MORE THAN 240 APPLICATIONS FOR THE F4SC INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPETITION

After the thorough and careful assessment and evaluation of F4SC experts, 30 social business ideas were selected to enter the Semifinals scheduled for November 2020, while those who reach the Finals scheduled for March 2021 in Budapest will have the chance of winning, not only valuable financial prizes for the development of their businesses but also, a chance to network with the investors and international experts.  Learn who are the winners of the first round. Read more here.. 

SYNERGY BETWEEN SIMILAR INITIATIVES, EDUCATION AND COOPERATION  ARE KEY FOR SUSTAINABLE THRIVING OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE DANUBE REGION

Continuous education and cooperation of policymakers and social innovators, entrepreneurs and intermediary organizations, a combination of online and offline education, as well as synergies between similar project and initiatives are key for sustainable support and thriving of social entrepreneurship in the Danube Region, it was concluded in the Policy Learning Dialogue meeting within Finance4SocialChange project on October 19th, 2020.

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UNICREDIT -THE MAIN PARTNER OF THE FINANCE4SOCIALCHANGE PROJECT

UniCredit is the Main Partner of the Finance4SocialChange project through its Social Impact Banking (SIB) program in line with the Bank’s strong commitment to building a fairer and more inclusive society by promoting initiatives that can have a positive social impact.

SIB is a key pillar of UniCredit’s wider sustainability strategy with a current goal of disbursing 1 billion euros of total social financing by 2023 through its various initiatives across 11 countries, including Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia.

 Read more here..

OVER 70 TUTORIALS CREATED WITHIN F4SC AIRMOOC- AN OPPORTUNITY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION TEACHING

Within F4SC Online Educational Platform AIRMOOC we have created over 70 videos dedicated to social entrepreneurs and organizations supporting the development of social impact investing in the Danube Region. Apart from serving as an online educational tool to social entrepreneurs participating in project activities, the program offers opportunities for higher education and will be used in a teaching course at the University of Mannheim, even after the lifespan of the project.

The videos are a blend of excellence and guidance with practical tips of the best experts in the field providing crucial and practical knowledge and know-how on how to develop the best business strategies with social impact, rack development of the business idea, attract investors, and do a follow up of the results of a business developing. So far, more than 470 participants have registered on the educational platform while F4SC Youtube channel has over 5300 views.

Improve your knowledge through our Finance4socialchange Air Mooc Blended Learning Program at https://air-mooc.teachable.com/

Subscribe to F4SC Youtube Channel for all the tutorials 

Strong support TO development of social entrepreneurship in Hungary

Development Nonprofit Kft., Utcáról Lakásba! Egyesület, and the Street to Apartment Association from Hungary have qualified for the semifinals of the F4SC Business Plan Competition, scheduled for the end of November.

 Apart from selected semifinalists, two other enterprises were given a special prize- Bánkió Festival which will be supported by Boston Consulting with mentoring and free counseling, hexalog - Webdesign I Interior I Image Design Construction and Service Social Cooperative, while Single Parent Center will be supported by IFKA mentoring and networking consulting.

ACT GROUP DELIVERS A SERIES OF WEBINARS FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

As part of the educational activities within the Interreg Danube Finance4SocialChange project ACT Group has delivered webinar series on topics relevant for enterprises that are making or intending to make a positive change in society and the environment.

Social entrepreneurs had an opportunity to learn the principles, design, and practice of impact-oriented strategic management, as well as ways of balancing impact and business models, both in daily operations and in the long-run. 

Several sessions were dedicated to practical tools to be used for understanding which values are best to create for the communities, how to best use available financial tools such as, impact investment funds, banks, and foundations and how to communicate the idea effectively. 

DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOP FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS IN SLOVENIA

Regional Development Agency Gorenjska – BSC Kranj from Slovenia implemented a regional workshop for social enterprises dedicated to Design thinking and Growth where social entrepreneurs could analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the companies and good competition practices.

The goal was to define user paths and learn to prioritize depending on the expected impact on the business itself and the difficulty of implementation. The last part of the workshop was dedicated to Market positioning and developing a content strategy where participants worked on content pillars and key elements that support their market positioning so that they could develop their own social networks content calendars.

 INVESTMENT READINESS WORKSHOP HELD IN GERMANY COOPERATION  WITH THE IMPACT HUB STUTTGART AND SOCENTBW!

On October 9th the Investment Readiness Workshop of Finance4SocialChange Project in cooperation with the Impact Hub Stuttgart & SocEntBW was held for social entrepreneurs & participants of the pitch competition.

