Better Incubation – Page 3 – Better Incubation

RCCI: Creating a culture of social innovation and entrepreneurship for youth in Bulgaria

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Better Incubation

Last February, EBN Certification and Impact Manager, Florian Sora met RCCI Executive Director Milen Dobrev, Desislava Dimitrova, Expert EU programs and projects as well as the overall team of the EU|BIC, Innobridge in the framework of Better Incubation project.

RCCI is involved in the Better Incubation project, implemented by EBN with two partner pan European networks (Impact Hub and European Venture Philanthropy Association), focusing on building capacities and providing tools and methodologies for the mainstream business support organisations to adopt inclusive incubation practices. Together with other 10 EBN members and 10 Impact Hubs, RCCI actively participates in the Communities of practice which serve as a platform for the incubators to learn and experiment with the new incubation approaches by reaching out to groups of entrepreneurs who are underrepresented or face greater barriers in business creation and self-employment. Under this initiative, RCCI has launched its pilot programme for young entrepreneurs and provides them with tailored business support services, including coaching and mentoring so they can feel more confident to seize new business opportunities and run their businesses ideas.

Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry is an NGO for the public benefit, providing a wide range of quality services to over 1000 member and non-member companies to help develop and expand their businesses, both at home and internationally. It proactively contributes to the economic development of the Ruse region, provides support and representation of the business and entrepreneurs on a regional and national level (also through the National Network of Chambers of Commerce and Industries and EBN).

Thanks to the recommendations of the EU|BIC community and the EBN secretariat colleagues, the Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) – the regional body responsible for the Promotion of the economic development of the Bulgarian Ruse region – and its EU|BIC were able to share and transfer good practices on those topics. As a result of our common work, our organization was one of the first in the country to support social entrepreneurial ideas even though national legislation on the social economy was not in place in 2015.

With 6 partners from 4 countries, RCCI drew out and promotes the competencies that a European Expert in Social Innovation Incubation should possess as part of ESII project (2015 -2017).

As members of the EU|BIC community, we were among the first to support the creation of an European online ecosystem for social innovation, aiming to match social challenges with their solutions – SocialChallenges.eu. We built on that momentum and now we actively promote the concept of socially responsible business and continue to educate our society on the topic.

At RCCI we believe that the entrepreneurial mindset should be promoted at a very young age, and we took the challenge to transfer the know-how we previously built to the education system. We started involving students aged 12 to 15 in novel education programmes, focused on social entrepreneurship and its importance. We are happy to say that thanks to the involvement of real social entrepreneurs from several EU countries in the process we managed to raise young people’s awareness towards the important social issues and to empower them with the key knowledge and skills. We were deeply impressed by the presentation of children’s ideas within Better Incubation local pitching session in Ruse and are confident to say that among them there are going to be some future social entrepreneurs.

On a more personal level, I am thrilled to say that being part of an international community of practice, as part of the Better Incubation project, was extremely beneficial and further improved my expertise around social and youth entrepreneurship. What’s more, I was able to meet with many high-qualified professionals with whom I hope to continue working in the future.

Desislava Dimitrova, Expert EU programs and projects at RCCI

Picture taken during the pitching session of the Youth Entrepreneurship Support Programme in Ruse CCI.

Applications for the EU Prize for Women Innovators 2022 are open

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Better Incubation

The European Innovation Council (EIC) launched the ninth edition of the EU Prize for Women Innovators. The Prize celebrates the women entrepreneurs behind Europe’s game-changing innovations, to inspire more women to follow their footsteps.

The EU Prize for Women Innovators is funded under Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme. The EIC will award three prizes of €100,000 each to the most inspiring women innovators across the EU and Associated Countries, including Ukraine. To mark the European Year of Youth, the EIC will be awarding a further three prizes of €50 000 each to promising ‘Rising Innovators’ under the age of 35.

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, opened the competition today on International Women’s Day in the French city of Strasbourg.

