We are living through unprecedented times in our globalised world with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic having not only shaken and taken lives, but also threatened livelihoods and economies on a dramatic scale. Now more than ever, there is a need to support social, creative, and cultural entrepreneurs in ways that respond to their challenges. Therefore, Goethe-Institut through the Cav’ Creative Economies Project and in partnership with Hub@Goethe launched an intensive 3-month virtual programme from august to October 2021.
The VUCA@Goethe programme was geared towards helping early-stage but seasoned creative, social, and cultural entrepreneurs to build resilient operations during this changing and volatile business environment. Many react to very challenging life experiences with a flood of strong emotions and uncertainty. Forging a path to resilience enables entrepreneurs to withstand the challenging conditions. By framing the emerging business environment as VUCA – volatile, uncertain, changing, and ambiguous – this programme is built to assist to better navigate the entrepreneurial reality, and transition from surviving to thriving.
VUCA@Goethe Resilience Programme objectives were:
- Enable you to name and describe the effects of Covid-19 on your business and develop the business language for your experience.
- Help you build a positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities to respond to the challenges you have faced.
- Increase your understanding, ability, and capacity as a creative, cultural and/or social entrepreneur to make realistic recovery business development plans and steps to carry them.
- Develop your problem-solving skills, and craft an individualized, simple strategy to build a business that can move towards thriving.
The project “Cultural and Creative Industries” is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut. It improves employment and income opportunities for creative professionals in six partner countries; Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa and operates mainly in the music, fashion, design and animation sectors. In addition to promoting the development of entrepreneurial, digital, creative and technical skills through training programmes, the project aims to strengthen the framework conditions and the ecosystem of the cultural and creative industries.
