Institute of Entrepreneurship Development – Ready to Accelerate Your Social Business
| | | |

Institute of Entrepreneurship Development – Ready to Accelerate Your Social Business

Established in 2005, Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IED) is a fast-growing Center of Excellence in European Entrepreneurship. As a state-of-the-art international organization, iED promotes change for the better, through entrepreneurial and innovative actions and supports every entrepreneurial venture across Europe.

With the use of our EU partner network and our experience in diverse EU funded research programmes focused on entrepreneurship, we have created a Knowledge Hub tailor-made to cover the need of the entrepreneurial world, in the European area.

Our Mission

Here in IED, we recognize the importance of Entrepreneurship and its crucial role as a stakeholder for the development and cohesion of societies. Our mission is a simple yet important one. We:

  • Promote Innovation
  • Enhance the Entrepreneurial Spirit
  • Promote Entrepreneurial Culture
  • Enhance the Effectiveness and Viability of Enterprises
  • Bridge the gap between research and business market

Services

We offer guidance, training, and coaching and through IED Academy we bring the knowledge to those that need it. From EU project management and project proposal writing all the way to running a business effectively, Academy is the perfect tool to help us achieve our goal of connecting research with innovation in business.

We take things a step further with our platform EUcalls. We work to make your introduction and journey to EU projects easy.

 

More information is available here: https://ied.eu/

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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.

Travel Massive: Social Enterprises in Tourism Presented
| | | |

Travel Massive: Social Enterprises in Tourism Presented

The Social Entrepreneurship in Tourism Competition is the first worldwide competition focusing on social innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism. More than 20 finalists were selected by the Travel Massive community this year through public voting. Each participant has created a short video about own project for the judging panel. Check out these highly inspiring videos!




And other tourism business ideas published on Travel Massive.

The winners were announced on September 21st at the Online Award Ceremony. Watch the record of The Award Ceremony here:

 

Learn more on sustainable tourism industry development through social entrepreneurship on: https://travelmassive.com/

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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.

Invest in Meaningful Innovation: Join Us in Partnering with Social Ventures Started by Young People
| | | |

Invest in Meaningful Innovation: Join Us in Partnering with Social Ventures Started by Young People

For over 20 years, IYF has nurtured young leaders as they tackle urgent social challenges in their communities. Today we are thrilled to announce the Strategic Alliance Initiative, through which IYF will partner with a consortium of social ventures from our network to drive impact and innovation on issues affecting people and the planet. This collaboration will increase visibility for youth-led global development solutions, while also working to test market viability for deepening and expanding innovative models in new contexts and populations.

The Alliance is seeking external investment and support to advance this work, specifically through cluster funding for thematic areas. Working in a broad array of issue areas, from health to environmental sustainability and social inclusion to education, the 37 Strategic Alliance Initiative ventures selected for the first phase represent 20 countries across every global region and epitomize development that is led by and with the people it serves.

Prior to joining the Alliance, the ventures deepened their work as members of IYF’s YouthActionNet® global network of more than 2,000 youth-led initiatives. They received leadership and capacity-building training, access to networks, and connections to a like-minded community of peers—all key ingredients for growing their early-stage social change ventures into impactful, sustainable forces for good.

“The Strategic Alliance Initiative is founded on our belief that meaningful solutions to the world’s toughest challenges must come from the ground up, involve collaboration and partnership, and be innovative—maybe even audacious,” says IYF President and CEO Susan Reichle.

Often working in resource-constrained environments, Alliance ventures prioritize innovative models, creative partnerships, and community engagement to make their work successful. Here are just 3 examples of selected ventures:

  • Portafolio Verde, Colombia: Portafolio Verde designs strategies to maximize the impact of governments, organizations, and individuals in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. The consulting company is certified as a “B Corporation,” an international label awarded to companies meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
  • Make a Difference, India: By recruiting university students to serve as volunteers in children’s shelter homes across India, Make a Difference works to break the cycle of poverty and abandonment, providing at-risk youth with opportunities to learn, connect, and design their own futures. Currently active in 60 shelters across 23 cities, the organization annually engages more than 3,000 student volunteers to reach more than 3,400 young people.
  • World Faith, United States: World Faith mobilizes religiously diverse young adults to participate in service-learning projects, engage in interfaith dialogue, and utilize the media to counter religious extremism. The organization has mobilized 5,000 volunteers across 15 countries, directly impacting the lives of 500,000 people.

