Entrepreneurs' life is tough, but it can be very rewarding as well! We at EPL Europe are entrepreneurs ourselves, and know how lonely it can become when you don't have anyone to share your thoughts, a sounding board for your ideas, a safe environment to discuss your issues and problems. As a participant in a programme for Entrepreneurs Peer-Learning commented:

"When you run a small business, you don't get invited anywhere; you don't get any information from organizations. Particularly it would be only by chance that something drops through your door you might hear, overhear somebody talking about a subject; [...] so a lot of finding about the way we needed to take business forward was through our own pushing. It was very isolated - where do you go? Who do you ring? How do you source it? And very, very little comes in to inspire you as a business owner."
(Small Business Peer Learning)

EPL Europe is constantly developing new programmes for entrepreneurs and owner-managers of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), to overcome that sense of isolation, discuss about and solve business issues and problems, and learn in the process. Our mission is to increase entrepreneurs' success rate and stimulate business growth by leveraging the entrepreneurs' collective experience and expertise in a protected peer environment. Our vision is to become the leading European provider of peer learning programmes for small and medium business owners.

As a business owner participating in a peer learning programme put it:

"I think it was one of those situations where I needed the extra chance to reflect in a neutral environment to actually get me to the point of a decision [...] there were certain questions which provoked in me a deeper reflection [...] it gave me the opportunity to examine all kinds of solutions that maybe I might not have considered before [...] that process I think is really powerful."
(Action Learning in SMEs)