In the framework of Better Incubation, Impact Hub joined forces with European-wide partners to achieve systemic change towards a more inclusive social entrepreneurship environment in the region. For that end, thematic Communities of Practice (CoP) were developed as a means for participants to exchange their knowledge and share their experiences on how to best support entrepreneurs from under-represented groups. Empreendedorismo 5.0 was one of the CoP’s programmatic approaches appointed as an inspiring best practice devoted to supporting seniors’ entrepreneurship.
It will focus on senior entreprenuers (50+) as an underrepresented group in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The 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.
PROGRAMME
| 10:00 -10:05 | Welcome and introductions
|
Tom Johnson, IHUB
Concepción Ramos Vela, CEEI Zaragoza Mona Moldovan, The CareHub
|
| 10:15-10:45 | Learnings from the Community of Practice
|
Concepción Ramos Vela, CEEI Zaragoza Luisa Rodrigues, IHUB Lisbon |
| 10:45-11:00 | Insight from the expert “The Rise of the Silver Economy “ |
Dr. Isabel Gomes, Founder & CEO – NutVitae, Researcher
|
| 11:00 -11:10 | Break | |
| 11:10 -11:45 | Plenary : Meet the entrepreneurs
|
Silvia Paula Pelham, Village Souvenir, Portugal Silvia Oviaño, Caravan Proyectos de Cultura, Spain Carmelo Heras, EUTORI, Spain |
| 11:45-11:50 | Reflection on learnings and commitments by participants |
Concepción Ramos Vela, CEEI Zaragoza Mona Moldovan, The CareHub
|
| 11:50-12:00 | Closing Remarks | Tom Johnson, IHUB |
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The Panel ‘Innovation community growth – Unlikely innovators & untapped potential’ will address importance of diversity of perspectives needed to be in place to move towards a more inclusive and impact driven approach to innovative entrepreneurship. Powered by the Better Incubation project, the session will bring together speakers from different sectors to discuss how the ecosystemic change can be fostered to promote entrepreneurship and self-employment as means to create jobs and develop skills of vulnerable groups of the society.
Date: 25 May 2022, 10h05 – 10h45
Moderator: Dorijan MARSIC, Director – EU|BIC Sezana, Slovenia
Panellists:
- Steven Serneels, Chairman of the Board – European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA),
- Carole Thurston – Business Consultant, South East BIC, Ireland ,
- Maud Garnier, Entrepreneur and Founder of the enterprise Ordestie , France
Main questions to be discussed :
- Why should the mainstream intermediaries engage in the process of supporting social and inclusive incubation?
- What are the synergies and challenges of different stakeholders in the process of development and strengthening of the impact driven innovative entrepreneurship and how they can be better engage in this process?
- What are the tested best-practices how to encourage the BSOs to take on the leadership role in the transformation of the impact driven entrepreneurial ecosystem leading to the sustainable transition?
- How to how adapt and modify business acceleration support services to help social and underrepresented entrepreneurs transform ideas into viable businesses and grow them by accessing new funding and market opportunities?
Check our Congress website to learn more about the event : https://www.ebncongress.eu/
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Impact Hub on behalf of the Better Incubation project consortium is looking for a contractor to design and deliver the 2nd Better Incubation Community of Practice (CoP) Bootcamp.
The goal of the bootcamp is to:
- Reconnect the CoP participants
- Present conclusions from each CoP
- Developing a set of policy recommendations
Location : home-based (preparation), plus 2 days in Prague, Czech Republic (delivery)
The duration of the consultancy : May-July 2022.
Deadline : 17th May 2022
Please consult ToR Call for facilitators Bootcamp #2 for details
For further information please contact Lucia Radu : lucia.radu@impacthub.net
]]>- Webinar on Social Economy Action Plan for BSOs
- Call for the members of EBN and IHUB networks to join our policy efforts
- Stories of the inclusive entrepreneurship support programmes
- Overview of the project events for 2022.
Better Incubation Newsletter #5
Enjoy your read!
]]>Launched on 27 April, by IPN, Portugal
The member of the Better Incubation CoP for seniors : Instituto Pedro Nunes (IPN) is a business incubator based in Coimbra Portugal, having a wealth of experience with supporting the senior entrepreneurs.
In their previous project Empreendedorismo 5.0: supporting seniors entrepreneurship in Portugal,IPN has provided support to the seniors’ entrepreneurial endeavors through an eight-week entrepreneurship capacity-building training and mentoring programme delivered in a mixed format.