Commissioner Gabriel said: “The empowerment of women and girls is at the core of our European values and goals. Throughout my portfolio, we aim to foster environments that help women succeed, and lead in their respective fields. This year, we highlight some key initiatives undertaken to support women in science, innovation, culture and education.”

The prize is open to women from all EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe, who have founded an innovative company.

The deadline for applications is 18 August 2022 at 17:00 (CET). The prize is managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and the winners are chosen by an independent expert jury.

Discover more details and find the application form here

For further information about the EU Gender Equality Strategy and European Commission’s support for women in research, science and education is available here > Gender equality in research and innovation

Source: https://eic.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-prize-women-innovators-2022-now-open-applications-2022-03-08_en

Better Incubation Inclusive Entrepreneurship Workshop Series

Posted on March 8, 2022March 10, 2022 by Better Incubation

Discover how to make your incubation services more inclusive and supportive of entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups.

The transition to an inclusive and green economy is gaining momentum. To build a better future, one that’s good for people and the planet, we need better business. Now is the time to bring your services closer to the whole of society.

If you have responsibility for designing and implementing entrepreneur incubation services or support programs, this curated series of online events will help you identify ways to modify your offerings for people from groups underrepresented in the enterprise sector.

Come together with practitioners, social entrepreneurs, subject matter experts and leading impact sector organisations to be:

Inspired by a range of best practices and insights related to specific underrepresented groups
Connected with like-minded peers, with whom you can learn from and collaborate with
Enabled to modify your services with knowledge and methodologies you can implement your teams

We start the workshop series with an exploration of common cultural and structural barriers facing groups underrepresented in the enterprise sector, taking a more intersectional perspective before moving on to deep dives on specific groups, offering inspiration and guidance based on actions and methodologies already successfully implemented on the ground across Europe, to support implementation of inclusive practice.

Introduction to Inclusive Entrepreneurship	Inclusive Entrepreneurship Deep Dives
Introduction to Inclusive Entrepreneurship	Migrants and refugees	Women	Youth	Seniors	People with disabilities
29 March	20 April	10 May	31 May	22 June	12 July
10am-12pm CET	10am-12.30pm CET	10am-12.30pm CET	10am-12.30pm CET	10am-12.30pm CET	10am-12.30pm CET

Who should you expect?

Introduction to Inclusive Entrepreneurship

Join a panel of impact sector leaders to explore cross-cutting barriers to underrepresented groups in the enterprise sector, and participate in a discussion about what has been and can be done to change things for the better and to create a just and inclusive economy. You will also connect with and learn from peers from other business support organisations.

Panel: Max Bulakovskiy, Policy Analyst, OECD; Tatiana Glad, Executive Director, Impact Hub Network; Shannon Pfohman, Policy & Advocacy Director, Caritas Europa.

Inclusive Entrepreneurship Deep Dives

The next five workshops will each focus on a specific underrepresented group – Migrants & refugees; Women; Youth; Seniors; People with disabilities. Each workshop will create a safe and supportive space to offer inspiration and guidance for business support organisations, based on actions and methodologies already successfully implemented on the ground across Europe, to support implementation of inclusive practice.

You will learn from subject matter experts, social entrepreneurs with lived experiences of the challenges being explored, and business support organisations leading the way in developing and delivering inclusive incubation services. Line-ups for each workshop will be announced soon.

Who is this workshop series for?

These workshops are designed to support people with responsibility for designing and implementing entrepreneur incubation services or support programs, for example program or service managers. If you work for an organisation that provides business support to entrepreneurs, and you are interested in how you can develop new or modify existing services to make them more inclusive, then these workshops are for you!

There will be a range of experience in the room, from people with years of experience supporting people from underrepresented groups to grow their businesses, to people who are only just starting to think about how they can make their offerings more inclusive of social entrepreneurs and people from underrepresented groups. Some may be building a service from scratch while others will be modifying existing programmes.

