Here’s What You Can Do to Help People in Ukraine Right Now
As destruction worsens and casualties mount during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, people all over the world are looking for ways to help.
One simple step, experts say, is to remain informed about the conflict and to be cautious about the information that’s spread on social media. Disinformation is one of Russia’s favorite weapons of war, and accidentally amplifying it can harm civilians.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
Social Innovation Academy E-learning is a freely available tool to gain theoretical and practical insights on what social innovation is really about. Complemented with tons of examples on social innovation initiatives and activities of social enterprises, learning material supports readers in reflecting on their own social innovation ideas.
After a short introduction on social innovation, various learning modules are presented to be chosen from. Practical examples, interviews with experts, skills, trends overview, mentor advice and glossary are available for free. Need some guidance and inspiration? Start with INTERVIEWS or EXAMPLES. Looking to get over the social innovation jargon quickly? Jump over to the GLOSSARY. Want to improve your personal abilities? Go to SKILLS. Looking for concrete answers to concrete questions? Head straight to MENTORING ADVICE. Want to see what’s been the latest developments in the social innovation field? Start your learning with the TRENDS. You can go back anytime, skip the parts that are not relevant or not interesting for you at the moment, mix and match. Start HERE!
“Get creative and learn exactly what you need.”
SOCIAL INNOVATION INITIATIVE LOGBOOK
The aim of the present logbook is to provide guidance and support to those Social Innovation Academy learners and participants that want to begin their own initiatives. Learner can use what has been learned and apply it to the questions and assignments in this logbook. The logbook provides:
an insight to your learning results through a set of self-reflective questions that can help you generate further insight into your idea;
assignments that filled in and brought together into one single file will constitute the base document for your initiative or enterprise, outlining main features, story, business model and impact evaluation.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
In recent years, we’ve seen a pretty revolutionary cultural shift from consumers, from one of securing the best product for the lowest price to one of searching out products that they know are kind to both people and the planet. Additional to that, consumers have been shown to relish the feeling of community that comes with this pattern of consumption, bearing in mind an increased environmental conscience. National and international laws, regulations, policies and politics are all motivated more and more by the desire to be part of the fight against climate change.
As a result, the promise of a green economy which improves human well-being and builds social equity while reducing environmental risks and scarcities is incredibly attractive. Seen as an impactful alternative to our current economic model, which primarily produces profits from the extraction and exploitation of essential resources, an inclusive green economy has the potential to challenge inequalities, discourage waste, avoid resource scarcities, and improve outcomes to the environment and human health.
In the last ten years, the concept of the green economy has become a strategic goal for many governments. By transforming their economies into supportive mechanisms for sustainability, these countries will be better prepared to take on the major challenges of the upcoming century.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, is seen by many as a fundamental basis for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. These goals reinforce the social enterprise viewpoint that there is no such thing as real climate justice without the economic justice that underpins it.
Social enterprises are seen as a key vehicle towards the transition to a post-carbon emitting future. As long as they have existed, social enterprises have shown themselves to be key contributors to the circular economy and leaders in challenging environmental and economic inequalities. Indeed, even the premise on which social enterprises are built, the pursuit of purpose over profit means they are at a distinct advantage in the green transition in comparison to traditional enterprises.
This agility serves greatly as the business model can pivot faster and more efficiently.In fact, traditional enterprises are, at times, incentivised to work in ways completely antithetical to the morals of the green transition as they are obliged to maximise profits. If they don’t do this, they leave themselves open to legal challenges from investment companies who seeks stable returns for their customers or their model falls apart.
This fact has been noted by the European Commission which has developed the EU Green Deal. This is primarily an action plan, to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and to restore biodiversity and cut pollution. The overarching objective is for the EU to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050. And, they’ve put their money where their mouth is, with a number of funding mechanisms in place to facilitate the EU Green Deal, totalling over €1 trillion!
When it comes to social enterprises, there are lots of environmental wins to be made, even from the smallest of organisations. Moving towards a more sustainable business model can be daunting but you’re already ahead of the pack!
we just came across an interesting article on Fast Company about a new type of social entrepreneurs that would like to share with you.
What if we tried to prevent future problems, instead of just solving the ones in front of us? This is the question asked.
Pick any social enterprise, and it’s almost always a reaction to the past. After a natural disaster or a new refugee crisis, designers build new shelters and experiment with new aid delivery systems. After the public school system had already failed children, social entrepreneurs started building new educational tools. A new book argues that social entrepreneurs need to spend more time thinking about the problems of the future—and less time stuck on “post-traumatic innovation.”
“What if social enterprise was also responsible for preemption?” writes designer Matt Manos in the manifesto at the center of the book, Toward a Preemptive Social Enterprise. “What if social entrepreneurs were also futurists?”
As a designer, Manos pioneered a unique pro bono model with his firm, Verynice. Half of the time, he works for standard paying clients. The other half of the time, his firm donates its work to the social sector. That split led him to start clearly seeing differences between traditional business and social enterprise.
