In Irkutsk, the Business from Zero project has started, helping young people take their first steps in entrepreneurship. Participants will have practical classes, testing, work on business ideas, and a summer business school on Baikal, where they will prepare and present their own projects. Organizers expect real business plans and new companies in the city to emerge from the training.

Another project helping young people start their own businesses has been launched by the administration of the city of Irkutsk together with the “League of Young Entrepreneurs.” “Business from Scratch” is overseen by the chairman of the economics committee of the Irkutsk city administration, Alexey Almukhamedov, and the chairman of the “League of Young Entrepreneurs,” Artem Seleznev. In the year and a half since the “League of Young Entrepreneurs” was founded, more than 500 people have completed training in 6 educational projects for young businesspeople, and 120 have become entrepreneurs. In Artem Seleznev’s opinion, in any training group, as a rule, 25% of the participants later apply their knowledge in practice. When selecting participants for the “Business from Scratch” project, the organizers tried to invite those who were already ready to take the first step themselves — which is why there were not 120 participants in the group, as before, but only 23.
The cost of the first part of the “Business from Scratch” project for participants is 4,000 rubles — this amount includes the cost of Skype telephony, organizational expenses, and a participant assessment that will be conducted using socionics tests. At the second stage of the project — the summer business school — participants will be asked to pay for their accommodation at the tourist base where the classes will be held. According to the participants themselves, the expenses are justified for two reasons: first, paid training makes people value the knowledge they receive more; second, this amount is twice as low as the simplest sales training courses.
“The stage of training that began for you today is only the first step,” noted Marina Eremeeva, head of the entrepreneurship support department of the economics committee of the Irkutsk city administration. “Its culmination will be the organizational work on creating a future enterprise, the realization of oneself as an entrepreneur. For you, the ‘Business from Scratch’ project is an opportunity to find yourself in business. For us, it is an opportunity to help you. I believe that everything will work out for you, because you are ready to work, move forward, and give Irkutsk new ideas.”
Among the project participants are people for whom launching a business requires only discipline and a willingness to overcome difficulties. But there are two projects that require attracting investment, and the Economics Committee will work with them additionally. Ideally, by the end of the training session there could be 23 business plans ready for implementation. But even if the “statistical” 25% of participants manage to start their own business, and five new companies appear in Irkutsk, the “Business from Scratch” project can still be considered successful.
“You are young and can afford to take risks,” Alexey Almukhamedov greeted those gathered. “Not all of you will become entrepreneurs. The city authorities will try to help you bring your ideas to life — with consultations and subsidies. But first — training at the summer business school, where you will work in conditions as close to reality as possible.”
The training, which began with an introductory lecture in the conference hall of the Economics Committee, will last until the end of May. According to Artem Seleznev, only 20% of the students’ time will be devoted to theory. Over the next two months, the group will have many practical sessions: practical sales, creating a personality profile, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and choosing a future profession. In June, a new stage of the project will begin — a business school at one of the tourist bases on Lake Baikal, where the young people will write and defend a business project.
Based on materials from the press service of the administration of the city of Irkutsk