Partnering with ventures from our network is a vital opportunity for IYF to ‘walk our talk’ when it comes to our belief in development led by young people. Together with these high-achieving organizations and models, we will write the next story in the global movement for justice, peace, and opportunity—led by and for all, especially young people.

To learn more, consult the full list of 37 Strategic Alliance Initiative ventures.

To invest in the Strategic Alliance Initiative and advancing solutions to global challenges, contact Ashok Regmi, Director of Social Innovation & Citizenship, and Laura Rosen, Director of Corporate & Foundation Partnerships.

Full article is available here.

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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.

 

The Rexel Foundation’s joint-skills Platform for social entrepreneurship
| | | |

The Rexel Foundation’s joint-skills Platform for social entrepreneurship

The purpose of the social innovation Platform is to boost innovative social models that improve access to energy efficiency.

The joint-skills Platform for social entrepreneurship is a collaborative work tool to drive the adoption of energy efficient practices:

  1. Identify social innovations in France and Europe
  2. Accompany and support the initiatives of social entrepreneurs
  3. Provide a place for members to share knowledge and resources
  4. Evaluate the performance and impact of these innovative models for a sustained investment

IDENTIFY SOCIAL INNOVATIONS IN FRANCE AND EUROPE
The Rexel Foundation, with help from its partners, identifies associations, cooperatives and social enterprises providing innovative models in the energy sector.
The first entrepreneurs to have joined the Rexel Foundation platform were the eight winners of the IMPACT Energy Efficiency program organized with Ashoka in 2013.
Seeking to expand its research in Europe and Asia, in 2015 the platform sent two partners to meet with energy industry actors: Advise for Change in Southeast Asia and Europe Tomorrow in Europe.

ACCOMPANY AND SUPPORT THE INITIATIVES OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS
At each step in implementing their project, then developing their activity, the needs of social entrepreneurs are both numerous and diverse: from the communication plan to financial expertise, from marketing strategy to recruitment, every department in a partner company has skills to share.
When an entrepreneur expresses a need, the Rexel Foundation clarifies it with the entrepreneur before identifying professionals from among the partners who wish to contribute their expertise.
Many forms of support exist and every partner can use its resources to help advance the projects of social entrepreneurs: donating equipment, providing logistical support, funding or expertise.

PROVIDE A PLACE FOR MEMBERS TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE AND RESSOURCE
The purpose of this platform is also to bring together various players in the Social and Solidarity Economy: social entrepreneurs/innovators, and in the traditional economy: partners (NGOs, companies, associations, etc.), all striving for a Better Energy Future.
Newsletters, webinars and annual meetings help keep members informed and active. Tools will be added to enhance the platform over time.

EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE AND IMPACT OF THESE INNOVATIVE MODELS FOR A SUSTAINED INVESTMENT
A tool for assessing impact is available to platform members so that they can evaluate (1) their project’s performance and (2) the impact generated. It includes:
  • An illustrated guide with projects already supported by the platform
  • Tools to encourage reflection
  • A dictionary of energy sector impact and indicators

More information can be found here.

 

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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.

 

 

The Impact in Palanga is Turned ON: 7 New Social Businesses Have Emerged
| | |

The Impact in Palanga is Turned ON: 7 New Social Businesses Have Emerged

Last weekend the social business sprint “Turn the Impact ON” took place in the sunny resort of Palanga, Klaipėda region, where no less than 7 new social businesses emerged victorious and now will continue on creating innovative solutions to important social problems in Lithuania. These businesses also won an invitation to the social business accelerator and 15.000 euros investment for the successful development of their social business.

12 teams were invited to the workshop in the extraordinary outdoors office “3O — Out Of Office” in Palanga. The whole weekend the teams had a possibility to consult with experienced marketing, IT innovations, and other experts. This seaside workshop is the second social business sprint of the project „Turn the Impact On“. In the first event in Panevėžys, due to the decision of the judge’s committee, 6 more teams continued developing their social business ideas.

„We are putting into practice the projects, that in two years will increase the number of social businesses in the country at least in one third. This weekend social business sprint was orientated exactly into social business model founders in Klaipėda region. We were kindly surprised that there appeared to be no less than 64 teams and 23 individually motivated people wishing to participate in the event. The 12 strongest teams were selected and after three days of active work, consultations and studies, the committee selected 7 teams into the final — their potential and planned social impact seemed to be the biggest and the most promising. We were concerned about the effectiveness, innovation, and stability of the suggested solutions, besides, we estimated the motivation, entrepreneurship and, of course, the financial capacity perspective of the teams, „ — told Simona Šimulytė, the organizer of the event, CEO of European Social Entrepreneurship and Innovative Studies Institute, initiator of “ChangeMakers’ON”.

