Social Entrepreneurship Finance Tools and Support in Europe (English)

THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE

EUROPEAN

UNION

Social Entrepreneurship

FINANCE

TOOLS AND SUPPORT IN EUROPE

Index Page. 04 Introduction Page. 07 But, what is a social enterprise for the EU? Page. 09 And how does the EU help social enterprises?

Page. 13 Soria Spring Meeting. Basic ideas Page. 15 Soria Spring Meeting. Participants.

Page. 24 SEIP Program: El Hueco’s business incubator.

Page. 35 Statement of Soria about Social Entrepreneurship.

01

Introduction

Social Entrepreneurship

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That is a perfect example of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises: they solve problems (in this case, the one concerning the purveyance of a disadvantaged segment of the population).

In this small volume, you will find the basic data of 16 social enterprises built up during the development of this project funded by the EU. These initiatives and projects were developed in El Hueco, a centre for entrepreneurship established in Soria 3 years ago, and is based in the Spanish social sector. In the majority of cases, they are closely linked with their place of origin (an important characteristic for some social enterprises).

Picture a territory in southern Europe with a population density of less than 9 inhabitants per square kilometer. Picture dozens of almost uninhabited small villages, where barely 2 or 3 elderly people live. You might deduce how hard it must be for them to do something as simple as grocery shopping. Now, picture that there is a company which is dedicated to exactly that: doing the shopping for these people. And it also does it for ‘free’, that is, the customers do not have to pay for transportation, only for the product they are purchasing.

Among the built up enterprises we can find several types, including: one that makes relationships easier between the customers and the companies, others that restore the towns’ heritage and others that are aimed at creating riches in rural areas thanks to tourism. We also find an energy cooperative, an enterprise which employs people in risk of exclusion from the labour market by selling organic products, or an enterprise which wants to provide home automation services at affordable prices.

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To sum up, these are good examples of what is being done (and, in most cases, already working) in terms of social entrepreneurship in southern Europe. Ideas, endeavours and initiatives that can be easily replicable in other places.

In the words of Mercedes Valcárcel (someone who has helped the Commission to prepare the set of measures mentioned above), “a good communication of what we do” is precisely one of the points that were insisted upon at the Spring Meeting. In order to ´communicate´, this project held two events called ‘la caña social’, where social entrepreneurs could broaden their networks.

Over the last few years, the definition of social entrepreneurship and the search for ways of promoting and funding it has been openly discussed in the EU. Now, not only the horizon has been made clear but the EU and the responsible Commission have transmitted a simple message of support and encouragement for social entrepreneurs, as it was said during the Spring Meeting held last May in Soria.

Lastly, this book includes some of the most noted interventions at the Spring Meeting and finishes with the Statement of Soria about Social Entrepreneurship, the first of its kind to be made, at least, in Spain. Ten points that we believe are an accurate outline on social entrepreneurship.

In these pages, we duplicate the financial and legal instruments that the EU has currently available for social entrepreneurship, for your own interest and to make it easier to disseminate them in Spain.

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02

But, what are social enterprises for the EU?

Social Entrepreneurship

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The main objective of social enterprises is to produce a significant impact on society, the environment and the local community. Having responded to still unmet needs by the social innovation, social enterprises are part of a smart growth.

For example, many social enterprises work harder to encourage its workers to develop professionally and to refresh their knowledge. As they have in mind their environmental impact and by their long-term vision, they produce a sustainable growth. Social enterprises often develop, for instance, efficient solutions to reduce emissions and waste or to optimize natural resources.

It is an enterprise which as its main objective is to have a social impact rather than generate income for the owners and stakeholders: Uses its surplus principally to manage these social objectives.

Moreover, as social enterprises put a special emphasis on people and social cohesion, they are the core of an inclusive growth: they create sustainable jobs for women, young and elderly people. In other words, their main raison d’être is organizing the social and economic transformations that contribute to the objectives of the Europe Strategy 2020.

