Overall goals, project goals and milestones The project is working towards the overall goal of helping to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs run by people with foreign backgrounds and contribute to increasing the diversity of entrepreneurs in the region. The project goal is new, efficient methods and networks that generate more profitable companies owned by people with foreign backgrounds. Methods, methods, tools and networks created after the end of the project will be implemented in the regular operations of the relevant Almi companies. The new methods include the integration perspective in regular services for advice and financing and spread to other actors. Furthermore, the project has formulated sub-goals: 1. New methods: Tested and developed more coherent processes for support for entrepreneurs with a foreign background in 2. Increased integration through new and existing networks 3. Smarter collaboration: The project will develop a method for creating a systematic development plan for the individual, which weaves parts of different actors’ offerings/modules based on the current needs in 4. Increased exchange of experiences: The project will increase the exchange of experience around foreign-born entrepreneurship and integration on several levels, through benchmarking, experience meetings and learning of other completed projects Examples of how the project is working to achieve the goals The project will work with outreach activities towards market-established companies with a foreign background with potential and willingness to grow. The project includes information efforts, such as highlighting ambassadors, good examples and foreign entrepreneurs who run companies in industries that are not common but successful. By involving expert knowledge in diversity, inclusion, gender and gender equality, the project will reach out to women and men with a foreign background who are established entrepreneurs or on the way to start growth companies. Through increased cooperation with industry-oriented stakeholders, the ambition is to make business opportunities visible in well-functioning and growing industries. Through active collaboration with other actors working with start-ups and support for business development, the project’s knowledge and experience is spread to other actors and a more comprehensive selection of advice and support for the individual entrepreneur is created. In order to achieve goals, activities have been linked to the different sub-goals. Project activities – Method development: Find methods that work to reach and attract entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs who have motivation, will and ability to develop. Needs analysis: The ambition is to make the working method more personalised for people with foreign backgrounds than it is today. An individual plan is developed with relevant activities. It can be activities at Almi or other actors. —Company school: Develop the current entrepreneurial school into an entrepreneur’s school that captures common areas of development among entrepreneurs with a foreign background to enable sustainable entrepreneurship from all three sustainability perspectives. —profit management/growth analyses. Develop the pilot in the project Growth & Profitability (Värmland) which aims to make more people learn more about profitability management and how to analyse, interpret and develop their business in order to make it more profitable. More activities, regional business participation in implementation, project expected results and benefits at the end of the project period and expected long-term effects. More info in priounderlag