One of the main goals of every accelerator startup, of SPARK as well, is to prepare young entrepreneurs for what is waiting for them in the real business world. This is how we came up with the idea of startup game, designed for all startups in the SPARK startup program, which would teach them how to actually lead a company, encourage competition between startups and motivate them for work and progress. In addition, SPARK could monitor the startup progress.
We didn’t want to keep the game for ourselves, so we applied to the Digital Cities project to develop the game further and share it with other accelerators. We found partners – two startup accelerators from the United Kingdom – Supreme Factory and Acorn Aspiration, and together we started developing the Play, Learn and Earn game. The teams behind the Digital Cities project, British Council and HM Government, decided to support us, and so the project implementation began.
The first activity was to exchange knowledge and experience between SPARK and startup accelerators from the United Kingdom. Thus, Ivona Ćorić, the finance and business startup manager from SPARK, visited Dot Forge (tech startup accelerator in Newcastle), Accelerate Places (coworking space in Manchester) and participated in the WoManchester – IWD Celebration 2018 event. Ivona returned full of positive impressions – it was very interesting to compare practices from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, in Mostar, five developers and one designer work on the Play, Learn and Earn app, with support from SPARK r&d and startup departments. The startup game will soon be finished, and all its features will be presented soon at the event. More about the event and the first SPARK product will soon be released – follow our website and social networks.