Is handled by social businessmen in a responsible, transparent and innovative way, especially with the participation of workers, clients and everyone else affected by its activity.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publications/docs/ s-bi-brochure/sbi-brochure-web_es.pdf

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03

And how does the EU help social enterprises?

Social Entrepreneurship

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1. A BETTER ACCESS FOR SOCIAL ENTERPRISES TO FINANCING: Public funds have been mobilised to help social enterprises.

The Employment and Social Innovation Programme has been made available to social enterprises to support the development of the social investment market with an allocation of €85 million and to facilitate their access to financing through quasi-loan instruments from 2014 to 2020.

For the same period, the Structural Funds have been reformed in order to allow the states to allocate structural funds to finance social enterprises.

Some social stock markets are also being developed looking to the creation of a European platform which allows the negotiation of social enterprises’ shares in a stock exchange regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). At the same time, work is currently underway on the development of new financing methods. In October 2013, a “Code of Conduct for Microcredit Provision” was published in order to allow the sector to face the challenge the access of a long-term financing poses. Besides, the importance of a collective financing grows.

Work is also being carried out to gather more information about the raising of funds on the Internet in the whole of Europe and the determination of the value added that the EU intervention could contribute.

However, the sector also needs private investments, for this reason, Europe has established the designation of European Social Entrepreneurship Funds in order to facilitate access for social enterprises to financing and in order to promote the investor’s possibilities to invest in social enterprises. This EU’s designation is available from July 2013. In order to keep improving the access to private capital, the regulations about venture capital’s funds, a new designation “European Venture Capital Fund” has been created and it will authorise the commercialisation and development of these types of funds in the whole EU by using a single legislation.

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2. A GREATER VISIBILITY OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES: For the purpose of increasing social enterprises’ visibility, the online platform “Social Innovation Europe” has been created.

This platform also helps social entrepreneurs to communicate and share information about the latest news in this field.

Another instrument of empowerment is the financing channelled through programmes as La Juventud en Acción (a programme focused on young people), Erasmus and others in the education field to educate and train social entrepreneurs in Europe. The SMEs Forum, created in 2010, pursues the same goal. It is about a platform which promotes dialogue and understanding among SMEs, social enterprises and financial institutions in order to debate the problems that they are facing and to find ways to collaborate in the future.

At the same time, it is important to help national authorities understand how the sector works, so that they can help the local and national ecosystem of social entrepreneurship. From 2014 to 2020, assistance will be provided to create and improve the support schemes to social enterprises. The recently published “Guide to Social Innovation” will also contribute to this objective. Moreover, the creation of a mapping exercise is in progress in order to obtain a clearer image of the sector and to seek enough and reliable data about social enterprises, so as to define the possible actions of the EU to encourage social entrepreneurship. While waiting for the results of this exercise, a database in which the designations and certifications of social entrepreneurship will be compared is going to be created in order to show the clear image of the real impact of enterprises with social entrepreneurship’s initiatives.

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3. IMPROVEMENT OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK: In order to improve the legal framework, the first aspect which needs to be analysed is the way in which authorities can take into account the specificities of the social enterprises. The reform package of public procurement, adopted at the beginning of 2014, encourages and allows public authorities to study the entirety of the products life cycle in their purchasing decisions, having in mind the social criteria linked to the production process. By the same token, the service of general economic interest package, introduced in 2011, offers greater levels of proportionality and flexibility to public authorities when it is time to grant state aids to social enterprises, by raising the minimum limit exempt of notification to the EU for public service’s compensations up to ₏500,000 per company for a period of 3 years.

Another important aspect is the offer of legal forms that can respond to the specific needs of social enterprises. In that respect, the Commission has adopted a proposal about the European foundation to facilitate the cross-border activities of public utility foundations. This project is currently being negotiated among the Member States. Another legal form is the European Cooperative Society, which is already available.