Please note that the workshop content is based on European practice, perspectives and knowledge. However, if you work for a business support organisation operating outside of Europe, you are still very much welcome to participate and hopefully find value in the space created.

What is Better Incubation?

Better Incubation is a 2-year programme (2021 – 2023) funded by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation, and is led by three network organisations: The European Business and Innovation Centre Network, Impact Hub and the European Venture Philanthropy Association.

The aim of Better Incubation is to foster inclusive and social entrepreneurship in Europe by mobilising and empowering Business Support Organisations (BSOs) with capacities to effectively help the social enterprises and potential entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups to grow their businesses. Read more here.

How can you participate?

Please sign up here for as many sessions as you wish!

After completing the sign up for, you will receive joining details enabling you to register for the workshops that are of interest to you.

If you have any questions about this workshop series please reach out to: info@betterincubation.eu.

WEgate Policy Brief “Toward strategic policy framework for women entrepreneurship” is out

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Better Incubation

On the International Women’s Day, we are happy to share with you the brand new Policy Brief of the WEgate thematic group on women’s entrepreneurship policy: Toward strategic policy framework for women entrepreneurship

The report highlights the key challenges and recommendations for policymaking in four areas: gender mainstreaming, evidence-based policymaking, finance & funding for women entrepreneurs, and stakeholders’ engagement in policy development. For each policy area, a set of recommendations is being proposed, targeting policymakers at both the European and national levels.

Find out more about the WEgate thematic working group on women’s entrepreneurship policy and read the policy brief with recommendations here.

About WEgate

A growing and diverse number of stakeholders are engaging to support women entrepreneurs across Europe. The European Gateway for Women’s entrepreneurship WEgate is an e-platform launched by the European Commission to support this network.

EBN is a proud member of the WEgate Community Council.

Source: https://wegate.eu/news-events/news/check-out-our-first-policy-brief-%E2%80%9Ctoward-strategic-policy-framework-women

How inclusive are our labour markets really? Caritas Europa announces the Caritas CARES! European poverty report

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Better Incubation

The new Caritas CARES! European poverty report on inclusive labour markets focuses on the challenges that should be tackled urgently to make European labour markets more accessible and more inclusive, based on our vision for sustainable social models.

This latest Caritas report looks at the challenges that should be tackled urgently to make labour markets more inclusive and accessible, based on Caritas Europa’s vision for sustainable social models and on existing EU and Council of Europe processes, programmes and legal instruments. It also includes an overview of different measures being proposed at EU level to address these challenges and to respond to the lasting consequences of COVID-19 and concludes with Caritas’ policy recommendations.

On February 21st, Caritas Europa will present the report and its findings and recommendations, and will debate with strategic partners and EU policymakers on how to truly make labour markets in Europe more inclusive.

Join Caritas launch event “How inclusive are our labour markets really?”, with Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality.

Better Incubation Communities of Practice / Sandilya: Building the Pillars for Migrants Inclusion Through Social Innovation

Posted on July 19, 2021August 9, 2021 by Better Incubation

How to make the field of entrepreneurship more inclusive to groups that have been historically and systematically left behind, namely migrants and refugees, people with disability, seniors, women and youth? Together with members of the European Business & Innovation Centre Network (EBN), the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) and Caritas organizations, Impact Hub gathered experts and entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups in a series of virtual working sessions – Communities of Practice – to debate, exchange, investigate, plan, prototype and evaluate the activities in the field of inclusive entrepreneurship.

Throughout our Better Incubation working sessions, we were inspired to delve deeper into the participants’ diverse stories and to learn more about the “whats”, “whys” and “hows” behind their efforts to build inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystems. One of the entrepreneurs who greatly sparked our curiosity was Hrishabh Sandilya.

