapidly
design, create and validate their solution. Each training is followed
by a series of practical assignments to be achieved within 1 week.
Shared value
proposition
Reinventing value
propositions for market
opportunities & threats
Scenario
Planning
Assessment of the
market situation &
trends due to COVID-19
1 3
Leading beyond
intuition
Management and
leadership techniques
in times of crisis
4
Customer
development
Change in customer
segmentation and the
addressed needs
2
• All presentation and webinars
videos will be accessible for
consultation in the online platform;
• Additional learning material
(readings, videos, examples, best
practices) will be available for each
assignment;
• Assignment templates will be
provided to help entrepreneurs
structure their work and next
steps.
Marketing &
Sales strategy
Managing Customer
relationship, channels
and digital marketing.
Business
Modeling
Refining the business
model, the activities
and the operations.
5 7
Financial
planning
Financial forecasting
and management,
performance KPIs
8
Sustainability
strategy
Embedding sustainability
and shared value
creation in the business.
6

9. 2. Incubation workspace
Business
Strategy
Mentors’
feedback
Granular
privacy access
Program
curriculum
Entrepreneurs follow an intuitive framework to
complete their weekly assignments, share progress
updates, post challenges, and filter experts - based
on the required skills to move forward.
Mentors and experts create a virtual portfolio of
the startups they support, track the entrepreneur’s
work and provide feedback on both strategy
assignments and challenges.
Administrators can track the work done by
entrepreneurs and mentors, can invite stakeholders
to join the accelerator and manage communication
with all the network-members.
The program is hosted in an online
collaborative ecosystem for e-learning,
business modeling and mentoring.

10. 3. Online mentoring
Weekly group coaching
Each mentor will organize weekly online mentorship
sessions, aimed at tracking progress and providing ad-
hoc support to help with business planning, decision
making, and problem solving.
Online platform mentoring
Additional feedback is provided on the weekly
assignments via the online incubation platform. The
input can be made available to other innovators – to
foster peer-learning and sharing of best practices.
200 mentors (one for each SME) will provide weekly coaching, structured around the webinar
theme and tailored to effectively fill the identified gaps. They help iterating the entrepreneurs’
strategy, and support the development of a resilient business model.

11. 4. Peers collaboration — 5. access to experts
Peer-learning & collaboration
Entrepreneurs are invited to find a peer and follow their
startup, so they can be notified about its progress and
provide useful feedback at each step in the process.
Access to industry experts
Our global network will be invited to join this
international ecosystem, so that entrepreneurs can easily
find the right experts based on the skills they need.
The program has a collaborative component that gets Entrepreneurs to work together and
support each other. We will also engage a broader network of industry experts to support the
SMEs, as well as invite potential corporate partners and investors.

12. 6. Virtual Demo Week
After 8 weeks of intense work, mentoring, planning and
testing, the final strategy are presented to the public
during the Virtual Demo Week.
Administrators, together with partners and experts will
be invited in the online platform to check the teams
progress and performance, watch the video pitch and
resilience strategy presentation.
The public can participate in judging the best initiatives,
which will be entitled to in-kind prizes.
After the Demo week, the projects will remain available in
the online platform for 1 year. The entrepreneurs, will still
have access to the platform, the e-learning material, the
webinars and their projects until the year-end.
• Users will be able to keep using the platform to communicate with other participants, and
invite stakeholders to see the SMEs, as well as the work done during the program.
• The same platform can be used within the same year to run other program cohorts.

13. Program Timeline
E-learning & webinars creation
Online environment customization
Participants application process
Participants selection process
Participants’ on-boarding
Introduction webinar
Mentoring conf-call
Week 1: Scenario Planning
Week 2: Customer development
Week 3: Shared value proposition
Week 4: Leading beyond intuition
Week 5: Business Modeling
Week 7: Marketing & Sales strategy
Virtual Demo Week
W1
On-going feedback through the online platform
Week 8: Financial Planning
Week 6: Sustainability strategy
W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 W15
Program kick-off

14. Stakeholders Benefits
Types of
stewardships
Funding to support the
development, launch, and
program management
Provision of mentors,
advisors and experts to
work with the SMEs
Help with dissemination
effort: to raise awareness
about the program
Provide sposorship, prizes,
resources & connections to
participants SMEs
Benefits for
stewardships
Brand presence on
accelerator platform, press
release and social media
Access to e-learning
material for employees
(also after the program)
Contribute to SMEs
selection process in a
strategic sector
Company presentation
and intro speech during
the Demo week
Access to virtual
accelerator platform and
early connection to SMEs
Be part of Jury to evaluate
the SMEs’ work during
the week

15. Program’s societal impact
Leads a positive impact on
income distribution
Helps local market job
safety and creation
Has a leading role to a
broad-based growth
Develops closer relationships
with government
Supports the gender equality
and women's empowerment
Supports the Sustainable
Development Goals of
the United Nations
Supports the entrepreneurial
approach in the commercial
sector
Promotes a more vibrant and
diverse local economy
Improves community
relationships

16. Behind the SMEs Resilience program
Babele is a technology and consulting company that works
in the fields of collective intelligence, business modeling and
social impact. It has pioneered application of open strategies
and collaborative business modeling, providing our tools &
programs to universities, incubators, networks and
corporations in 4 continents.
Babele provides accelerator management software to over
40 incubation programs which involved 1200+
entrepreneurs from 113 countries. Clients include the United
Nations, Berkeley University, the British Council, Ernst &
Young, etc..
The team has trained over 500 entrepreneurs in 15
countries– from Germany to Japan – and contribute as
lecturers for incubators in 5 countries. For more info:
www.babele.co
Ensō is a European knowledge hub that delivers out of the
box research, capacity building and training solutions
towards individuals, teams and organisations. It is an
innovative company which challenges and reforms existing
approaches to organisational and individual productivity, job
creation, economic independence and economic
sustainability.
Enso’s staff members have a formidable record in designing,
testing and bringing to market a range of highly innovative
and successful products and methods to support job
creation, education and productivity.
Team’s members involved in more than 200 EU funded
projects and 250 SMEs and big enterprises’ learning and
development projects in Greece. For more info:
www.ensohub.eu

17. Thank You