“At times, what’s super obvious in the private sector has just never been mentioned in the social sector, and vice versa,” he says. “When you think about startup clients, a lot of the themes in this book are incredibly obvious to them—that it’s important to invest in future trends, to be thinking about strategic foresight. But when you look at social enterprise, it was launched in reaction or response to something that happened in the past.”
While large businesses like Google or Facebook or Autodesk pour money into R&D—and Elon Musk releases decade-long master plans—nonprofits and social enterprises rarely do the same thing. There are a few exceptions. Some new startup incubators are now focused on social issues, and programs like Singularity University’s accelerator attempt to look comprehensively at future issues. Anything trying to tackle climate change or resilience is, by necessity, focused partly on how the challenge will get worse later.
But the sector is generally more reactionary than preemptive, and that means we’re missing opportunities to get ahead of certain problems. In the simplest scenario, that might mean better preparing for likely natural disasters before they happen. But it also means considering problems that we haven’t yet faced.
“Artificial intelligence, to me, is just a mind-blowing gold mine of stuff that social entrepreneurs and nonprofits are rarely tackling,” says Manos. He gives the example of what may happen when more jobs are lost to automation—not just the issue of income, but how lives will change. “When jobs are automated, people will have more time on their hands. They’ll have more issues with drug abuse. They’ll have issues of self-worth and value, and that might lead to mental illness or suicide . . . that’s just one of many emerging issues.”
Even as social enterprises look at problems that are probably going to exist decades from now, Manos thinks there’s an opportunity to do a better job of considering future scenarios. “What is the future we’re trying to create by doing this work with the homeless today?” he says. “What does that actually mean, or what kind of future could that actually create?”
The book suggests that organizations should imagine ideal futures, and work backward from that ideal. That approach is also a way to deal with the fact that we can’t predict how the world will change. “We have entered a time in which we lack the capability to foresee what technological advancements and capabilities will take place in the next four years,” Manos writes. “So how do we, as designers, understand the future of markets, and the future of business design? We make it up.”
The book, a short collection of essays and tools, is an attempt to help social entrepreneurs start thinking as futurists. Manos’s small design firm also now has a futures wing to help clients do the same thing. “We’re constantly helping people launch new services and products, and there’s kind of this question of what it’s all for,” he says. “For me, the future is a great cause to invest in.”
The book is available for digital download on a pay-what-you-want basis; for $25, readers also get a printed edition.
Have something to say about this article? You can email us and let us know. If it’s interesting and thoughtful, we may publish your response.
Although pandemic restrictions leave a footprint on all travel plans, entrepreneurs shape their business concepts and business plans! This is a preparation time for lifetime professional adventures and the programme Erasmus for Youth Entrepreneurs cannot be missed out…!
What it is?
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a project initiated by the EU. It aims to help new entrepreneurs acquire relevant skills for managing a small or medium-sized enterprise by spending time with an experienced entrepreneur in one of the 27 EU Member States, UK and the COSME countries: North Macedonia, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, Serbia, Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Ukraine and Kosovo*, as well as entrepreneurs from the outermost regions and overseas countries and territories (OCTs) . It contributes to improving their know-how and fosters cross-border transfers of knowledge and experience between entrepreneurs. Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs comes under the Small Business Act for Europe which considers this project a key contribution “to create an environment within which entrepreneurs and family businesses can thrive and entrepreneurship is rewarded
How does it work?
New entrepreneurs gather and exchange knowledge and business ideas with an experienced entrepreneur, with whom they stay and collaborate for a period of 1 to 6 months. The stay is partly financed by the European Commission.
There are 4 phases of applications
Application phase
Interested New Entrepreneurs (NE) and Host Entrepreneurs (HE) apply online and select an Intermediary Organisation (IO). The IO responsible assesses the application and give feedback to the application about their eligibility/acceptance in the program.
Matching phase
Once accepted, the NEs and HEs will have access to the online catalog where they can view all the profiles and start a match. Alternatively, IO can facilitate contacts between the accepted entrepreneurs and propose a match between them.
Contracting and preparation phase
Once the match is accepted by both the NE and the HE, a commitment (activity plan) is prepared with the help of their IOs. This activity plan is an online document, that includes the objectives and expectations for the exchange, the business/work/learning plan, tasks, responsibilities, legal implications document is signed in between all parties (NE, HE, IOs). The NE signs a financial agreement with his/her IO which stipulates the conditions of the financial assistance.
Implementation phase
NEs and HEs complete the stay abroad – in accordance with the objectives set in the commitment – in one or more phases and report on them. The IOs responsible monitor the value of the activity and evaluate the results.
What are the benefits?
As a new entrepreneur, you will benefit from on-the-job training in a small or medium-sized enterprise in another Participating Country. This will ease the successful start of your business or strengthen your new enterprise. You can also benefit from access to new markets, international cooperation and potential possibilities for collaboration with business partners abroad.
As a host entrepreneur, you can benefit from fresh ideas from a motivated new entrepreneur on your business. He/she may have specialised skills or knowledge in an area you do not master, which could also complement yours. Most host entrepreneurs enjoyed the experience so much that they decide to host other new entrepreneurs afterwards.