Sandilya considers himself to be “a multipotentialite and systems-thinker” and is committed to a more resilient future, where there’s social, climate and gender justice for all. Premised on the pillars of sustainability, economic empowerment through entrepreneurship and socio-cultural integration, Sandilya’s incredible work at Project Phoenix is dedicated to providing social innovation training for refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers on European grounds.

Besides founding and leading Project Phoenix on the ground in Nicosia, Cyprus capital, he is also responsible for mentoring Project Phoenix’s fellows and volunteers. To learn more about Sandilya’s background, his journey and his plans to keep impacting the world in a positive and lasting way, check our conversation below:

Q: To get us started, how would you describe yourself in 3 words?

A: I’d describe myself as a neophile who challenges existing systems.

Q: We definitely need more systems’ challengers like you to keep changing our world for the better. And talking about making this world a better place, what’s your purpose, both in the professional and personal spheres? How do you believe them to be aligned?

Personally, I want to see a more just and equitable world, where we are more in sync with each other and nature, and a high level of trust within society. Professionally, I want to work towards that goal, specifically in the migrant-inclusion space, through systemic and sustainable solutions, harnessing the power of social innovation.

Q: In getting acquainted with your work, when preparing for this interview, it seems to us that you’re doing a great job in making your purposes real and tangible with Project Phoenix. Could you tell us more about it? Why does it exist and how did it start?

Project Phoenix is a migrant-led European NGO and social enterprise dedicated to systemic change of the inclusion ecosystem. It was founded by my colleague Michael Goecken in Belgium and I joined him as a Co-Founder and moved to Cyprus to set it up in mid-2019.

We are currently running a pilot project in Cyprus, where our programming involves an intensive fellowship program focused on entrepreneurship and skills development, the creation of innovative partnerships with other civil society groups for collective action, and solutions-based research and advocacy pillar that aims to influence policy for systems change.

Q: That’s amazing! When looking back on this inspiring two-year journey, what recent achievements with Project Phoenix would you say to be most proud of?

A: There’s been a few, but the most satisfying ones involve co-creating with our fellows, empowering them and giving them agency. Helping our fellow Laetitia Tchakoute to launch her clothing label Aphrogee, has been a success we keep celebrating, as it goes from one strength to another.

Other recent big wins include finishing a transdisciplinary research study on the impact of COVID-19 on refugees in Cyprus and multiple iterations of online professional English skills and mentoring program for asylum seekers in Cyprus, led by ELT professionals in India.

Q: That’s very fruitful for such a short period of time, especially considering that the COVID-19 pandemic was taking place for most of it (and still is). Considering all that, what do you think were the biggest forces and drivers of your perseverance and success?

A: The biggest drivers of our success have definitely been our incredible fellows, staff and volunteers (and extended network of partners, mentors and advisors). Without them, we wouldn’t exist!

As a new organisation, we’ve struggled for funding our entire existence (especially through the pandemic), but they’ve made it possible through their hard work, substituting funds for passion and skills. This has allowed us to have an outsized impact that many better-funded and better-staffed organisations would have failed to have.

Q: In the end, it’s been all about a resilient community driven by a common purpose. Now, when you look ahead, what are Project Phoenix’s goals for the upcoming year? What impact do you aim to make?

A: Our goal over the next 12 months is to launch Constellation! our refugee social innovation lab in Nicosia, accelerate a few more fellow businesses and further the conversation in Cyprus on addressing migrant inclusion systemically – based on our research and experience with innovation.

Q: This systemic vision you have is really very important to generate real, sustainable and lasting social change. We wish you all the best in these next steps! And on the topic of next steps, we all know that entrepreneurship requires courage. What is courage to you?

A: Courage, as an entrepreneur, is not losing that self-belief that led you to take that step in the first place. It involves trusting your instinct by doubling down on it through hard work when things don’t seem to be turning out the way they should.

Q: We couldn’t agree more with your words. Thank you very much for sharing your inspirational story and thoughts with us! To end this conversation on a high note, would you like to share what was your key takeaway from the first Community of Practice session?