On 27 April, IPN in partnership with Fundação Bissaya Barreto (FBB Foundation) launched a new initiative 5.0 Cinco Ponto Zero – Programa de Capacitação para o Empreendedorismo (Five point zero – entrepreneurship capacity building programme) which will benefit from the methodology of the Empreendedorismo 5.0 project.
The new project targets seniors (50 years plus) and intends to expose up to 50 participants who have a business idea and need to be skilled on how to start a business, to the capacity building programme. The programme consists of an online training course combined with specialized online mentoring and 2 presence sessions.
The data from the 5.0 Cinco Ponto Zero will be also included into the results of the inclusive pilots of the Better Incubation project, thus testing, validating and enriching the lessons learned and measurement and monitoring framework of the Better Incubation project.
]]>‘Social Economy Action Plan : Opportunities for BSOs’
European Business Innovation Centre Network (EBN) on behalf of
the Better Incubation programme is hosting a webinar
on the European Commission’s recently released Social Economy Action Plan (SEAP)
on Thursday 19 May, 15:00 – 15:45 CET.
Our speakers will be:
- Guy Lejeune, Senior Expert on Inclusive Entrepreneurship from DG Employment, European Commission.
- Karel Vanderpoorten, Policy officer – Proximity, Social Economy, Creative Industries from DG GROW, European Commission
Webinar Objectives:
Besides providing the summary of the key aspects of the SEAP, the Webinar “Social Economy Action Plan : Opportunities for BSOs” will focus on how we can increase the impact of the BSOs in the implementation stage of the SEAP, looking at the following :
- how to maximise the potential of the BSOs to translate some of the recommendations in the SEAP into practical initiatives on the local, national and EU level.
- what are the existing and future synergies of the SEAP with other EU programmes/initiatives which will enable BSOs to foster social innovation, local development, and green and digital transition while reaching social impact.
There will be 15 minutes dedicated to Q&A from the audience.
Venue:
This is a virtual event. Participants will be able to connect via Zoom, after receiving detailed instructions on how to connect and the link to the webinar https://bit.ly/BetterSocEco
The webinar will be recorded.
Email michaela.lednova@ebn.eu for more information
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Impact Hub and EBN networks are looking for interested business support organizations to join us in planning and hosting of the 15 regional workshops to harvest ideas and related policy recommendations on inclusive incubation ecosystems on the regional/local level.
The main objective of the regional policy workshops will be to bring out and amplify the role of business support organizations as catalysts of the entrepreneurial support ecosystem for the social and vulnerable entrepreneurs. The ecosystem change cannot be generated by the incubators alone and therefore through the workshops we intend to mobilise the local ecosystem players. The policy workshops should thus act as an enabling space for business intermediaries to connect and exchange with other stakeholders in the ecosystem.
Selection Criteria:
- Part of IHUB network or EBN member
- Be headquartered in one of the EaSI countries
- Ideally participated in one of the five Liaise CoPs
- Connections with organizations in the field of social entrepreneurship / underrepresented groups (URG) entrepreneurship
- Connection with local / regional policymakers / alignment with local / regional policies in the field of social entrepreneurship / URG entrepreneurship
- Connections to other business support organizations in order to expand the impact of the project findings by sharing their knowledge with peers
- Capacity to report in English (workshops will be held in local languages)
You can find more information in Brief for hosting BSO, or contact us directly : michaela.lednova@ebn.eu (EBN network) or Lucia.radu@impacthub.net (Impact Hub network)
If you have decided to get involved, please send an email with the Letter of Interest to info@betterincubation.eu by 29 April 2022.
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The exchange event organised by University of Bologna under the Interreg-Adrion REInSER project, brought together scholars and practitioners across Europe to discuss inspiring initiatives of refugees integration through social entrepreneurship and to enrich the debate on some of the most relevant issues surrounding this topic.
The Better Incubation project consortium (EBN, Impact Hub and EVPA) was represented by Lucia Radu from Impact Hub who shared the main findings from the project at the Policy and Practice roundtable “Experiencing Social Entrepreneurship by/for refugees”. She introduced best practices explored by the Better Incubation and its thematic Community of Practice on how to better integrate migrants and refugees into the society through the entrepreneurship and what are the key barriers these entrepreneurs face in the process.
