Young entrepreneurs who stood out in the fifth cycle of the Regional Incubator for Social Entrepreneurs (RISE) have returned from their study visits across the region within the RISE Regional Mobility Program. The program aims to strengthen interregional cooperation, facilitate knowledge exchange, and inspire further development of social ideas among youth in the Western Balkans.
Among the program participants was ViVod – Virtual Guide, a team developing an innovative application designed as a virtual tourist guide, which won a mobility grant within the program. From August 24 to 28, the team visited Banja Luka and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they had the opportunity to meet potential partners for future cooperation and present their project to local tourist organizations.
In Banja Luka, the ViVod team, with the support of Ljubinko Milenković, Director of the Municipal Tourist Organization, presented the app and received guidance on improving the tourist routes planned in the application. A highlight of the visit was the meeting with Minja Surlan, Director of the Tourist Organization of Banja Luka, who supported the idea and offered to connect the team with relevant tourist agencies and the National Tourist Organization.
The team also visited local tourist destinations with Milan, a local guide from Vuković Tourist Agency, to compare tourism practices in Serbia and Bosnia. During their visit to Sarajevo, they received a warm welcome at the local RYCO office, where they discussed their idea and received valuable information for further development of the application.
Thanks to careful planning and support, the ViVod team successfully completed the trip within the allocated budget and gained valuable experiences to support the further development of the project.
The RISE Mobility Program has also included study visits by other teams from Serbia, Career Launch and DigiLand – STEM Educational Space, winners of the main prizes in the fifth cycle of the RISE program. The mobility program aims to strengthen interregional cooperation, facilitate knowledge exchange, and inspire further development of social ideas among youth in the Western Balkans.
RISE – the Regional Incubator for Social Entrepreneurs is a support program for young social entrepreneurs, implemented in Serbia by the organization Smart Kolektiv since 2019. This is the fifth cycle of the free support program for the development of social entrepreneurship ideas. The RISE project is supported by the Agence Française de Développement, European Union (EU), Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ), PULSE (Groupe SOS). The RISE activities are implemented by six organizations from the Western Balkans: ARNO, Balkan Green Foundation, Nešto Više, Smart Kolektiv, IEC Tehnopolis, and Yunus Social Business Balkans.