The interest in social business development is increasing in Lithuania — the organizers have noticed, that the project catching the attention of more and more young, motivated people, whose business model priority is not only financial profit but also a positive impact on the society, meaningfulness, and sustainability.

However, it could be noticed, that nowadays Lithuania still lacks a general understanding of social business and what makes it different from the traditional business. In order to answer these questions, participants of the event and all the interested citizens of Klaipėda region were invited to the panel discussion „What is and what is not a social business?“, where 7 social business experts were sharing their knowledge: Marius Pareščius (the vice president of „Paysera“, expert of information technologies and cybersecurity), Dominykas Karpovič (the co-founder and partner of „Xwhy“), Aušra Paulauskaitė (project manager of „Versli Lietuva“ — „Enterprising Lithuania“), Arvydas Bložė („Practica Capital“ Investment manager, Startup.lt), Paulius Nezabitauskas (Manager of innovations and entrepreneurship department in Kaunas Science and Technologies park), Viktorija Bražiūnaitė (the leader of Lithuanian social business association) and Simona Šimulytė (CEO of European Social Entrepreneurship and Innovative Studies Institute, initiator of “ChangeMakers’ON”).

On the other hand, those who had a good knowledge of the social business model also had a great variety of needful business ideas. The team „MaMaDu“ is creating a special online platform for families with babies, where the registered members will receive an everyday SMS message with a piece of advice about babies‘ needs. Also, the information about emotional or physical family prosperity could be provided.

The team „Bangų terapija“ ( „Waves’ therapy“) is ready to support the integration of the children and youth with autism spectrum disorder with the help of the wave therapy — regular training would help them to find an attractive and active physical activity. Besides, this social business would promote education about safety in the water.

The team „Sweetest“ specializes in video creation and is working on solving the employment difficulties for people with disabilities. Having some personal experience in this field, they would teach the disabled people to make video recordings and educate them, so that later they could work at other enterprises.

Another winning team „Keliaujančios mamos“ ( „Travelling Mums“) is planning to help mothers with children by introducing them to educational activities and general world knowledge. The „Keliaujančios mamos“ fellowship will educate and motivate young mothers and families to travel with their children, no matter what age they would be. The families would get different consultations about the needed things, psychological preparation, recommended places to visit, etc.

The team „Nougat Wear“ noticed, that women working in clothing production businesses are usually from socially fragile families, therefore, the team intends to develop the clothing production factory with a friendly and motivational atmosphere. They would employ women and encourage their self-realization, entrepreneurship skills, and equal rights at work. Besides, they would help the environment by reusing old clothes and leftovers of the fabrics, creating more awareness in this field too.

The team „In The name of” (liet. “Vardan Tos”) has intentions to restore the abandoned and vanishing objects of cultural and historical heritage for the „second chance“, modernizing and adjusting them accordingly to the needs of modern people. Therefore, tourism in some regions would be motivated, the local employment level would increase and the local community would come together.

Another team — „Nerijos laboratory“ (liet. Nerijos laboratorija)plans to invite people to escape from crowded cities and everyday’s routine to nature. The team is going to organize expeditions in Neringa, where people would learn to feel and explore nature, reality, and culture, would be involved in creative activities, encouraged to find out more about themselves, and how to feel safe in the surrounding society.

The special prize — 6 months of mentoring, which will help to develop their business plan with experienced businessmen abroad — was given away for the team „Bcreator“. They are developing the idea of an online website, where young people will be able to find out about entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing, teamwork, and other topics.

All 12 teams were positively surprised with many additional prizes: project’s friend „Hostinger“ gave every team a chance to use the website creating tool „Zyro“ and website hosting service, besides, „Paysera“ gave a 4 months possibility to use electronics shops payment initiation services.

More about social business development and promoting events in Lithuania could be found on the website „ChangeMakersON“ or on this orgaisation Facebook.

 

 

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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.

Design a Striking SWOT Analysis with Canva. SWOT analysis templates
| | | |

Design a Striking SWOT Analysis with Canva. SWOT analysis templates

SWOT is the leading online SWOT Analysis tool, template, and platform to help you build and execute a winning strategy.