It is is a win-win collaboration, which facilitates the discovery of new European markets or business partners, different ways of doing business. On the longer-term, more networking and collaboration opportunities may arise, e.g. joint ventures, sub-contracting activities, contractor-supplier relationships, etc.
Find out
To know more about the programme check out the Guidebook and contact your national contact-point here.
Also, do not miss the brightest success stories of the programme!
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
There is an important increase in the number of Estonians who think that the conditions in Estonia favour setting up a business, while fear of failure has decreased. (by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study)
There is an important increase in the number of Estonians who think that the conditions in Estonia favour setting up a business, while fear of failure has decreased. (by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study)
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a study that analyses entrepreneurship in different countries and regions; the latest study shows increased entrepreneurial activity around the world. “The crucial motivation in starting a business is personal example, such as personally knowing an entrepreneur. Other important factors include faith in one’s knowledge and skills to make it as an entrepreneur, and an identified business opportunity or idea. Less important factors include the improved social status as an entrepreneur, and the attention given to entrepreneurship in the society,” said Head of the Foresight Centre Tea Danilov, commenting the conclusions of the study
Over the last five years, the early-stage entrepreneurship activity (TEA) rate (the prevalence rate of individuals who have taken steps to start a new company, or have been entrepreneurs for up to 42 months) has increased from 14 % to 19 % in Estonia. Among the innovation-based countries – as the study classifies Estonia – this is a very high rate. Last year, the European TEA index was 8.1 %, and has remained around this mark for the past five years. The TEA index is 14.2 % in Latvia, 7.3 % in Sweden, and 5.3 % in Germany. Early-stage entrepreneurship has grown fairly equally among men and women, which is why the percentage of women has not changed over the past three years.
A typical early-stage entrepreneur in Estonia is a male under 45 years of age who identifies a business opportunity and considers his knowledge and skills good enough to become an entrepreneur. “We could ask whether men are actually more business savvy, or just more confident. It is a positive sign that most companies are founded in Estonia on the basis of business opportunities (76 %); only around one in four (24 %) entrepreneurs are forced to start a business to earn a living. This pattern favours innovation and ambition to grow,” Danilov summarised.
The study shows that entrepreneurship activity in Estonia would benefit further if the 45+ age group would be encouraged to become entrepreneurs, people would be prompted to share their personal entrepreneurship experiences, young people would be taught entrepreneurial skills, and entrepreneurship would be emphasised as a positive career choice.
All budding entrepreneurs fear failure, but the last five years have shown a change in the attitude of the Estonians in this respect. “The change in the entrepreneurship culture is characterised by indicators such as seeing entrepreneurship as a successful career choice, the high status of entrepreneurs in the society, and the high media attention to entrepreneurship,” Danilov explained.
The main drawback highlighted by the analysts is that the starting entrepreneurs are not planning to create as many jobs as earlier. Although the global report underlines this as a problem, Estonia has not seen the negative effects so far; however, in light of the trends in the labour market, the number of jobs may still fall because the number of self-employed individuals is growing.
The study shows that an increasing number of Estonians personally know an entrepreneur – this percentage has grown from 31% to 39% over the last five years. The number of people who feel that they do not have the knowledge and skills necessary for entrepreneurship is falling; however, self-doubters still make up 50 % of the population.
Over the last five years, people are increasingly viewing entrepreneurship as a positive career choice – in 2017, half of the 18–64 year olds felt that. The percentage of those who consider entrepreneurs as high status members of the society has remained around 60–65 %.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is an annual study that analyses and compares entrepreneurship activity and attitudes. The study involves over 50 countries around the world; Estonia has been included since 2012.
Social Innovation Academy E-learning is a freely available tool to gain theoretical and practical insights on what social innovation is really about. Complemented with tons of examples on social innovation initiatives and activities of social enterprises, learning material supports readers in reflecting on their own social innovation ideas.
After a short introduction on social innovation, various learning modules are presented to be chosen from. Practical examples, interviews with experts, skills, trends overview, mentor advice and glossary are available for free. Need some guidance and inspiration? Start with INTERVIEWS or EXAMPLES. Looking to get over the social innovation jargon quickly? Jump over to the GLOSSARY. Want to improve your personal abilities? Go to SKILLS. Looking for concrete answers to concrete questions? Head straight to MENTORING ADVICE. Want to see what’s been the latest developments in the social innovation field? Start your learning with the TRENDS. You can go back anytime, skip the parts that are not relevant or not interesting for you at the moment, mix and match. Start HERE!
“Get creative and learn exactly what you need.”
SOCIAL INNOVATION INITIATIVE LOGBOOK
The aim of the present logbook is to provide guidance and support to those Social Innovation Academy learners and participants that want to begin their own initiatives. Learner can use what has been learned and apply it to the questions and assignments in this logbook. The logbook provides:
an insight to your learning results through a set of self-reflective questions that can help you generate further insight into your idea;
assignments that filled in and brought together into one single file will constitute the base document for your initiative or enterprise, outlining main features, story, business model and impact evaluation.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
In recent years, we’ve seen a pretty revolutionary cultural shift from consumers, from one of securing the best product for the lowest price to one of searching out products that they know are kind to both people and the planet. Additional to that, consumers have been shown to relish the feeling of community that comes with this pattern of consumption, bearing in mind an increased environmental conscience. National and international laws, regulations, policies and politics are all motivated more and more by the desire to be part of the fight against climate change.
