Kleurrijk Ondernemen (= Colourful entrepreneurship)
#SUSTAINABILITY MINORITY ENTREPENEURSHIP #ACHIEVEMENT #NEGOTIATION BTW MUNICIPALITIES #INITIATOR #PERSISTENCE #OPPORTUNITY #VISION
Kleurrijk Ondernemen (Colourful entrepreneurship) is a project initiated by the Municipality of Zaanstad in 2002, with funding from EQUAL of the European Social Fund ESF, as well as national, provincial and local funding. The project has been extended and is currently managed by the municipality of Zaanstad. the project targets women and ethnic minorities in particular and makes extensive use of intensive and personal coaching of the participants. It does this with the services of the business advisory company Mind4steps. The most important criteria for selection the chances of economic success of the proposed enterprise, and belonging to one or both of the target groups: migrants and women.
Lumi contacted 2006 Mind4steps and Zaanstad to take part of it. Despite fitting in their entrepreneurship selection criteria, due living in the municipality of Wormerland (next to Zaanstad), she was turned away. Instead of be conformed accepting the 'rules', Lumi took the initiative to contact the Municipality of Wormerland, had a meeting with the Mayor himself and pled this opportunity for their Municipality to take part of, showing the positive aspects of this project and the importance for the Municipality of Wormerland to also take part of it. A process was started, within the Municipality on which the pled was afterwards internally assessed by the municipal council, among the different parties, as result a positive output. This opened the doors for opportunity also to other entrepreneurs in the area and consequently bringing the both Municipalities together, to negotiate and wider their range of action. It has being a big achievement where Mind4steps and Zaanstad were astonished by Lumi's will and determination.
