Today’s post is a medley of words among which I want to highlight the following ones: escapism, bus, ideas, time, entrepreneurship, young people, trust, SDGs, fun, talent, challenges, solutions, creativity, innovation, help, funding, city halls, the council of Bizkaia, Puebla (Mexico), BIGEL and, of course, PEOPLE. Because today’s post has its origin in a re-encounter with an E.P. who I met more than a year ago. Do you want to know who I’m talking about and why I’m writing this post? I invite you to keep reading.
More than a year ago, in February of 2018, I wrote a post about BIGEL, a group of young entrepreneurial people who started their journey in 2013 while they studied the degree in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation (LEINN). Even today, because it couldn’t be in any other way, they work with passion, illusion and with much effort. That is why some of the members, together with other young people also with an entrepreneurial attitude, have launched new projects. That’s what I wanted to talk about today.
During the first week of April I got together with two entrepreneurial women, two young women of 23 (Maialen Mendizabal and Maialen Ezkurra, who is a member of BIGEL) who this year decided to support the youth with the Googaz project, an initiative supported by some city halls of Bizkaia and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia.
If I tell you that the project is based on an escape room, you get the idea, right?
Just in case, for those who don’t know anything about these rooms, I’ll tell you that the escape rooms are some type of escapism game which consists in making everything in your power to get out of a room in the shortest time possible, usually in less than an hour. Of course, you don’t go in alone, you do it with your friends. To get out of the room, the group has to solve a series of tests or challenges for which the imagination, ingenuity and the ability for observation, among others, are needed. At certain times you will have clues to help you find the “keys” to open the locks and doors which will be leading you to the exit and to the solution of the challenge. Of course, there’s always a story to set the mood.
This year Googaz has decided to create an escape bus. Why? Let me present you Googaz’ philosophy told by themselves:
Googaz Googaz is a movement created by nonconformist millennials whose main goal is to motivate young people of Bizkaia to be entrepreneurs and to be the owner of their own life. It is a new initiative that aspires to revolutionize our current generation in a fresh and original way… We think that everyone has talent, each person their own. We are normal people, but we were born to make incredible things and that’s why we are the creators of our own futures.
Well, from Googaz they work through different activities and, especially, through the “learning-by-doing” methodology, teamwork and fun. This year the chosen activity is different from last year and the youngsters have to face some challenges. This year the main theme of the challenges are the sustainable development goals or the SDGs, and the chosen format, the escape bus.
The experience this year is divided into 3 phases and to participate, apart from having to be less than 30 years old, you have to:
- Have a team of 3 or 4 people, not more.
- Enter this link. There you’ll find the following options: Gernika: 6th of April (closed); Sopela: 13th of April (closed); Barakaldo: 4th of May; Bilbao: 11th of May; Basauri: 18th of May; Balmaseda: 25th of May; and Getxo: 1st of June.
- Chose the place, day and hour between 11:00 and 21:00 (the last one is at 20:30) where you want to participate. They are blocks of 30 minutes each.
- Give the personal information of 1 of the 3 or 4 people participating.
If you happen to go through to the next phase (the best 3 of each town do), the Kopa Bizkaia awaits you, which will take place on the 8th of June and where there will be surprises and news. During that day, each team will have to solve the challenges that are presented related to the SDGs. It will be a jury who, after the appropriate presentations, will choose the winning team.
And it doesn’t end there, this year, the winning team will go to Puebla (Mexico), from the 22nd of June to the 7th of July to take part in the Bootcamp IATA (Innovation Across the Americas) organized in the Ibero-American University of Puebla. Two weeks of fun and supportive learning with all expenses paid. The winning team will be the first European one to participate in this event whose goal is to develop projects based on “Frugal Innovation”.
Will you and your team be able to get out of the bus before anyone else?
Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.