As a result, the promise of a green economy which improves human well-being and builds social equity while reducing environmental risks and scarcities is incredibly attractive. Seen as an impactful alternative to our current economic model, which primarily produces profits from the extraction and exploitation of essential resources, an inclusive green economy has the potential to challenge inequalities, discourage waste, avoid resource scarcities, and improve outcomes to the environment and human health.
In the last ten years, the concept of the green economy has become a strategic goal for many governments. By transforming their economies into supportive mechanisms for sustainability, these countries will be better prepared to take on the major challenges of the upcoming century.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, is seen by many as a fundamental basis for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. These goals reinforce the social enterprise viewpoint that there is no such thing as real climate justice without the economic justice that underpins it.
Social enterprises are seen as a key vehicle towards the transition to a post-carbon emitting future. As long as they have existed, social enterprises have shown themselves to be key contributors to the circular economy and leaders in challenging environmental and economic inequalities. Indeed, even the premise on which social enterprises are built, the pursuit of purpose over profit means they are at a distinct advantage in the green transition in comparison to traditional enterprises.
This agility serves greatly as the business model can pivot faster and more efficiently.In fact, traditional enterprises are, at times, incentivised to work in ways completely antithetical to the morals of the green transition as they are obliged to maximise profits. If they don’t do this, they leave themselves open to legal challenges from investment companies who seeks stable returns for their customers or their model falls apart.
This fact has been noted by the European Commission which has developed the EU Green Deal. This is primarily an action plan, to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and to restore biodiversity and cut pollution. The overarching objective is for the EU to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050. And, they’ve put their money where their mouth is, with a number of funding mechanisms in place to facilitate the EU Green Deal, totalling over €1 trillion!
When it comes to social enterprises, there are lots of environmental wins to be made, even from the smallest of organisations. Moving towards a more sustainable business model can be daunting but you’re already ahead of the pack!
we just came across an interesting article on Fast Company about a new type of social entrepreneurs that would like to share with you.
What if we tried to prevent future problems, instead of just solving the ones in front of us? This is the question asked.
Pick any social enterprise, and it’s almost always a reaction to the past. After a natural disaster or a new refugee crisis, designers build new shelters and experiment with new aid delivery systems. After the public school system had already failed children, social entrepreneurs started building new educational tools. A new book argues that social entrepreneurs need to spend more time thinking about the problems of the future—and less time stuck on “post-traumatic innovation.”
“What if social enterprise was also responsible for preemption?” writes designer Matt Manos in the manifesto at the center of the book, Toward a Preemptive Social Enterprise. “What if social entrepreneurs were also futurists?”
As a designer, Manos pioneered a unique pro bono model with his firm, Verynice. Half of the time, he works for standard paying clients. The other half of the time, his firm donates its work to the social sector. That split led him to start clearly seeing differences between traditional business and social enterprise.
“At times, what’s super obvious in the private sector has just never been mentioned in the social sector, and vice versa,” he says. “When you think about startup clients, a lot of the themes in this book are incredibly obvious to them—that it’s important to invest in future trends, to be thinking about strategic foresight. But when you look at social enterprise, it was launched in reaction or response to something that happened in the past.”
While large businesses like Google or Facebook or Autodesk pour money into R&D—and Elon Musk releases decade-long master plans—nonprofits and social enterprises rarely do the same thing. There are a few exceptions. Some new startup incubators are now focused on social issues, and programs like Singularity University’s accelerator attempt to look comprehensively at future issues. Anything trying to tackle climate change or resilience is, by necessity, focused partly on how the challenge will get worse later.
But the sector is generally more reactionary than preemptive, and that means we’re missing opportunities to get ahead of certain problems. In the simplest scenario, that might mean better preparing for likely natural disasters before they happen. But it also means considering problems that we haven’t yet faced.
“Artificial intelligence, to me, is just a mind-blowing gold mine of stuff that social entrepreneurs and nonprofits are rarely tackling,” says Manos. He gives the example of what may happen when more jobs are lost to automation—not just the issue of income, but how lives will change. “When jobs are automated, people will have more time on their hands. They’ll have more issues with drug abuse. They’ll have issues of self-worth and value, and that might lead to mental illness or suicide . . . that’s just one of many emerging issues.”
Even as social enterprises look at problems that are probably going to exist decades from now, Manos thinks there’s an opportunity to do a better job of considering future scenarios. “What is the future we’re trying to create by doing this work with the homeless today?” he says. “What does that actually mean, or what kind of future could that actually create?”
The book suggests that organizations should imagine ideal futures, and work backward from that ideal. That approach is also a way to deal with the fact that we can’t predict how the world will change. “We have entered a time in which we lack the capability to foresee what technological advancements and capabilities will take place in the next four years,” Manos writes. “So how do we, as designers, understand the future of markets, and the future of business design? We make it up.”
