Social enterprises’ Fair organised by the East Europe Foundation

On 2 October 2020, the East Europe Foundation (EEF) organized an online social enterprises’ fair. The event was organised as part of the project “Local civil society contributes to economic and social development of the country” funded by the European Union and co-funded by Sweden. Sorin Mereacre, the president of EEF, opened the event and mentioned that the courage of those non-profit organizations which started the development of the social enterprises is highly appreciated. It is not easy to make efforts in working with different vulnerable groups. He also emphasized the difficulty of non-profit organizations, which developed social enterprises to change the social thinking to business thinking. The role of social enterprises is to do business, and to reinvest the profit gained in solving the social problems experienced by the community.

Five out of ten social enterprises created in 2014 and funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation (SIDA), are active now. These enterprises are the following: EcoVox managed by Keystone International, ”Lavanderia”-social laundry which is managed by ADR Habitat Rezina, manual therapy Center “San Tao” managed by “Business Women Association” from Balti town, “Aburas catering” from Oxentea village, Dubasari district managed by Women’s club “Inspiratie” and “Floare de Cireş” from Razeni village, Ialoveni district with greenhouse project managed by Eco-Razeni. Further, 15 social enterprises demonstrated their range of activity. These enterprises have been created during 2018-2020 within the project “Local civil society contributes to economic and social development of the country” funded by the European Union and co-funded by Sweden. As well, five centres for long life learning education created within this project, have adopted social entrepreneurship business models. They presented briefly their challenges and results. The event was concluded with a hand-on presentation from Rozmarin café: cooking master class “sous vide filet mignon, potatoes pure and melon cocktail”.