The Commission has carried out a public consultation in order to simplify the current statute and make it more accessible and facilitate its use. A third legal form, often used by social enterprises, are the mutual insurance companies.

The Commission is analysing legislative and non-legislative options so as to try to improve the current situation of mutual insurance companies in Europe.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publications/docs/ s-bi-brochure/sbi-brochure-web_es.pdf

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04

Soria Spring Meeting.

Basic ideas

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The professionalization of social enterprises: Norbert Kunz, founder of Social Impact Ltd. in Germany, brought to light the necessity of creating supporting and mentoring networks to monitor the whole process of the start-up, as well as contacts and training networks. This would generate confidence in the investors and it would attract talent. Catalina Parra, cofounder of the UEIA, explained the importance for social entrepreneurs to have sensible solutions and to have tested their ideas before.

New investment funds promoted by the European Commission: Ariane Rodert, Vice President of the III European Economic and Social Group, and Risto Raivio, team leader of Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship of the EC, highlighted the importance of the recently created label European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EUSEF).

New tendencies and financial instruments: Mercedes ValcĂĄrcel, member of European Commission Group of Experts on Social Entrepreneurship, announced communications with the CNMV for the regulation of social invest funds. Cristina Dumitrescu, Microfinance Manager at the European Invest Fund (EIF), explained the way these types of funds are operated are through intermediaries who are in charge of managing and making sure that social entrepreneurs receive the funds.

The importance of interacting with stakeholders: Fernando Rubio, manager of El Hueco, affirmed that they could not have been what they are today without the help of civil society, and public and financial institutions. Rachida Justo, Professor at the Enterprise Institute, urged to find out more and to take advantage of the stakeholders’ potential, considering that social enterprises are focused on them.

The necessity of awareness and setting a media campaign: Maravillas Rojo, Chief Executive of the Social Entrepreneurship Programme and member of a cooperative in the Barcelona city council, advised the social entrepreneurship sector to take advantage of the huge existing interest to motivate it.

The profiles of the investors of impact: For Lisa Hehenberger, from the European Venture Philanthropy Association, the concept of philanthropy has changed and who was only happy by donating before, nowadays demands social, and sometimes economic, benefits; in any case, that person is always an investor. This investor, as they are not obsessed with the financial gains, can take more risk therefore, his social impact on innovative projects is higher.

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Soria Spring Meeting.

Participants

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Below, you can find a selection of sentences

A series of sentences that we believe sum up

that were said by some of the attendees and

properly not only what was said in Soria, but

speakers that participated in the meeting, and

the current state of the matter.

that we will obviously identify with the name of the author.

“Social entrepreneurship is experiencing a growth in Europe, and right now it represents 10% of the operating enterprises and the employment rate of over 14 million people. It also represents almost 20% of the total employment rate of the 27 countries of the EU. The present situation in Europe is extremely unequal. We can find countries where the social economy is consolidated, such as France, United Kingdom, Denmark or the Nordic countries or others in which the recession has created social entrepreneurship in a very important way, as it is in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland or Greece. In these countries’ society we can find the most lively and diverse collection of social innovation projects, that have emerged because of the growing problems of unemployment, academic failure, the integration of immigrants and the major challenges that need to be solved in the medium term concerning the aging population and its impact on social security, housing, transportation in large cities, access to energy sources, etc. They have made possible the creation of quality, solid employment. To sum it up, it could be possible that social entrepreneurs, social enterprises and social economy have overtaken politicians, governments and Nations.”

“In El Hueco we want to promulgate what we could call the Statement of Soria about Social Entrepreneurship, the first of its kind to be made, at least, in Spain. In fact, this meeting is part of an innovating pilot project sponsored by the European Commission to promote social entrepreneurship in Spain. And we want Soria to be the centre of these movements, the capital city, its reference in Spain— as this meeting brings to light—, and in the rest of Europe. We are going to reinvent our future through social economy. And, after a few years, we hope full of success, we will remember that everything started here, in this place called El Hueco, and that all of you had a leading part.”