The book, a short collection of essays and tools, is an attempt to help social entrepreneurs start thinking as futurists. Manos’s small design firm also now has a futures wing to help clients do the same thing. “We’re constantly helping people launch new services and products, and there’s kind of this question of what it’s all for,” he says. “For me, the future is a great cause to invest in.”
The book is available for digital download on a pay-what-you-want basis; for $25, readers also get a printed edition.
Have something to say about this article? You can email us and let us know. If it’s interesting and thoughtful, we may publish your response.
Although pandemic restrictions leave a footprint on all travel plans, entrepreneurs shape their business concepts and business plans! This is a preparation time for lifetime professional adventures and the programme Erasmus for Youth Entrepreneurs cannot be missed out…!
What it is?
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a project initiated by the EU. It aims to help new entrepreneurs acquire relevant skills for managing a small or medium-sized enterprise by spending time with an experienced entrepreneur in one of the 27 EU Member States, UK and the COSME countries: North Macedonia, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, Serbia, Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Ukraine and Kosovo*, as well as entrepreneurs from the outermost regions and overseas countries and territories (OCTs) . It contributes to improving their know-how and fosters cross-border transfers of knowledge and experience between entrepreneurs. Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs comes under the Small Business Act for Europe which considers this project a key contribution “to create an environment within which entrepreneurs and family businesses can thrive and entrepreneurship is rewarded
How does it work?
New entrepreneurs gather and exchange knowledge and business ideas with an experienced entrepreneur, with whom they stay and collaborate for a period of 1 to 6 months. The stay is partly financed by the European Commission.
There are 4 phases of applications
Application phase
Interested New Entrepreneurs (NE) and Host Entrepreneurs (HE) apply online and select an Intermediary Organisation (IO). The IO responsible assesses the application and give feedback to the application about their eligibility/acceptance in the program.
Matching phase
Once accepted, the NEs and HEs will have access to the online catalog where they can view all the profiles and start a match. Alternatively, IO can facilitate contacts between the accepted entrepreneurs and propose a match between them.
Contracting and preparation phase
Once the match is accepted by both the NE and the HE, a commitment (activity plan) is prepared with the help of their IOs. This activity plan is an online document, that includes the objectives and expectations for the exchange, the business/work/learning plan, tasks, responsibilities, legal implications document is signed in between all parties (NE, HE, IOs). The NE signs a financial agreement with his/her IO which stipulates the conditions of the financial assistance.
Implementation phase
NEs and HEs complete the stay abroad – in accordance with the objectives set in the commitment – in one or more phases and report on them. The IOs responsible monitor the value of the activity and evaluate the results.
What are the benefits?
As a new entrepreneur, you will benefit from on-the-job training in a small or medium-sized enterprise in another Participating Country. This will ease the successful start of your business or strengthen your new enterprise. You can also benefit from access to new markets, international cooperation and potential possibilities for collaboration with business partners abroad.
As a host entrepreneur, you can benefit from fresh ideas from a motivated new entrepreneur on your business. He/she may have specialised skills or knowledge in an area you do not master, which could also complement yours. Most host entrepreneurs enjoyed the experience so much that they decide to host other new entrepreneurs afterwards.
It is is a win-win collaboration, which facilitates the discovery of new European markets or business partners, different ways of doing business. On the longer-term, more networking and collaboration opportunities may arise, e.g. joint ventures, sub-contracting activities, contractor-supplier relationships, etc.
Find out
To know more about the programme check out the Guidebook and contact your national contact-point here.
Also, do not miss the brightest success stories of the programme!
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
There is an important increase in the number of Estonians who think that the conditions in Estonia favour setting up a business, while fear of failure has decreased. (by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study)
There is an important increase in the number of Estonians who think that the conditions in Estonia favour setting up a business, while fear of failure has decreased. (by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study)
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a study that analyses entrepreneurship in different countries and regions; the latest study shows increased entrepreneurial activity around the world. “The crucial motivation in starting a business is personal example, such as personally knowing an entrepreneur. Other important factors include faith in one’s knowledge and skills to make it as an entrepreneur, and an identified business opportunity or idea. Less important factors include the improved social status as an entrepreneur, and the attention given to entrepreneurship in the society,” said Head of the Foresight Centre Tea Danilov, commenting the conclusions of the study
Over the last five years, the early-stage entrepreneurship activity (TEA) rate (the prevalence rate of individuals who have taken steps to start a new company, or have been entrepreneurs for up to 42 months) has increased from 14 % to 19 % in Estonia. Among the innovation-based countries – as the study classifies Estonia – this is a very high rate. Last year, the European TEA index was 8.1 %, and has remained around this mark for the past five years. The TEA index is 14.2 % in Latvia, 7.3 % in Sweden, and 5.3 % in Germany. Early-stage entrepreneurship has grown fairly equally among men and women, which is why the percentage of women has not changed over the past three years.
