Digital Financial Literacy for Microenterprises

It is with great pleasure that we announce the successful completion of the DIFILIM Project after 24 months of implementation.

The Digital Financial Literacy for Microenterprises (DIFILIM) Project, completed under the Erasmus+ KA220-ADU Programme from November 2021 to November 2023, marks a significant achievement in advancing digital financial literacy and inclusion for European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs and MSMEs). This initiative addresses critical knowledge gaps in entrepreneurship, focusing on fostering viable business activities, motivating the transition from informal to formal entrepreneurship, and aiding enterprises in scaling up.

Central to the project was the exploration of how digital financial literacy impacts an entrepreneur’s success and the overall well-being of their firm. Recognizing the need for enhanced skills in this area, the DIFILIM Project set out to identify digital and financial literacy needs among both professionals and the unemployed. The aim was to develop engaging, language-specific training programs across partner countries to bolster digital financial literacy.

Key to the project’s approach was the creation of a curriculum tailored to the real needs of entrepreneurs, focusing on financial literacy and digital skills. This curriculum was designed after thorough analysis of the competencies required in these fields, identifying existing gaps in current educational offerings. The delivery of this curriculum was planned through a blend of methods, including an e-learning platform, ensuring a comprehensive and accessible learning experience.

The project also emphasized the creation of networks at local, regional, and European levels to disseminate best practices and educational integration strategies. Over the two-year period, partners engaged in various research and development efforts, including pilot surveys to pinpoint literacy needs, analysis of best practices, and the creation of blueprints and guidelines. These initiatives were crucial in transferring best practices to local contexts and developing guidelines that catered to specific local needs.

The DIFILIM Project stands out as a landmark initiative in equipping European SMEs and MSMEs, as well as potential entrepreneurs, with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in the digital financial landscape. Through its comprehensive approach, the project has set a precedent for future initiatives aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and business growth in the digital age.

Project Result 1

The Project Result 1 considered research on the needs and impact of Digital Financial Literacy on enterprises in each Partner Country. The ‘Digital Financial Literacy for Microenteprises’ survey, which was distributed online by all partners, received a total of 134 responses which were analyzed and compiled into a report.

The main findings of the report can be summarized as follows: (i) The financial literacy of micro entrepreneurs is relatively low in most participating countries. On average across DIFILIM participating countries, only 11% of microenterprises’ owners with up to 9 people and 19% of microenterprises’ owners with 10-49 people showed high levels of financial literacy. (ii) Although the digitalization of many microenterprises is high, most microenterprises’ owners report lack of skills to support the digital transformation process. On average across DIFILIM countries, fewer than 40% of microenterprises with up to 9 people indicated that they have the necessary workforce and skillset. Relatively few businesses have a clear road map for implementing Industry 4.0 or knows exactly what to do when it comes to digital transformation. (iii) At the same time, 43.28% of respondents responded that their business has received some form of support introduced due to the pandemic.

Project Result 2

The 2^nd project result consisted of two main deliverables:

• The DIFILIM European Report.
• Five partner countries’ Guidebooks.

The DIFILIM European Report aims to describe and state the current situation of digital and financial literacy support, as well as policies in 5 partner countries – Latvia, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands. Furthermore, DIFILIM project sets out to identify the existing gaps in the financial and digital skills of entrepreneurs by surveying SMEs in all five partner countries. Based on the identified gaps, the training course and materials will be developed.

The report consists of 5 partner country analysis, arranged to give an overall introduction of the business environment and SME’s role in it, then moving on to the specific initiatives and support in the five partners’ countries, as well as describing the policies brought out in each country. At the end of the report, the structured analysis of all the support and policies available across the five DIFILIM consortium countries is carried out. This gives an overview of the current actions, as well as shows the challenges and gaps for financial and digital literacy.

The National Guidebooks help entrepreneurs and individuals in each partner country separately, to learn about the status and policies of Digital and Financial Literacy, existing opportunities for training and additionally comparison with the learning opportunities of the DIFILIM Project’s Training Resources.

The main chapters of each national guidebook are listed below:

• Overview
• Financial Literacy status
• Digital Literacy status
• Existing Support for Financial Literacy
• Existing Support for Digital Literacy
• Policies
• Overview Table and Comparison With DIFILIM Provisions
• Financial Literacy Roadmap        
• Digital Literacy Roadmap

Project Result 3

The main output of project result 3 is the multilanguage project’s website (difilim.eu). The website, in addition to general project information, contains the training resources of Digital and Financial Literacy connected to the DIFILIM theme. The total number of visits on the website upon project completion was over 3500 and the total registrations number on the online training platform was 255.

Project Result 4

Project Result 4 started with a deliverable of a three-part Methodology concerning the overall management of tasks and monitoring of the Erasmus+ Project DIFILIM (Digital Financial Literacy for Microenterprises. It describes the following:

• The Implementation Plan of the project including division of tasks and timeline for each partner.
  • The Monitoring and Quality Assurance Plan of the project including Annexes with questionnaires and monitoring tools.
  • The General Dissemination Strategy of the activities and results of the project with useful templates.

Some dissemination campaigns that took place in social media are shown below:

Multiplier Events and Training Activities

The DIFILIM Project partners organized 6 multiplier events in the 5 Partner Countries with almost 200 participants in total which included a training session after the presentation of the project and its results in each country.

The national events hosted a series of speakers/panelists who presented and discussed the findings and elaborated on the training and learning agenda to elevate the levels of digital financial literacy among micro-entrepreneurs.

The target audience included students and young people, youth entrepreneurs, start uppers, micro-entrepreneurs, SME owners and the public. The objective was to exploit the survey results to develop guidance aiming to inform the

training and learning agenda to support MSMEs and entrepreneurship, improve programme design and set forth some measurement and evaluation tools. The Dissemination Events – Workshop took place at the final months of the completion of the project.

All project activities were presented to the target audience and the stakeholders. Also, the training activities (face to face) took place on close dates or as a continuation of the Dissemination Event depending on the organizing Partner.

Target groups and participants included the General public, Established entrepreneurs, Future entrepreneurs, Enterprises and Industry personnel, University Students

Stakeholders included Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Business Organizations and Associations, VETs, Universities, Accelerators, Incubators.

Stakeholders who play the role of intermediary bodies between individuals and final successful business development, benefit from the set of tools and material that were created through the project.

A very important part of the Dissemination event was the presentation of the e-Learning platform and the implementation of the training workshop that described all parts of the online tools, and the target audience was trained on the use of it.

Online training in all partner countries took place on the last quarter of the project, giving the opportunity to as many participants to use the tools-service and follow the courses to also provide feedback for improvement. More than 250 participants registered for the online courses.

Dissemination Event and training in Latvia:

Dissemination Event in the Netherlands:

Dissemination Event and training in Cyprus: