Testimonials

The pilot- testing of the Cypriot regional FASTER programme took place in July and August 2010, in Nicosia, Cyprus. The pilot-testing took into consideration all aspects of the regional training programme and attempted to faithfully stay close to the prescribed material.

Two modules were piloted, which were chosen both by trainers and the FASTER Project Manager in Cyprus. The modules tested were selected on the basis of applicability; they were judged as the modules easier to teach for a wide spectrum of participants. The pilot took place at TALOS Conference Room in Nicosia Cyprus. The conference room was specially equipped with projector, white board and wireless internet access.

The two modules were focused on Business Planning and Project Management as it follows:

1. Business Planning

1. i. What is a Business plan?

Target groups and aims of a business plan –

Workshop: Examination of examples of business plans

ii. How to prepare a Business Plan: contents, length, format

Workshop: Participants given data and asked to conduct a brief business plan: practical application of knowledge

2. i. How can a business plan become a tool for managing and monitoring a company’s performance: indicator for future actions, tool for risk management, tool for quality control.

ii. Examination of case studies: a. Aphrodite Delights Ltd., b. SignalGeneriX Ltd

Role Playing: 1 student is the entrepreneur interested in conducting a business plan for his company, the other student is the business consultant to generate the business plan

iii. Examination of business grants, nationally and at the EU level

iv. Development of Business Plan in view of these grants: production of business plan according to specific grants

2. Project Management

1. i. General concepts of Project Management:

ii. Project Risk management

iii. Quality Control

iv. Project budgeting: determining financial issues

Workshop: hypothetical budgeting scenarios, and asked to create a budget line for a possible project submission)

v. Project Reporting

vi. Project Management templates for Project Lifecycle: internal project

management:

Workshop on the examination of past project ideas, asking students to work

in groups (2 groups of 4 people) in finding main faults in projects which were

not awarded a grant: why/ present results

2. Production management : New product development: market entry

(estimated market size and expected market share, developer’s position

in the market, status of competition)

Testimonial of successful new product development by entrepreneur:

a. EMBIO b. NELION Winery

SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS

Following the conclusion of both modules tested, participants were handed a specifically designed satisfaction survey, where they were asked to record their experience, expectation and comment on the contents, training methods, training materials, trainer’s approach, workshop and workshop organization of the pilot. The satisfaction survey involved a scale grading (0 representing poor or lowest level, subsequently following an ascending order of satisfaction) as well as verbal commentary on the modules piloted.

The results are presented in the table below:

CONCLUSIONS

The pilot of the FASTER regional programme may be considered as successful with considerable potential for future sustainability. Analytically the conclusions inferred are:

• The workshop organization received the highest satisfaction result of all categories. This result can be attributed to the convenient seminar times, which took account of the working hours of the participants. The group stated that one very important aspect of workshop organization was the duration of the Saturday session, which was not too long; participants generally expressed the view that they ‘did not feel they lost valuable time” from their weekend.

• As far as expectation satisfaction is concerned, participants demonstrated a positive reaction to the FASTER pilot course. Specifically, two participants stated that leaving the course they ‘felt more informed about business planning and project managements’ while others commented that the course ‘is directly applicable for their field of work’. The last comment is very important, especially since participants came from different professional fields- the pilot demonstrated that FASTER offers skills necessary for all types of professionals, regardless of their immediate profession or academic field of study.

• Content wise, the participants expressed their satisfaction with the high quality of the content taught. No topic was considered as over-estimated, but participants (3 out of 9) commented that they would like to see more case studies, taken from the local environment and compared to international success stories. The fact that case studies, with entrepreneurs acting as guest speakers, were part of the content, was very well accepted by the participants. Participants also felt that the content was explicit and straight forward, easy to follow, maintaining a level neither too basic nor too advanced.

• In relation to teaching methods, participants showed interest in all lectures and stated that the combination of teaching methods kept them focused and constantly interested. Particular preferences were expressed for the workshops, where participants were asked to discuss issues in groups, and solve problems given to them by the trainers. Consequently, participants were very satisfied with materials given to them, especially application forms for R&D projects, as well as hard copies of business plan examples.

• The work group exhibited cohesion and good cooperation traits, even though the composition of participants did not fully meet the criteria set in advance. Due to summer vacation, it was not possible to gather only MBA and PhD students- therefore, the pilot course drew participants such as students, professionals and would-be entrepreneurs. The advantages of this group composition, according both to the participants’ and the trainers’ opinion were: the exchange of experience between people which have not yet entered the working environment and people well-established in their professional field, and the variety of opinions and ideas, which proved extremely constructive for all types of participants involved. When asked by the trainers, at the end of the session, if the participants would like to participate in uniform groups i.e. only students or only professionals, both the latter and the former said ‘no’ and that the current composition also encouraged networking, one of the main objectives of the FASTER project.

All participants showed interest for the organization of future workshops, as long as the time schedule allowed them to participate. Younger participants such as students claimed that they would like to have the option of field trips to businesses and production units, so that they can get a spherical perception of business planning and production management.