 Six modules have been offered at the interface between social entrepreneurship and impact investing - including impact, strategy, finance, governance, scaling, and communication.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS FROM BULGARIA SELECTED TO ENTER THE SECOND STAGE OF F4SC COMPETITION

One of the first countries to select their first-round winners were from Bulgaria. 5 out of 25 companies were selected by a Jury consisting of social impact investors and experts in the field.

The areas of intervention of the companies were diverse – from the circular economy and environmentally friendly production to education through video games, social and labor inclusion of people with disabilities, enhancing the functional literacy of students through online games, community center.

The selected companies worked hard on developing their business plans, social impact KPIs with mentors getting ready for the competition in November where they will compete for the Finals with Serbian and Moldovan social entrepreneurs.

BOOSTING BUSINESS SKILLS OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS  IN SERBIA

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia held a series of offline and online training of social enterprises with the aim of deepening their knowledge and presentation skills for the Finance4SocialChange business plan competition where they will meet social entrepreneurs from Moldova and Bulgaria.

Financing and investing, organizing business in order to develop, grow and create success and expand in local and international markets while effectively communicating and implementing social impact goals were some of the skills Serbian social entrepreneurs were focusing on during training.

 BUILDING STRONG BASE FOR BETTER MANAGEMENT OF SOCIAL FINANCE- SOCIAL FINANCE WORKSHOP FOR ALL 30 SEMIFINALISTS 

All 30 semifinalists participated in the joint  "Social Finance Workshop" on Wednesday, 14th of October. The workshop was facilitated by three social finance experts, Alex de la Torre from Ashoka, Anshul Magotra, the Senior Advisor for Social Finance at Ashoka and Alexandra Nitzlader, mentor and Coach at IMPACT HUB Vienna and Technical Advisor at Project Finance4Social Change.

Social entrepreneurs were guided step-by-step through the process of developing social finance strategy and pitch, thus developing a strong base for further improvement of the teams and professionals when it comes to approaching to social finance.

The workshop covered topics such as types of social business models and life cycle of a business, types of financing options, Determining the appropriate funding options, use of financial models, strategies for success, approaching and pitching for social investors, and what is the perfect pitch.

HOW TO JOIN IMPACT INVESTING AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Perfect and interesting article inspired by collaboration in the Finance4SocialChange project and  AIRMOOC, written by Gorgi Krlev, Ph.D., researcher and project director at the Centre for Social Investment (CSI) of Heidelberg University. Read more here... 

FUTURE OF SOCIAL INNOVATION IN NEXT INTERREG PROGRAMMING PERIOD 2021-2027

Anna Meszaros from IFKA, as Lead Partner of Finance4SocialChange project participated at #SOCIALINTERREG Workshop, dedicated to Social Innovation Projects funded within Interreg Programmes where it was discussed on the future of social innovation funds and project in the next programming period 2021-2027, the concept of social innovation. The objective of the SocialInterreg Initiative was to draft a position paper on social innovation for the forthcoming period.

„We appreciate the fact, that they selected our project since Finance4SocialChange was the only project focusing on financing“, said Meszaros, adding that although there are still a lot of uncertainties, how the EU Commission will approach social innovation in the next programming period, this programming period funded good projects in the different priorities, to offer a base to the next calls.

FIND US AT EUROPEAN SOCIAL ECONOMY SUMMIT (EUSES)

The European Social Economy Summit ( EUSES) which was planned to be held in Mannheim ( Germany) in November was transformed into monthly online events and a hybrid event which is scheduled for May 2021 and Finance4SocialChange will be presented April 29th at the Event- Partnership for Maximizing Social Impact. 

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Supported under the INTERREG DANUBE Programme, Finance4SocialChange brings together a partnership of 14 Partners and 6 Associated Strategic Partners from 12 countries to deliver improved policy learning, and to develop practical solutions on impact investing. Starting with launching an Opening Conference, the Finance4SocialChange partnership will promote mutual learning between social enterprises, accelerators, impact investors, and relevant national and regional policymakers in the frame of interregional learning events.

CONTACT 

Finance4SocialChange Lead Partner:

IFKA Public Benefit Non-profit Ltd. for the Development of Industry

HU-1062 Budapest, Andrássy út 100.

Tel.: +36 1 312 2213

Email: info@ifka.hu

www.ifka.hu 

Contact: Anna Meszaros

Tel: +36 1 312 22 13

Mobil: +36 70 476 2652

E-mail: meszaros@ginop512.ifka.hu 

Learn more about our activities, get the current overview of social impact financial markets in the Danube Region, social impact investing and who are F4SC social entrepreneurs in the Danube Region, and keep up with milestones in the development of action plans and strategy for better financing of social entrepreneurship.

Project webpage 

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