A typical early-stage entrepreneur in Estonia is a male under 45 years of age who identifies a business opportunity and considers his knowledge and skills good enough to become an entrepreneur. “We could ask whether men are actually more business savvy, or just more confident. It is a positive sign that most companies are founded in Estonia on the basis of business opportunities (76 %); only around one in four (24 %) entrepreneurs are forced to start a business to earn a living. This pattern favours innovation and ambition to grow,” Danilov summarised.
The study shows that entrepreneurship activity in Estonia would benefit further if the 45+ age group would be encouraged to become entrepreneurs, people would be prompted to share their personal entrepreneurship experiences, young people would be taught entrepreneurial skills, and entrepreneurship would be emphasised as a positive career choice.
All budding entrepreneurs fear failure, but the last five years have shown a change in the attitude of the Estonians in this respect. “The change in the entrepreneurship culture is characterised by indicators such as seeing entrepreneurship as a successful career choice, the high status of entrepreneurs in the society, and the high media attention to entrepreneurship,” Danilov explained.
The main drawback highlighted by the analysts is that the starting entrepreneurs are not planning to create as many jobs as earlier. Although the global report underlines this as a problem, Estonia has not seen the negative effects so far; however, in light of the trends in the labour market, the number of jobs may still fall because the number of self-employed individuals is growing.
The study shows that an increasing number of Estonians personally know an entrepreneur – this percentage has grown from 31% to 39% over the last five years. The number of people who feel that they do not have the knowledge and skills necessary for entrepreneurship is falling; however, self-doubters still make up 50 % of the population.
Over the last five years, people are increasingly viewing entrepreneurship as a positive career choice – in 2017, half of the 18–64 year olds felt that. The percentage of those who consider entrepreneurs as high status members of the society has remained around 60–65 %.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is an annual study that analyses and compares entrepreneurship activity and attitudes. The study involves over 50 countries around the world; Estonia has been included since 2012.
Social Innovation Academy E-learning is a freely available tool to gain theoretical and practical insights on what social innovation is really about. Complemented with tons of examples on social innovation initiatives and activities of social enterprises, learning material supports readers in reflecting on their own social innovation ideas.
After a short introduction on social innovation, various learning modules are presented to be chosen from. Practical examples, interviews with experts, skills, trends overview, mentor advice and glossary are available for free. Need some guidance and inspiration? Start with INTERVIEWS or EXAMPLES. Looking to get over the social innovation jargon quickly? Jump over to the GLOSSARY. Want to improve your personal abilities? Go to SKILLS. Looking for concrete answers to concrete questions? Head straight to MENTORING ADVICE. Want to see what’s been the latest developments in the social innovation field? Start your learning with the TRENDS. You can go back anytime, skip the parts that are not relevant or not interesting for you at the moment, mix and match. Start HERE!
“Get creative and learn exactly what you need.”
SOCIAL INNOVATION INITIATIVE LOGBOOK
The aim of the present logbook is to provide guidance and support to those Social Innovation Academy learners and participants that want to begin their own initiatives. Learner can use what has been learned and apply it to the questions and assignments in this logbook. The logbook provides:
an insight to your learning results through a set of self-reflective questions that can help you generate further insight into your idea;
assignments that filled in and brought together into one single file will constitute the base document for your initiative or enterprise, outlining main features, story, business model and impact evaluation.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
In recent years, we’ve seen a pretty revolutionary cultural shift from consumers, from one of securing the best product for the lowest price to one of searching out products that they know are kind to both people and the planet. Additional to that, consumers have been shown to relish the feeling of community that comes with this pattern of consumption, bearing in mind an increased environmental conscience. National and international laws, regulations, policies and politics are all motivated more and more by the desire to be part of the fight against climate change.
As a result, the promise of a green economy which improves human well-being and builds social equity while reducing environmental risks and scarcities is incredibly attractive. Seen as an impactful alternative to our current economic model, which primarily produces profits from the extraction and exploitation of essential resources, an inclusive green economy has the potential to challenge inequalities, discourage waste, avoid resource scarcities, and improve outcomes to the environment and human health.
In the last ten years, the concept of the green economy has become a strategic goal for many governments. By transforming their economies into supportive mechanisms for sustainability, these countries will be better prepared to take on the major challenges of the upcoming century.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, is seen by many as a fundamental basis for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. These goals reinforce the social enterprise viewpoint that there is no such thing as real climate justice without the economic justice that underpins it.
Social enterprises are seen as a key vehicle towards the transition to a post-carbon emitting future. As long as they have existed, social enterprises have shown themselves to be key contributors to the circular economy and leaders in challenging environmental and economic inequalities. Indeed, even the premise on which social enterprises are built, the pursuit of purpose over profit means they are at a distinct advantage in the green transition in comparison to traditional enterprises.
This agility serves greatly as the business model can pivot faster and more efficiently.In fact, traditional enterprises are, at times, incentivised to work in ways completely antithetical to the morals of the green transition as they are obliged to maximise profits. If they don’t do this, they leave themselves open to legal challenges from investment companies who seeks stable returns for their customers or their model falls apart.
