Combating fear of failure among European entrepreneurs

Fear of failure is one of the main reasons why lots of great ideas have not been developed in Europe yet. FACE Entrepreneurship is a European Commission (EC) project born to promote information and communications technology (ICT) entrepreneurship by working through key aspects such as risk aversion, resilience and the current concept of failure.

Perceived capabilities and opportunities to start up a business in Europe are lower than in any other continent, according to the last “Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report”. Moreover, 39.1 per cent of the adults with entrepreneurial intentions in Europe stated that they would be prevented from starting up a business because of fear of failure.

What is FACE Entrepreneurship?

“FACE (Failure Aversion Change in Europe) Entrepreneurship” is a digital and multimedia campaign led by the Spanish Communication company Secuoya Group and funded by the European Commission that aims to promote ICT entrepreneurship and to challenge the current understanding of failure in Europe.

The project’s initial part consisted of a Delphi study conducted by PHD Jan Brinckmann and other experts that identified the most common fears entrepreneurs face when starting up. They concluded that “fear of failure is an inherent aspect of a start-up that needs to be acknowledged, accepted and can have various positive outcomes”, and that the concept of failure needs to be understood as “a necessary and positive

The main fears that experts identified

FACE Entrepreneurship offers a wide range of benefits and resources to promote entrepreneurship and alter the current concept of failure: networking events, panels, workshops, more than a 100 multimedia interviews with top of the line entrepreneurs, direct tips about what investors value the most and are looking for and resources for starting up a business.

The digital platform is based on gamification dynamics and the material is distributed in a box that represents the “road to entrepreneurship” that any entrepreneur would follow in the process of converting its idea into a product or service fit for the market. Each square in the box represents a situation that any entrepreneur could face and it shows different audiovisual contents and activities to participate in. And, thanks to the gameplay, participants can win different prizes like free tickets and trips to the events, guided visits to consolidated startups and personalized sessions with mentors and investors. • 39.1 per cent of the adults with entrepreneurial intentions of starinting up in Europe would be deterred because of fear of failure • FACE Entrepreneurship is a multimedia campaign funded by the EC that aims to boost ICT entrepreneurship and to challenge the current concept of failure in Europe • Based on gamification dynamics, FACE Entrepreneurship offers a wide range of benefits and prizes to the participants. event that helps the entrepreneurs learn and become a much stronger and better entrepreneur.”