BRUSSELS, February 28, 2023
PRESS RELEASE
PLOUTOS enters its second year after a successful 2022: for 2023, it will boost thirdcountry nationals’ knowledge and help them build their business.
– Courses in EU countries proved to be a success.
– The project will launch a new curriculum for financial literacy.
– The consortium is developing digital tools for business simulation.
The first year of activities for the PLOUTOS Project wrapped up after a successful start-up. The
achievements of 2022 will lead to one more year of business education for third-country nationals
(TCNs – a legal definition that describes the situation of people from non-EU countries who do not
enjoy the freedom of movement according to the treaties of the European Union).
After twelve months of courses and hard work, the 11-strong consortium begins 2023 with a full
schedule of initiatives and developments with a new financial literacy curriculum in the pipeline.
The first year of the PLOUTOS project saw 11 Organisations helping dozens of TCNs in Europe with
their first step in financial inclusion. In addition, third-country nationals could access classes that
allowed them to learn basic knowledge, like the basics of how to open a bank account or how to
write a CV.
The business language courses helped TCNs was translated into six national languages providing
TCNs with an essential toolbox to look for a job or to open a bank account in any of their host
countries. The program was particularly successful in Sweden, where the first leg of the work was
completed, and in Croatia, where partner Breza Association worked in close contact with the
community of Ukrainian refugees.
Now, the project is moving to the next step. The aim for 2023 is to develop courses and tools for
self-employment. The partners are developing a portfolio of solutions to help TCN gain the needed
knowledge to start their enterprise. In addition, the team is building a series of digital tools designed
to boost the learning by TCNs and to help them simulate their business and get it on track.
The focus, in particular, will be on the second leg of the training provided by the Ploutos project: the
curriculum on financial literacy. Partners began working on the preparatory work in the last months
of 2022. Whereas the course on business language was foundational with information about how to
write a CV or general knowledge about the economy, the new curriculum about financial literacy will
be more hands-on about microfinance and business.
In parallel, partners are working on a suite of digital tools to help students simulate the business they
want to start, providing further knowledge on running and operating a micro-enterprise.
PLOUTOS is the cooPeration for achieving third country nationaLs’ financial independence 3hrough
financial literacy tOols and entrepreneurship boot camps. It is funded by the European Commission
(DG HOME) via an Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) grant.