YEEP

YEEP stands for “Young Entrepreneur Exchange Project”. It is a joint initiative of different Ethiopian and Swiss partners, which was created 2013 during a visit of professors and students of the Bern University of Applied Sciences at Hawassa University in Ethiopia. In Switzerland, YEEP is organized and coordinated by the association DEVENTURE. YEEP encourages an entrepreneurial mindset among young people, fosters opportunities for international exchange and interdisciplinary, intercultural learning and supports concrete projects and initiatives of motivated young people who take fate in their own hands.

Initially, YEEP started in 2014 with the concept of a business plan competition. Since then, the concept has evolved into an International exposure week, where more tailor-made solutions are offered to the teams.

In 2019 a new format, called YEEP-tech, has been developed, which was be complementary to the initial YEEP-business format. Both, the tech and the business format, have a similar general approach: Students from different Swiss schools and universities travel to Ethiopia and work during a bit more than a week on a specific project.

Since 2022, YEEP takes place two times a year and perfectly integrates into the incubation cycle of the Technology and Business Incubation Center at Hawassa University: In November, the so called Entrepreneurship Week prepares the freshly accepted business teams using methods of design thinking. And in March/ April, during the so called business and tech week, the teams further develop and prototype their idea.