A: My key takeaway was that there are so many other great initiatives and allies out there doing the same important work. Connecting to them for inspiration and building on a vision together is what excites me about our Community of Practice.

Picture description: Hrishabh Sandilya and Laetitia Tchakoute at the launch of her clothing label Aphrogee.

Follow Hrishabh Sandilya and his impactful work at Project Phoenix on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Author: ImpactHub, https://impacthub.net/migrants-inclusion-social-innovation/

IN-CUBA Conference to discuss Disability and Entrepreneurship

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Better Incubation

Entrepreneurship is rarely thought about for people with intellectual disability.

Even if there is an openness to supporting people’s ideas and ambitions, setting up and management may be seen as a heavy burden, and the necessary support to do so very difficult to find.

Sometimes, however, what is needed is just a change of perspective to expand the concept of enterprise to embrace something creative, personally fulfilling and validating that is attempted or undertaken, particularly if it requires boldness or courage. Then you need a group of visionary partners that are not afraid of breaking barriers and are willing to involve users and their families in a new adventure; one that develops an “incubator” methodology focussed on people with intellectual disability and based on the principles of co- production.

That was the starting point of IN-CUBA interreg project. Three years, and several focus groups later, they are ready to present the
results of this adventure together with the voiceof its protagonists .

The moment is particularly apposite as we have just seen the launch of the new European Disability Strategy , which will
provide a strong framework for all the EU initiatives in these fields in the next ten years.

We are therefore happy to invite you to the IN-CUBA Conference to discuss Disability and Entrepreneurship through the initiatives
carried out within this Project, present the results of this action, and foster exchanges between all the stakeholders involved: organisations from the social sector, incubators, educators, users, representatives of the public sector, and policy makers.

Check the full event agenda here

ABOUT IN-CUBA project

The IN-CUBA (Incubators for CO-productive Enterprises and Social Inclusion) Project wants to foster social inclusion by developing an incubation methodology based on co-production addressed to people with intellectual disability. Working on co-productive approaches has highlighted the capacity of users to become protagonists and have an active role, opening the doors to new possibilities and further developments. In fact, the scientific literature and several success stories confirm that, through the appropriate support, people with intellectual disability succeed in concretizing ideas through long-term projects, especially projects that lead to the creation of companies. This opens up new opportunities for the development of people’s employability and social inclusion. However, if at present national systems tend to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, these programmes are rarely accessible to people with intellectual disability and no measure is put in place to investigate the potential impact entrepreneurship can generate for them and their entourage.

An incubator is an organisation that helps new and start-up companies to develop by providing support services and enabling access to the resources they need. In the context of IN-CUBA however, we can define incubator as a support for the development of projects and ideas? a methodology based on co-production that supports the development of ideas and projects to transform them into enterprises (considered in its widest meaning).

IN-CUBA aims to support and assess new approaches to the access to entrepreneurship for people with intellectual disability reducing disparities and promoting inclusion. To these goals the action foresees to:

Develop a methodology based on co-production to incubate ideas, identify the ways and source of funding, and transform them in enterprises;
Enable users to be equal partners within the planning and development of a project, thus enhancing self-determination;
Provide opportunities for self-development and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities so that they can be acknowledged as people that can contribute to the development of their community.
Testing the results in dedicated pilot actions aimed at the setting up of enterprises;
Evaluate the impacts of the entrepreneurial process on the quality of life of the users as well as the overall impacts of the project in terms of social inclusion ;
Disseminate project experience and outcomes, also in view of enhancing social representation and promote the adaptation of methodologies at local level;
Promote the development, testing, and implementation of innovative practices in the field of training for professionalisation;
Promote activities that could better prepare professionals on equity, diversity and social inclusion in the training / learning environment.