Teresa Vicente.

President of the NGO Cives Mundi. Promoter of El Hueco.

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“Social economy has been a strategic matter for the Regional Government of Castilla y León, which we have been taking great care of. A sector that currently means more than 4,000 companies, more than 30,000 direct jobs for the region, and that through its different formulas (co-operatives, workerowned companies, Special Employment Centres) I believe is playing a very important role, a role that, I would also like to point out, has been especially significant during this recession period, this hard period that we had been through over the last years, and that has affected a lot of people and led to unemployment in a lot of sectors. I want to say that the social economy sector has not only been one that has resisted the worst aspects of the recession, but a sector that has stood out, maintained and, in some cases, increased employment.”

“Public, active policies which promote social entrepreneurship are needed. Current issues cannot only be solved by the market. We precisely need a political compromise so social entrepreneurship can move forward and consolidate in the future.”

“A new culture of responsibility is needed, and this needs to come first from the leaders, from the people that we are governed by, so that this culture of responsibility can be extended to the citizenship.”

Mercedes Molina.

Geography Professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Speaker at the Statement of Soria about Social Enterpreneurship meeting.

Begoña Hernández.

Deputy Minister of Economic Policy, Enterprise and Employment of the Junta de Castilla y León.

“The role of public administration is changing at vertiginous speed at every level: supranational, European, domestic, regional and local. Citizen initiative needs to be supported not only economically but by a broad range of resources, including institutional backing, such as regulatory framework, which are really important to be able to identify, choose and legislate.”

Rocío Nogales.

Member of EMES International Research Network.

Moderator at the “Regulatory Framework and Initiatives about Social Entrepreneurship” talk.

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“We need to invest in education, as well as in systems that foment equal opportunities and abilities. We need to clearly define a fiscal policy that is sustainable, progressive and equitable, and allows funding to all of these social necessities.

In my opinion, social benefits such as education need to be maintained. That is, we should consider that there are things that are sacred, —and I use the term advisedly, and no matter the situation we are in, they should not be changed because they will weigh down the development in the mid-term.”

“We were able to handle an unprecedented crisis; the social landscape has made a completely new turn with even more social risks. Moreover, we are facing other global challenges and defiance: demographic development, migration, climatic change and many more. And we have to solve them together, which means that we have to mobilize the resources and sectors all around the world. I personally think that is a reason why the EU can play an important role for our common interest and the solutions to these challenges.”

“It would be important for all of us who work in social entrepreneurship to practice proselytism. The language that we use is really important, what we communicate is really important and it is also really important to be involved in this type of initiatives, to be aware of this reality, to spread that social enterprises not only have a market value but they also produce a series of added values that benefit directly the society they are in. That is what society needs to know.”

“The benefits generated by social enterprises and the surplus are helpful, but what you do with the benefits and the reinvestment to manage that social goal is crucial. Every business, every organization needs to have a social responsibility but not all of them are social entrepreneurs. That is the difference. The social goal for a social entrepreneur is the core of his mission, while, for another normal company, it could be more important to share the benefits. The difference is the key: the reinvestment of benefits as a way of getting more involved, not as an objective in itself.”

Mercedes Valcárcel.

Member of the European Commission Group of Experts on Social Entrepreneurship.

Ariane Rodert.

Vice President of the Group III European Economic and Social.

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“We are going to launch a new programme to support microentrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. The main products that will be offered will be in hard cash and preferential loans, available in the market probably in the beginning of 2016, and a guarantee of the product that we hope will be ready for implementation in a couple of weeks. What is new in this programme? Concerning microfinance, we have two special main novelties —just to give it some kind of name. The first one is a code of good practice. The second main requirement will be, in this financial market context, to provide the entrepreneur, directly or indirectly, with the practice, guide, training and tutorial.”

