Success Story: Martina Canducci lived the Italian dream and is ready to launch her own sustainable tourism company in Portugal

Martina Canducci lived the Italian dream and is ready to launch her own sustainable tourism company

Period of exchange: 16/04/2018 – 16/08/2018

Duration of exchange: 4 months

Country: Italy

New Entrepreneur Martina Canducci 

Martina Canducci is a 32-year-old Italian who spent the last few years in Portugal, enjoying the countries’ beautiful landscapes and cultural traditions. Professionally, she always wanted to work in a social business related to culture and environment and the dream came true when she started collaborating with one of the cultural associations in Porto. But, she was not completely satisfied. Seeing the city changing a lot just in a few years due to mass tourism and gentrification, she started reading and looking around for examples of good practices related to sustainable tourism and there was the click for her experience in the Erasmus For Young Entrepreneurs program.

Martina contacted ANJE – Portuguese Association of Young Entrepreneurs, one of the local contact points of the Erasmus For Young Entrepreneurs program, and the adventure began. The young entrepreneur went to Salento Bici Tour, a company created by a small group of friends in southern Italy that organizes guided bike tours in Salento, one of the many fascinating regions of Italy. Olive trees, red soil, cliffs and blue sea compose the portrait of the region and all of this is reachable by bike, with the support of a motivated and very capable staff! It looked perfect.

The following step for Martina was to spend a few months with Salento Bici Tour, in order to learn how to start and run her own sustainable tourism company. During four months, Martina was surrounded by the inspired team of Salento Bici Tour learning the best strategies to reach the potential clients and keep the business sustainable. She assisted the team in several phases of the experience realization and provided help during the briefings, preparation phase and logistics of bike tours.

Martina Canducci also assisted the clients during self-guided tours, providing technical assistance and luggage transportation. She took part in day tour experiences with locals, as well as guided tours and cooking classes with the tourists. The mobility experience of the young entrepreneur also included team meetings and involvement in the operative planning. 

In the last phase of her exchange, Martina helped out in the Bike Café, the base of Salento Bici Tour, taking care of the organization of the kitchen and bar, as well as assistance to cyclists. After the close collaboration with the team, Martina gathered important tools to start her business and is now more than motivated to open it in Portugal, knowing that she will always be able to count on the support and advice of Salento Bici Tour.

Martina with her Host Entrepreneur

THE WORDS OF MARTINA CANDUCCI ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE

“The experience with Salento Bici Tour was enriching on the professional and human levels. Carlo and his business partner Giulia are two inspiring individuals who started from zero and created an economically and environmentally sustainable company. The work they have done in the last 10 years is a gift for foreign tourists (who get to enjoy beautiful nature and deeply-rooted cultural traditions) and locals (who benefit from a tourism which is not massified, nor loud, nor pollutant).”

ANJE is one of the local contact points of Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. If you are a Portuguese young entrepreneur aiming to evolve with a mobility experience out of the country or a host entrepreneur open to receive young talents in order to develop your business, check all the info about the program here.