When it comes to building a strategic vision, a SWOT analysis is a crucial first step. It’s an important step for businesses and organizations to gain insights into their internal and external core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Create an amazing SWOT analysis in just minutes

  1. Create a new Canva account to get started with your own SWOT analysis designs.
  2. Choose from our library of professionally created templates.
  3. Upload your own photos or choose from over 1 million stock images.
  4. Fix your images, add stunning filters and edit text.
  5. Save and share.

The SWOT analysis tool is available here.

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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.

22 Awesome Social Enterprise Ideas and Examples
| | |

22 Awesome Social Enterprise Ideas and Examples

There are several ways you can go about searching for social enterprise ideas. Seeing examples of social enterprise in action is one of these best ways to get inspired for what you might want to create!

Social enterprise ideas, unlike conventional business ideas, typically result from a desire to solve a social need; similar to how many non-profit and charity organizations find their beginning.

As the message of merging business acumen and innovation with the task of building lasting social change spreads, and along with increasing numbers of powerful examples of positive change manifesting around the world, the social enterprise movement continues to gain traction. With this entrepreneurial approach to diversifying funding streams, an organization can be freed from “strings-attached” grant funding and often unreliable corporate or individual donations.

More information is available here.

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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 Enterprise as a Mechanism of Youth Empowerment
| | |

Social Enterprise as a Mechanism of Youth Empowerment

Liang Shang from the City University of Hong Kong and Yanto Chandra from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed explicit research on the youth empowerment mechanisms applied in Social Entrepreneurship as a practice-based learning activity implemented in the Hong Kong University. The research poses a research question “How do social enterprises empower its beneficiaries?” and focuses on Soap Cycling, social enterprise founded in 2012 by David Bishop, a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong. It started as an internship project run by University of Hong Kong’s undergraduate students. Now the project is run also in Mainland China, Singapore, Myanmar, Canary Islands, Philippines and India.

Youth empowerment is one of the key missions of Soap Cycling. Soap Cycling is a SE because it seeks to create educational and environmental value while generating revenue from various sources (i.e., donation, fees, etc.) to run its programs. This SE recycles unused soaps to improve sanitation and hygiene of young people in underdeveloped regions. By recycling unused soaps into new soaps, this SE seeks to address pneumonia and diarrhea, two leading killers of the children around the world (International Vaccine Access Center, 2015). These diseases can be prevented with appropriate hand washing with soap and hygiene education (World Health Organization, 2013).

Soap Cycling SE is operated by student volunteers, who are distributed across various managerial positions and operational aspects. These volunteers normally work for 13 weeks (during a semester) as a part of their undergraduate curriculum. With three other co-directors: Baniel Chung (an engineer and marketing expert), Beau Lefler and Dr. Chad Lykins (both lecturers in law at the University of Hong Kong), Bishop provides guidance and advice to students in managing the SE and encourages the volunteers to make decisions and take own actions (Chiu, 2012). Specifically, how does Soap Cycling SE empower students?

The research identified two important elements of youth empowerment in SE not previously discussed in the SE literature, which are: social-capital empowerment and entrepreneurial-capital empowerment. Specifically, social-capital empowerment consists of three sub-elements, which are (1) building social awareness, (2) creating meaningful participation, and (3) developing social connections. The other two elements identified as part of entrepreneurial-capacity empowerment and being central to youth empowerment SE, are: (4) power-sharing between youths and adults, and (5) building entrepreneurial skills.

Social capacity building

Soap Cycling SE empowered student volunteers’ social capacity through three main stages: social awareness building, meaningful participation and enhancing social connections. The social awareness building involves naming the problem, speaking out, raising consciousness, and researching. Before the student volunteers joined Soap Cycling SE activities, many of them lacked awareness of the hygiene problems in developing countries and had no idea what happened to unused soaps in hotels after they were used and how they might be repurposed. The SE develops young people’s social awareness or individuals’ understanding of the needs and historical specificity of social events and process (Dinev & Hart, 2005).

Meaningful Participation

Soap Cycling SE provides volunteering opportunities to university students by engaging them directly in charity work to “learn and help the less fortunate people in the underdeveloped countries”

Social Connections

Soap Cycling SE also provided student volunteers the opportunities to enhance their social connections through social and teamwork development skills. Through cooperation with others, the student volunteers met new people, developed networking, teamwork, communication and interpersonal skills.

Entrepreneurial-Capacity Empowerment

The SE was established to provide a platform for students to develop hands-on entrepreneurial and technical (e.g., IT, law, marketing) experience and better prepare them for future jobs. Research identified two elements of entrepreneurial-capacity empowerment: power-sharing between youth and adults and building entrepreneurial skills.

