Better Incubation is kickstarting an “eco-systemic” change by bringing incubation and business support services closer to society as a whole and to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment as means to create jobs, develop skills, and give the unemployed and vulnerable an opportunity to fully participate in the economy and improve the inclusivity of our societies.
Better Incubation mobilises and empowers Business Support Organisations (BSOs, including EUBICs, IHUBs, investors for impact) to grow their capacities and expand their outreach to inclusive and social entrepreneurship, helping social entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs from Under-Represented Groups (URG) to access available financial tools and increase their businesses’ chances of survival and growth.
Better Incubation programme is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to engage and achieve the transformational impact of the business support ecosystem, with three partner networks, EBN, IHUB and EVPA, working together towards a sustainable “better incubation ecosystem”, open to all kind of entrepreneurs
Download Better Incubation leaflet .
Better Incubation provides BSOs with the knowledge and tools to run incubation programmes for social and inclusive entrepreneurs through experiential learning approaches and by stimulating new partnerships.
Better Incubation aims to enhance the inclusiveness of BSOs by stimulating a wider cultural change in the incubation ecosystem, therefore involving regional and EU stakeholders (investors, policymakers, social actors, BSOs) that can contribute to this paradigm shift.
Better Incubation is developing and testing a shared assessment framework to measure and assess the impact and inclusiveness of incubation programmes.
Better Incubation is establishing long-term collaborations among the main actors involved in the different aspects of social and inclusive entrepreneurship support to ensure continuous improvements of the practices and support provided by mainstream incubators and other BSOs.
Better Incubation offers a series of capacity building opportunities and inspirational materials to pivot incubation services and culture towards a more inclusive and impact-driven approach.
Highlights:
Better Incubation: calls European entrepreneurs to provide their “expert” perspective in the Communities of Practice, as to confront BSOs with their real needs and expectations; offers dedicated incubation and support programmes from EBN and IHUB members to 60 European entrepreneurs from the URGs; runs a dedicated contest for social businesses looking for international scaling opportunities.
Better Incubation inspirational programme and regional and European policy dialogues are specifically aimed at engaging the wider ecosystem, by enabling and fostering connections among key actors, including multi-stakeholders’ dialogues raising awareness about the potential of social and inclusive entrepreneurship for creating and scaling up sustainable business models, consolidating companies and promoting employment in the European regions.
Better Incubation will involve key European organizations specialized in supporting under-represented and vulnerable groups (URG) as well as international, national, regional and local policymakers to work together for a “better social and inclusive entrepreneurship” support system.
Better Incubation Advisory Board gives advice to ensure that the project activities and outputs are aligned to the real requirements and priorities of inclusive and social entrepreneurship support, taking into consideration the needs of social and under-represented entrepreneurs but also the structures, funding schemes as well as the impact-orientation, value added and innovation component of incubators and other BSOs.
Caritas Europa is a network of organisations working in combating poverty and social exclusion, providing social and welfare services, dealing with migration and asylum issues, and combating human trafficking, among others. It has 37-member organisations in 34 EaSI countries, covering all the geographical scope of the programme
Caritas Europa is represented by Shannon Pfohman, Policy & Advocacy Director
Cooperatives Europe is the European federation of cooperative in the EI, representing 141 million cooperators and promoting and developing cooperative enterprises across all business sectors in the European region
Cooperatives Europe is represented by Agnès Mathis, Director
EMES gathers research centers and individual researchers on social enterprise, whose main body of knowledge is formed by social economy concepts, including Social Enterprise, Social Economy, Solidarity Economy, Social Entrepreneurship
EMES is represented by Rocío Nogales, Managing Director
European Network of Social Integration Enterprises: ENSIE gathers 26 national and regional networks of Social Integration Enterprises (2,400, and more than 378,000 salaried persons), representing 19 EaSI countries , that pursue, in a manner adapted to local constraints, objectives of social integration of disadvantaged groups
ENSIE is represented by Patrizia Bussi, Director
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