The key challenges include competing priorities, diversity of participants considering their backgrounds and countries of origins, language barriers, difficulties to reach the target groups and recruit them in the incubation programmes. The diverse approaches how these challenges can be addressed by the business incubators through adjusted services and support were also discussed.
]]>In the upcoming weeks, the series of blogs created by Impact Hub will give you a closer look at stories of business incubators helping vulnerable entrepreneurs such as women, youth, migrants and refugees, seniors and people with disabilities to embark on their entrepreneurial journey.
Empreendedorismo 5.0: supporting seniors entrepreneurship in Portugal
When facing retirement, around 10% of people dream of starting their own business and 73% need to continue working for financial reasons in Portugal. No wonder there is a growing number of people considering a second career and looking to create start-ups. In view of this panoram – and inspired by the successful pilots of the programme in other European countries -, the Instituto Pedro Nunes launched in 2020 the Portuguese version of Empreendedorismo 5.0.
How are they supporting seniors’ entrepreneurship?
Developed within the scope of EIT Health, a ‘knowledge and innovation community’ of 150 partner organisations created in 2015, Empreendedorismo 5.0 is aimed at people over 50 – employed, unemployed, retired or inactive – who have a business idea and want to develop entrepreneurial skills, as well as enhance their experience, strengthen their network of contacts, share and learn. Its overall goal is to support the creation of startups aimed at healthy living, reducing the risk of financial vulnerability and active aging, providing new perspectives, tools and knowledge through courses.
Empreendedorismo 5.0 is supporting seniors’ entrepreneurial endeavors through an eight-week entrepreneurship capacity-building training and mentoring programme delivered in a mixed format. The format provides a combination of 3 face-to-face sessions and remote online sessions.
In this way, regardless of their place of residence – and level of knowledge, as it does not require prior experience -, participants can engage in the most convenient way for them and adapt at their own pace, whilst maintaining permanent online access to content, trainers and mentors.
WHAT I APPRECIATE THE MOST IS THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY INVOLVED AND THE TRUST THAT THE GROUP HAS BEEN ABLE TO BUILD WHEN IT COMES TO PROGRAMMES. – Emprendedorismo 5.0’s participant
With a previously defined training trajectory including a vast array of topics, the progreamme’s participants learn to explore the market, and receive permanent personal specialized support in various subjects related to entrepreneurship and the world of business.
Despite the fact that Empreendedorismo 5.0 is a recent initiative and is still ongoing, the results achieved so far are worthy of recognition and reveal a promising future: among the more than 50 selected participants, over 40 seniors have been highly involved in the process together with 33 mentors. In addition, three start-up projects have already been created and supported within the programme’s framework.
Author of this post: Impact Hub
]]>In the upcoming weeks, the series of blogs created by Impact Hub will give you a closer look at stories of business incubators helping vulnerable entrepreneurs such as women, youth, migrants and refugees, seniors and people with disabilities to embark on their entrepreneurial journey.
Innovation for More Inclusive Urban Spaces: the Case of MiFriendly Cities
With over 100 languages spoken daily within its borders, the West Midlands is considered to be the most diverse and heavily urbanised area in the United Kingdom, outside of London. For the same reason, it is also believed to be the second most diverse region in Europe. As one might imagine, all this diversity brings with it an untapped resource of skills and ideas.
Untapping the potential of diverse communities
In October 2017, the European Union’s Urban Innovative Actions fund awarded €4,2 million to Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton for a 3-year initiative called MiFriendly Cities. The project looked to develop innovative, community-led and sustainable approaches to enhance the contribution of refugees and migrants across the region.
In a nutshell, the aim of MiFriendly Cities was to build stronger communities and promote innovation for more inclusive urban spaces. How? By encouraging employers, health services and the wider public to come together and drive change at both city and regional level. While some of the developed activities were tailored to specific groups, the overall programme involved a broad range of residents in the region, including the ones who define themselves as ‘migrants’.
In the context of the Better Incubation’s Communities of Practice targeted at understanding migrants’ challenges to entrepreneurship and leveraging learnings from successful inclusive experiences, MiFriendly Cities was appointed as an inspiring best practice that supports vulnerable entrepreneurs in the European region. Promoted by Impact Hub along with partners, Better Incubation is an Europe-based initiative dedicated to achieving systemic change through enhancing Business Support Organisations’ skills, methods and tools towards a more diverse entrepreneurship environment.