Power-sharing between youth and adults

Most youth internship programs do not offer students the opportunities to make real decisions, nor to suffer the consequences when they make mistakes. Taking responsibility for own decisions is a critical element in youth empowerment as constructive learning can arise from bearing consequences from one’s own actions.

Soap Cycling is operated by student volunteers and the volunteers are given various managerial positions to handle all administrative and operational aspects of the SE as a part of their 13-week internship.  The SE has empowered students to exercise their decision-making power. This enhanced the students’ self-confidence and developed their sense of responsibility, as SE enables power-sharing between youths and adults to work effectively and to suffer from the consequences of their mistakes.

Building entrepreneurial skills

As part of 13-week work, volunteers have to submit an action plan to improve the SE and a general manager evaluates their performance. The volunteers work in various departments, from “strategy” (in charge of developing growth and expansion strategy), marketing (in charge of formulating marketing and branding strategies), manufacturing and delivery, to accounting, human resources, and law. The first-hand entrepreneurial experience helped develop students’ leadership, communication, creative thinking and interpersonal skills and other management skills.

111

As stated by David Bishop, founder of Soap Cycling, university graduates often lack real-world experience and face difficulties in finding jobs after graduation. He wanted to change this situation and provided the students with a meaningful leadership and management experience.

To know more on how this specific SE achieves its objectives and empowers young people, read full text here or directly on ResearchGate.

For more information on the Soap Cycling, visit the webpage.

received_2563814793867341

erasmus_plus_logo-300x86

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.

Mother opens bakery to help son and others with special needs find employment

Mother opens bakery to help son and others with special needs find employment

A common concern for parents of children with disabilities is what will happen when their children become adults. It’s difficult for adults with disabilities to find employment — not because they aren’t capable, but because they are often exploited or overlooked because employers think they aren’t capable. Increasingly, people with disabilities, or their families, are taking control of their own futures. One Illinois mom is the latest, opening a bakery for her son, and hopefully others with disabilities in the future.

Margaret Cortes told KWQC that she was told her son, Frankie, would never walk or talk when he was a baby. Yet Frankie proved them all wrong. “He can sing, he can dance, he can run, he can jump. He can do so many things,” Cortes said. Yet she was scared of what would happen after he graduated high school. “It was important for me that he didn’t end up just working in a factory or working where he wasn’t getting that exposure to other people,” she explained.

bakery

A common concern for parents of children with disabilities is what will happen when their children become adults. It’s difficult for adults with disabilities to find employment — not because they aren’t capable, but because they are often exploited or overlooked because employers think they aren’t capable. Increasingly, people with disabilities, or their families, are taking control of their own futures. One Illinois mom is the latest, opening a bakery for her son, and hopefully others with disabilities in the future.

Margaret Cortes told KWQC that she was told her son, Frankie, would never walk or talk when he was a baby. Yet Frankie proved them all wrong. “He can sing, he can dance, he can run, he can jump. He can do so many things,” Cortes said. Yet she was scared of what would happen after he graduated high school. “It was important for me that he didn’t end up just working in a factory or working where he wasn’t getting that exposure to other people,” she explained.

Special Kneads Bakery was his mother’s answer. Currently a senior in high school, Frankie plans to go to college. But for now, he works at Special Kneads Bakery, interacting with customers. “I just try and treat everyone with respect and make them smile,” Frankie said. “I like serving the community because it makes my heart feel good.”

“It’s amazing to see how far he’s come,” Cortes added.

Cortes’ fears about her son’s future were not unfounded. Amy Wright, who founded the coffee shop Bitty & Beau’s, was named CNN’s Hero of the Year in 2017 for her work providing jobs to people with disabilities. Both of her children, whom her coffee shop is named after, have Down syndrome. She and her husband were already making sure to hire people with disabilities, but when they saw that 70 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, she opened Bitty & Beau’s, which now has franchises across the country. It’s also still legal for people with disabilities to be paid less than minimum wage, leading to the possibility of exploitation.

“We try to set an example here that their work is just as worthy as typically-developed people,” she said when she won the award. “And they have dreams they want to work toward. One helped his family put down a payment on a house. Another is saving up for a car.”

Cortes, Wright, and countless others are looking to change the bleak employment outlook by proving that people with disabilities are capable. They are not unable to work or contribute to their communities. It’s long past time for the rest of the world to see that and to give people like Frankie the chance to make a difference.

Source: https://www.liveaction.org/news/mother-bakery-special-needs-son