This fact has been noted by the European Commission which has developed the EU Green Deal. This is primarily an action plan, to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and to restore biodiversity and cut pollution. The overarching objective is for the EU to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050. And, they’ve put their money where their mouth is, with a number of funding mechanisms in place to facilitate the EU Green Deal, totalling over €1 trillion!
When it comes to social enterprises, there are lots of environmental wins to be made, even from the smallest of organisations. Moving towards a more sustainable business model can be daunting but you’re already ahead of the pack!
we just came across an interesting article on Fast Company about a new type of social entrepreneurs that would like to share with you.
What if we tried to prevent future problems, instead of just solving the ones in front of us? This is the question asked.
Pick any social enterprise, and it’s almost always a reaction to the past. After a natural disaster or a new refugee crisis, designers build new shelters and experiment with new aid delivery systems. After the public school system had already failed children, social entrepreneurs started building new educational tools. A new book argues that social entrepreneurs need to spend more time thinking about the problems of the future—and less time stuck on “post-traumatic innovation.”
“What if social enterprise was also responsible for preemption?” writes designer Matt Manos in the manifesto at the center of the book, Toward a Preemptive Social Enterprise. “What if social entrepreneurs were also futurists?”
As a designer, Manos pioneered a unique pro bono model with his firm, Verynice. Half of the time, he works for standard paying clients. The other half of the time, his firm donates its work to the social sector. That split led him to start clearly seeing differences between traditional business and social enterprise.
“At times, what’s super obvious in the private sector has just never been mentioned in the social sector, and vice versa,” he says. “When you think about startup clients, a lot of the themes in this book are incredibly obvious to them—that it’s important to invest in future trends, to be thinking about strategic foresight. But when you look at social enterprise, it was launched in reaction or response to something that happened in the past.”
While large businesses like Google or Facebook or Autodesk pour money into R&D—and Elon Musk releases decade-long master plans—nonprofits and social enterprises rarely do the same thing. There are a few exceptions. Some new startup incubators are now focused on social issues, and programs like Singularity University’s accelerator attempt to look comprehensively at future issues. Anything trying to tackle climate change or resilience is, by necessity, focused partly on how the challenge will get worse later.
But the sector is generally more reactionary than preemptive, and that means we’re missing opportunities to get ahead of certain problems. In the simplest scenario, that might mean better preparing for likely natural disasters before they happen. But it also means considering problems that we haven’t yet faced.
“Artificial intelligence, to me, is just a mind-blowing gold mine of stuff that social entrepreneurs and nonprofits are rarely tackling,” says Manos. He gives the example of what may happen when more jobs are lost to automation—not just the issue of income, but how lives will change. “When jobs are automated, people will have more time on their hands. They’ll have more issues with drug abuse. They’ll have issues of self-worth and value, and that might lead to mental illness or suicide . . . that’s just one of many emerging issues.”
Even as social enterprises look at problems that are probably going to exist decades from now, Manos thinks there’s an opportunity to do a better job of considering future scenarios. “What is the future we’re trying to create by doing this work with the homeless today?” he says. “What does that actually mean, or what kind of future could that actually create?”
The book suggests that organizations should imagine ideal futures, and work backward from that ideal. That approach is also a way to deal with the fact that we can’t predict how the world will change. “We have entered a time in which we lack the capability to foresee what technological advancements and capabilities will take place in the next four years,” Manos writes. “So how do we, as designers, understand the future of markets, and the future of business design? We make it up.”
The book, a short collection of essays and tools, is an attempt to help social entrepreneurs start thinking as futurists. Manos’s small design firm also now has a futures wing to help clients do the same thing. “We’re constantly helping people launch new services and products, and there’s kind of this question of what it’s all for,” he says. “For me, the future is a great cause to invest in.”
The book is available for digital download on a pay-what-you-want basis; for $25, readers also get a printed edition.
Have something to say about this article? You can email us and let us know. If it’s interesting and thoughtful, we may publish your response.
Although pandemic restrictions leave a footprint on all travel plans, entrepreneurs shape their business concepts and business plans! This is a preparation time for lifetime professional adventures and the programme Erasmus for Youth Entrepreneurs cannot be missed out…!
What it is?
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a project initiated by the EU. It aims to help new entrepreneurs acquire relevant skills for managing a small or medium-sized enterprise by spending time with an experienced entrepreneur in one of the 27 EU Member States, UK and the COSME countries: North Macedonia, Iceland, Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, Serbia, Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Ukraine and Kosovo*, as well as entrepreneurs from the outermost regions and overseas countries and territories (OCTs) . It contributes to improving their know-how and fosters cross-border transfers of knowledge and experience between entrepreneurs. Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs comes under the Small Business Act for Europe which considers this project a key contribution “to create an environment within which entrepreneurs and family businesses can thrive and entrepreneurship is rewarded
How does it work?
New entrepreneurs gather and exchange knowledge and business ideas with an experienced entrepreneur, with whom they stay and collaborate for a period of 1 to 6 months. The stay is partly financed by the European Commission.
There are 4 phases of applications
Application phase
Interested New Entrepreneurs (NE) and Host Entrepreneurs (HE) apply online and select an Intermediary Organisation (IO). The IO responsible assesses the application and give feedback to the application about their eligibility/acceptance in the program.