MiFriendly Cities: Approach and Methodology
To reach their goal, the innovative programme of activities delivered by MiFriendly Cities focused on five main themes. For the first one – jobs -, a network called ‘Migration Friendly Employers’ was created. The Network’s aim was mainly centered in strengthening the workforce of the West Midlands by creating a robust infrastructure which offers ongoing support and increases contact between communities in the workplace.
The second axis, skills, aimed at identifying skills gaps in the region and creating pathways towards further education and employment opportunities for refugees and migrants. They put together an innovative training programme that could benefit all communities and acknowledged the region’s aspirations to become the centre for advanced manufacturing in Europe.
Similarly, by supporting local and refugee and migrant entrepreneurs to start new businesses, MiFriendly Cities hoped to expand job opportunities and strengthen the wider economy. The region also faces many social challenges – in areas such as housing and healthcare – they wanted to meet these challenges by nurturing and funding creative grassroots projects, which are aimed at improving the quality of life for everyone.
MOST CRITICALLY TO OUR VISION, REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS WERE INVOLVED AT EVERY STEP OF PROJECT DEVELOPMENT. – MIFRIENDLY CITIES
By combining these three fields of action, the project envisioned to empower refugees and migrants to aid in driving the economic success of the region by creating new job and work placement opportunities, engaging with employers about hiring from within this community, and highlighting the skills and passion of everyone in our cities.
Additionally, MiFriendly Cities also focused on supporting refugees and migrants active participation in the civil society and encouraging them to use their voices – to spread a message, share a story, or simply to get to know other people in their city. To build the confidence to do so, the migrants’ comprehension of their legal, civil and political rights was considered an important factor for the program as well.
Finally, by promoting the values and knowledge of effective community building and encouraging innovation for more inclusive urban spaces, the project looked to invest in the future of the region, and inspire cities across Europe to also become the MiFriendly Cities of the future.
Highlights from the wrap up
By the end of 2020, MiFriendly Cities had invested €80,000 in migrant social entrepreneurs, 28 projects were pitched for seed funding and 16 social enterprises were registered as businesses. If that was not good enough, with support of the programme, an initial of 45 jobs were created, more than 40 migrants and refugees were trained, and 2,361 beneficiaries were supported. To date, 44% of the involved social enterprises have been able to adapt and continue throughout the lockdown with many more planning for an uncertain future.
Author of this post: Impact Hub
]]>The member of the Better Incubation Community of Practice – Seniors, Centre of Business and Innovation CEEIAragon is a business support organisation and the member of the EBN network based in Zaragoza, Spain.
On 6th April CEEIARAGON will participate in the Conference ‘Silver Entrepreneurship and Innovation’ organised by the Ibercaja Foundation and the San Jorge University in collaboration with the organization Seniors Leading. CEEIARAGON will share its experience with two initiatives on the silver economy it has been implementing, one of them being the pilot programme for senior entrepreneurs in the Better Incubation project.
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Gain actionable insights and the tools to measure and manage your social impact and ramp up your journey to drive meaningful impact for society.
Get empowered by a fresh and comprehensive learning experience.
Build a network of peers.
Investors for impact – from foundations to impact funds to business support organisations – will learn how to clarify their impact objectives and design a solid framework to measure and manage impact at different levels: on investees / grantees, on final beneficiaries / service users and on society.
During the 10-week hybrid programme, you will be part of a supportive peer-learning community to extend, improve and deepen your impact measurement and management practices. Our innovative hands-on learning experience will support you in your journey to make impact measurement and management a driver of decision-making throughout the investment or grant-making journey.
How You’ll Benefit?
- Get up to speed on impact measurement and management by accessing key learning materials
- Assess your current impact measurement and management approach with the support of your peers and EVPA experts, and test it against successful theoretical frameworks and inspiring best practices from the EVPA community
- Engage in inspiring debates and conversations with experts on the most complex aspects of IMM design and implementation
- Join a trusted space to identify opportunities for improvement and development of your IMM approach
- Access a toolbox to take your IMM approach to the next level
- Learn with your peers online and in-person in Brussels, explore the local impact space, and enjoy network opportunities
How to Apply?
For more information, check the programme website or download the brochure.
Click here to send your application.
Please note that the number of participants in this programme is limited!
Application deadline is 27 March 2022.
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