Our expert Alexander Kesselring from Ashoka presented the Finance4SocialChange project, good practices on how social enterprises can be financed at the Webinar on Social Enterprises- a Policy Learning Platform organized by Interreg Europe.

Some key success factors were defined through discussion and inspiring examples from different regional and local ecosystems with various degrees of social entrepreneurship culture and available funding.

Simple application processes are important for early-stage support measures in order to encourage people to turn their innovative social objectives into viable social enterprises. Seed funding is equally relevant for kick staring innovative ideas while small amounts of money can really help somebody to take their idea off the ground and give them a much stronger start. Tailored support to services of the local communities is a key to success while Bespoke approaches show the best results in rural or disconnected communities.

Social enterprises need access to a wide set of financial instruments, both public and private. In order to support the social economy, it is important that public bodies introduce new procurement procedures that address social businesses and social impact. By providing consultancy knowledge of suitable commercialization channels, potential distributors, etc, a social enterprise can be internationalized just like any other enterprise.

Social enterprises rely on access to social systems and markets. Public bodies and public authorities should try to make social institutions more open and responsive to innovation. This is important for setting up long-term partnerships between the sectors.

 Social enterprises are active participants in the entrepreneurial landscape while social and environmental ideas are more and more embedded into all businesses.

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