ESNA – the Europe Startup Nations Alliance – is ready to start its operations following receipt of a 1M€ grant from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme. Its first actions were to appoint an Interim Manager and roll out its website announcing additional job opportunities.
Ceremoniously launched at last year’s Web Summit, ESNA was formally incorporated in December 2021. Since then ESNA has been putting in place the legal structures and formalizing its statutory obligations in order to pursue its mission of supporting EU countries in achieving the EU Startup Nations Standard, a new benchmark for ensuring all startups across Europe have access to a growth friendly regulatory environment.
Just this past month, ESNA assured its first stream of financial resources with a €1 million grant from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme. The grant will enable ESNA to: recruit its first board of directors, develop a one-stop shop for third country tech and entrepreneurial talent seeking to work in the EU, start developing an ecosystem data platform to help improve National Policy Frameworks of EU Member States.
In advance of recruiting a Board of Directors, ESNA associate countries have nominated Arthur Jordão has its Interim Manager. Arthur took up his role in July 2022 and he is focusing on ensuring a smooth set-up phase for ESNA including kick starting of its operations while laying down some necessary groundwork of the structure of its HQ in Lisbon. In addition to continue building and activating working channels with signatory countries of the Startup Nations Standards Declaration, Arthur will also deploy an executive search process to recruit the ESNA Board of Directors.
Arthur has been actively involved in ESNA’s creation since the 2021 Portuguese presidency of the European Council, when he was an advisor to the Portuguese Government responsible for coordinating actions in the entrepreneurship area. Arthur who previously worked the private sector (Deloitte and Sonae Sierra), holds a degree in business management and a Master’s in marketing management.
Marking the occasion, the first version of the ESNA’s website is now live. In addition to presenting information about ESNA and its mission it also provides details of the three Board of Directors positions (Executive Director, Financial Director, and Operations Director) that ESNA is now actively seeking to fill.
#ESNAliftoff | www.esnalliance.eu | LinkedIn page