To these goals, a very committed partnership is engaged in developing a 36 Months action to help addressing diversity and promote shared values, equality, non-discrimination and social inclusion through innovative and integrated approaches. The Project is coordinated by APEMH with the support of ARFIE and it involves 8 partners from 5 European countries.

The project is based on research and analysis and real testing, and all the foreseen activities are based on co-production and will see users as protagonists.

Discover more on www.co-production.eu/in-cuba

Better Incubation Communities of Practice | Rut Turró: On a Mission to Build an Inclusive Fashion Industry

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Better Incubation

How to make the field of entrepreneurship more inclusive to migrants and refugees, people with disability, seniors, women, youth? Together with members of the European Business & Innovation Centre Network (EBN), The European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) and Caritas organizations, Impact Hub gathered experts and entrepreneurs from all 5 groups in a series of virtual working sessions – Communities of Practice – to debate, exchange, investigate, plan, prototype and evaluate the activities in the field of inclusive entrepreneurship.

In this framework, Impact Hub is interviewing the Better Incubation CoPs’ participants to share their stories and expertise. Time to meet Rut!

The first virtual session took place at the end of May 2021 and we got inspired to hear about what different entrepreneurs and experts are doing to build more inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystems. One of the participants is Rut Turró, she is, in her own words, a social entrepreneur in the fashion industry. She is also a woman entrepreneur and the founder of Moving Mood, which started as a clothing line for people with reduced mobility and turned into a research and consulting partner for the fashion industry on the topic of inclusive fashion.

We asked her why she became an entrepreneur, what impact she aims to make on the world – she also shared examples of impact in action.

Inclusive entrepreneurship Rut Turro founder of Moving Mood

Rut Turró, Founder of Moving Mood

Q: In preparing for our interview, I loved reading about how you want to give more power and opportunities to women, who carry the burden of day-to-day work but are under-recognised. I’m curious about your story as a woman entrepreneur, but first, what did you want to be growing up?

A: I wanted to be like my mum, to take care of the house, the kids, etc. When I was seven years old, my family started a bakery in Barcelona. This was a turning point. Everything changed completely, with my parents working all day, every day, including weekends. My sister and I spent Monday to Friday with a babysitter. Saturday with parents and Sunday with grandparents. Suddenly, I did not want to be like my mum anymore. I wanted to be happy. I remember every year on my birthday I had the same wish: may everyone be happy.

Q: Your parents became entrepreneurs and it sounds like this wasn’t the path you wanted to pursue when you were young. Yet, you call yourself a social entrepreneur today. Why did you become an entrepreneur?

A: Because I couldn’t find any job linked to social impact and fashion design. The only option was working in design for fair trade products at an NGO. Options were very limited and, usually, NGOs have many volunteers, not paid jobs. In the long run, this wasn’t a sustainable path. Also, the products were ‘hippie’ and it was not my style. I would buy them because of the philosophy behind, not because I liked them. So, I decided to start a project by myself. Bringing together social impact, fashion and design.

Q: It’s always interesting to hear how personal frustration leads to new businesses! Beyond your desire to design better fair trade products in the fashion industry, were there any insights that led to starting Moving Mood?

A: The initial idea was to develop a clothing line for people with reduced mobility. All adapted garments available around 2011-2014 were very poorly designed and not fashionable at all! I started under the name Fit and Sit, focused on clothing for people permanently seated. It did not work very well. I understood early on that people wanted to buy clothes from traditional brands, so, I changed my initial idea and began to sell a service and provide knowledge on inclusive fashion for designers and brands. We changed the brand name to Moving Mood, moving for a good mood. And we are focused on research, product development, consulting and education.

Q: Inspiring to hear! Now, let’s talk about impact. What impact are you already making on the fashion industry – and perhaps as a woman entrepreneur too – and what’s your impact ambition?

A: Our impact is to include accessibility in design collections without the need to create a specifically adapted line, so all garments can be used by the whole of society, independently of their needs. We are training companies, design studios and students.