Matching phase
Once accepted, the NEs and HEs will have access to the online catalog where they can view all the profiles and start a match. Alternatively, IO can facilitate contacts between the accepted entrepreneurs and propose a match between them.
Contracting and preparation phase
Once the match is accepted by both the NE and the HE, a commitment (activity plan) is prepared with the help of their IOs. This activity plan is an online document, that includes the objectives and expectations for the exchange, the business/work/learning plan, tasks, responsibilities, legal implications document is signed in between all parties (NE, HE, IOs). The NE signs a financial agreement with his/her IO which stipulates the conditions of the financial assistance.
Implementation phase
NEs and HEs complete the stay abroad – in accordance with the objectives set in the commitment – in one or more phases and report on them. The IOs responsible monitor the value of the activity and evaluate the results.
What are the benefits?
As a new entrepreneur, you will benefit from on-the-job training in a small or medium-sized enterprise in another Participating Country. This will ease the successful start of your business or strengthen your new enterprise. You can also benefit from access to new markets, international cooperation and potential possibilities for collaboration with business partners abroad.
As a host entrepreneur, you can benefit from fresh ideas from a motivated new entrepreneur on your business. He/she may have specialised skills or knowledge in an area you do not master, which could also complement yours. Most host entrepreneurs enjoyed the experience so much that they decide to host other new entrepreneurs afterwards.
It is is a win-win collaboration, which facilitates the discovery of new European markets or business partners, different ways of doing business. On the longer-term, more networking and collaboration opportunities may arise, e.g. joint ventures, sub-contracting activities, contractor-supplier relationships, etc.
Find out
To know more about the programme check out the Guidebook and contact your national contact-point here.
Also, do not miss the brightest success stories of the programme!
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
There is an important increase in the number of Estonians who think that the conditions in Estonia favour setting up a business, while fear of failure has decreased. (by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study)
There is an important increase in the number of Estonians who think that the conditions in Estonia favour setting up a business, while fear of failure has decreased. (by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study)
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a study that analyses entrepreneurship in different countries and regions; the latest study shows increased entrepreneurial activity around the world. “The crucial motivation in starting a business is personal example, such as personally knowing an entrepreneur. Other important factors include faith in one’s knowledge and skills to make it as an entrepreneur, and an identified business opportunity or idea. Less important factors include the improved social status as an entrepreneur, and the attention given to entrepreneurship in the society,” said Head of the Foresight Centre Tea Danilov, commenting the conclusions of the study
Over the last five years, the early-stage entrepreneurship activity (TEA) rate (the prevalence rate of individuals who have taken steps to start a new company, or have been entrepreneurs for up to 42 months) has increased from 14 % to 19 % in Estonia. Among the innovation-based countries – as the study classifies Estonia – this is a very high rate. Last year, the European TEA index was 8.1 %, and has remained around this mark for the past five years. The TEA index is 14.2 % in Latvia, 7.3 % in Sweden, and 5.3 % in Germany. Early-stage entrepreneurship has grown fairly equally among men and women, which is why the percentage of women has not changed over the past three years.
A typical early-stage entrepreneur in Estonia is a male under 45 years of age who identifies a business opportunity and considers his knowledge and skills good enough to become an entrepreneur. “We could ask whether men are actually more business savvy, or just more confident. It is a positive sign that most companies are founded in Estonia on the basis of business opportunities (76 %); only around one in four (24 %) entrepreneurs are forced to start a business to earn a living. This pattern favours innovation and ambition to grow,” Danilov summarised.
The study shows that entrepreneurship activity in Estonia would benefit further if the 45+ age group would be encouraged to become entrepreneurs, people would be prompted to share their personal entrepreneurship experiences, young people would be taught entrepreneurial skills, and entrepreneurship would be emphasised as a positive career choice.
All budding entrepreneurs fear failure, but the last five years have shown a change in the attitude of the Estonians in this respect. “The change in the entrepreneurship culture is characterised by indicators such as seeing entrepreneurship as a successful career choice, the high status of entrepreneurs in the society, and the high media attention to entrepreneurship,” Danilov explained.
The main drawback highlighted by the analysts is that the starting entrepreneurs are not planning to create as many jobs as earlier. Although the global report underlines this as a problem, Estonia has not seen the negative effects so far; however, in light of the trends in the labour market, the number of jobs may still fall because the number of self-employed individuals is growing.
The study shows that an increasing number of Estonians personally know an entrepreneur – this percentage has grown from 31% to 39% over the last five years. The number of people who feel that they do not have the knowledge and skills necessary for entrepreneurship is falling; however, self-doubters still make up 50 % of the population.
Over the last five years, people are increasingly viewing entrepreneurship as a positive career choice – in 2017, half of the 18–64 year olds felt that. The percentage of those who consider entrepreneurs as high status members of the society has remained around 60–65 %.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is an annual study that analyses and compares entrepreneurship activity and attitudes. The study involves over 50 countries around the world; Estonia has been included since 2012.