Our impact ambition is to build a more equal fashion industry, with more inclusive products and job opportunities. For example, we developed an adaptation for an industrial sewing machine, so it can be used by people with physical disabilities!

Q: An inclusive sewing machine, what a good example of impact in action! I’d love to learn a little more about your views on women’s entrepreneurship. Over the past years, you have collaborated with many entrepreneurial women – what have you learned from them?

A: We are stronger together, we are better together. I constantly meet powerful women I admire. We connect easily, try to help each other and share contacts. I truly believe we empower each other. There’s often a shared feeling and understanding of the troubles we face or have faced in the past – and shared pride in having come to where we are today as entrepreneurs.

Q: I have to ask then, what advice do you have for female entrepreneurs?

A: My advice for any entrepreneur is: do something that makes you vibrate from every pore of your skin.

Follow Rut and her inspiring work on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Author of this post: Impact Hub

Accelerating the SDGs – The role of Crowdfunding in Investing for Impact | EVPA report is out!

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Better Incubation

New research by EVPA explores how impact crowdfunding platforms achieve positive social change by financing social organisations or enterprises that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Crowdfunding’s role in the impact sector has grown in recent years thanks to its unique way of raising funds to support social organisations and enterprises, attracting retail investors and philanthropists to social innovation and enabling them to participate as funders of societal solutions. The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to accelerate this growth, with increasing demand from social start-ups struggling to access financial resources and rising public interest in crowdfunding.

The report “Accelerating the SDGs – The role of crowdfunding in investing for impact” focuses on impact crowdfunding platforms, i.e. investors for impact pooling and managing resources from individuals, as well as public and private sector agencies, to enable social purpose organisations to maximise their social impact, and taking a highly engaged approach to support their investees. Impact crowdfunding platforms can be either grant-based crowdfunding platforms or social investment crowdfunding platforms.

It highlights that crowdfunding platforms can amplify the impact they generate if they find ways to collaborate with other investors for impact, such as foundations, impact funds or financial institutions, or with different types of impact crowdfunding platforms.

For example, foundations can help crowdfunding platforms reduce the risk of campaign failure by providing anchor investments (e.g. providing the first 20-30% of the investment to trigger a campaign), or through match-funding instruments whereby the foundation can match the contribution of the crowd. Crowdfunding platforms can also cooperate by e.g. sharing deal flow with impact funds or banks and financial institutions that support social organisations and enterprises with different repayable instruments, such as debt or equity.

Collaboration between impact crowdfunding platforms and other investors for impact brings key opportunities to the impact ecosystem. Crowdfunding platforms can detect trends, such as the type of supporters attracted, provide insight to policy makers and generate indicators which can help forecast the potential market traction of a product or service. Collecting and leveraging data, for instance by sharing due diligence reports or campaign KPIs, will avoid duplicating efforts and facilitate the development of partnerships.

Establishing long-term partnerships is crucial to enable collaboration, learning from each other and sharing tools and expertise. However, this requires aligned strategies, trust and a significant time and human resources commitment.

“Crowdfunding platforms play a key role in creating positive societal impact and can be a catalyst for new forms of collaboration with different impact players”, said Roberta Bosurgi, CEO of EVPA. “Other investors for impact must be part of this process, to leverage the opportunities that crowdfunding platforms bring and collectively contribute to a sustainable, fair and inclusive future.”

Michele Scataglini, CEO and Co-Founder of Fund4Impact added: “Enabling matchups between startups and funders in a hugely diverse impact agenda across the world requires a digital platform harnessing crowdfunding technology and impact metrics. This not only creates rich data on trends that are valuable to social investors, foundations and all tiers of government, but also teaches startups to intuitively engage in impact measurement from the very beginning, embedding impact measurement within the DNA of the company.”

EVPA will present the new research piece “Accelerating the SDGs – The role of Crowdfunding in Investing for Impact” during a webinar on June 10th. The objective of the E-Talk is to provide a brief introduction into the growing field of crowdfunding, and present selected use cases and examples to illustrate how investors for impact can work alongside crowdfunding platforms.

Source: EVPA website

How to make social entrepreneurship more inclusive? The “Inclusive Social Entrepreneurship Webinar” will explore the role of entrepreneurship in achieving inclusive labour markets and a human-centred economy

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Better Incubation

Building on the Better Incubation initiative and the collaboration between the Caritas Europa network and the Better Incubation project partners, Caritas Europa organises the ‘Inclusive Social Entrepreneurship Webinar’, within the theme of achieving inclusive labour markets and a human-centred economy.

Caritas Europa is indeed a key partner of Better Incubation: we can count on the valuable presence of Shannon Pfohman in our Advisory Board, and 5 Caritas members participating in our Communities of Practise.

For Caritas Europa, an inclusive labour market, which respects the rights and dignity of every worker, is an essential part of a human-centred economy and a key way to foster a more inclusive labour market is through the promotion of the social economy and social entrepreneurship. However, there is still little focus on how to make social entrepreneurship more inclusive and how to develop the entrepreneurial capacities of under-represented groups such as women, migrants/refugees, people with disabilities, youth and seniors, so that they can also pursue social entrepreneurship as a career choice and support their local community. For these groups to be able to access capital, benefit from business support, develop relevant strategic partnerships, and have a strong ecosystem around them, we, as actors involved in social entrepreneurship need to understand their needs and tailor our approach accordingly.

The objective of this webinar is fivefold:

to have a discussion/exchange with strategic partners and EU policymakers on how to make social entrepreneurship more inclusive;
to offer a platform for Caritas members to present their experiences with inclusive social entrepreneurship;
to better understand how strategic partnerships can help drive social entrepreneurship for social inclusion;
to enable new innovative strategic partnerships between Caritas’ members and other stakeholders able to support them;
to better understand from European Commission representatives how EU policies can help advance inclusive social entrepreneurship and facilitate strategic partnerships at national and local level.

Check out the full event description and the programme here

Among speakers, there are also some participants of the Better Incubation Communities of Practises:

> Wingee Sampaio (Cartier Women’s Initiative) – EVPA member and Observer of Better Incubation CoP on Women
> Mariama Njie (Coventry University Social Enterprise CIC) – certified EU|BIC (EBN member) and member of the CoP on Migrants and Refugees

EU Prize for Women Innovators – Applications are open till the end of June

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Better Incubation

The opportunities created by novel technologies and disruptive innovations promise to deliver the fair and sustainable recovery Europe needs. But Europe risks missing out on these opportunities if half its population is overlooked as a source of innovation and creative talent.

The EU Prize for Women Innovators celebrates the women entrepreneurs behind game-changing innovations. In doing so, the EU seeks to raise awareness of the need for more women innovators, and create role models for women and girls everywhere.

The prize is awarded to the most talented women entrepreneurs from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe, who have founded a successful company and brought innovation to the market. The prize is managed by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, and the winners are chosen by an independent expert jury.

Three prizes of €100,000 each are awarded in the main category. A fourth prize of €50,000 is awarded to a promising ‘Rising Innovator’ aged 30 or younger.

Applications to the 2021 edition of the EU Prize for Women Innovators are now open.

The deadline for submissions is 17:00 (CET) on 30 June 2021.

All applications must be submitted via the Funding and Tenders Portal. Please read the Rules of Contest before applying.

Who can apply?

To apply, you must be:

a woman
established in an EU Member State (including overseas countries and territories) or a country associated to Horizon Europe
founder or co-founder of an active innovative company registered at least two years before the submission deadline.

In addition, those applying for the Rising Innovator category must be aged 30 or younger at the start of the call year.

More info can be found here

Source: EIC Funding Opportunities Website

Who can apply?

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