“The European Commission wrote up in 2011 a comprehensive action plan to support social entrepreneurship and it is composed of three steps for three different actions: the first one was the access to finance, the second one the visibility and the recognition of the sector, and the third one the regulatory environment. Today the message that I have from the commissioner Thyssen, who is in charge of employment and social affairs, is that she will provide strong support for us, those who work in the social entrepreneur sector. She emphasizes that now is the moment to put into practice the instruments that we have to boost social entrepreneurship.”

“Now let’s move onto the social innovation programme: it is a programme that has been established for seven years, from 2014 up to 2020. It has a budget of approximately €1 billion for that period of seven years and it has three main elements: one of the elements is focused on social entrepreneurship and microfinance. It has a budget of approximately €200 million, and it’s divided between microfinance and social entrepreneurship, about €86 million for the last one mentioned. Now, there are two objectives: the first one is to concrete a better access to finance for social entrepreneurship and, this way, we will use the budget for providing a better access to finance. However, we also have a second more indirect objective that is probably even more important: to improve the financial markets of social enterprises, the social financial markets. In this way, it will have an impact of longer duration.”

Cristina Dumitrescu Microfinance Investment Manager at the European Investment Fund, Financial Services in Romania.

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Risto Raivio.

Senior expert, European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

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“We are a microfinance organization in Germany, but we have realised that microfinance is not a solution because our social entrepreneurs need between €50,000 and €150,000 to start, so we need to think of new solutions.

It is also impossible to get access to venture capital or traditional business areas in Germany. We have started to think about potential solutions to develop four tools; we have progressed a lot in two of them: one of them is a crowdfunding platform, developed for new social enterprises in Germany in particular. Now, we are working in depth in an investment tool: a specific instrument for social businesses. We are still very far from the social innovation funds, but that will also arrive soon.”

I realised that it is almost impossible to get a loan from a bank because social entrepreneur projects are innovative.

There is a benefits-based approach, so it is almost impossible that a bank gives you a loan. In Germany, there is no access to public finance programmes either because these are programmes that only work for businesses oriented for the generation of benefit, not for business oriented to social actions, which is quite strange.

“In 2013 we started being part of a crowdfunding platform, designed for new social enterprises. In our first experience, 200 of our new enterprises had the objective of getting around €200,000. The crowdfunding platform got €400,000, which is double what we had expected.”

Norbert Kunt CEO of the Social Impact Ltd. Ashoka partner.

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“The key points of social entrepreneurship social are: professionalization, innovation, impact measuring, communication and spreading.”

“Portugal has been the only European Union country that has used the Structural Funds 2014-2020 for social innovation through a financial instrument. It has mobilized €150 million, divided into 4 programs, to stimulate that ecosystem.”

“What do people perceive through crowdfunding? They think that it is a very effective way of creating a better world by joining efforts among many people. Crowdfunding gives ordinary people the possibility to change the world. As for crowdfunding attractiveness, there is not only the finance, that is also a very important tool, but also the visibility that crowdfunding gives to the project. Indeed, many people make that type of campaigns more for the visibility rather than for the money that you can get from them.

“What we need is more capital for the social sector to level it with the traditional sector because the starting points are really different. If we aim to have equal starting points, then, I think that social entrepreneurs are going to be as good as any other entrepreneur, or even better.”

Antonio Miguel.

Director of the Laboratório de Investimento Social in Portugal.

Crowdfunding is also a test for enterprises; if the campaign is successful it means that the enterprise has a future, so it is used as a marketing tool. It is a quite transparent tool.

Everything is online, all the information must be supplied: which are the conditions, which are the risks, and they need to be very clear about the risks. It is obvious that it is associated with innovation. What people perceive is that they are helping to create something valuable.”

José Moncada.

Founder and CEO of Bolsa Social.

REDIS chairman.

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“It is easier to access the financial services for projects, but it is not as easier to access to financial services for structural expenses of social enterprises. And this is a struggle.

Why can´t we say that we are investing in the management of a social enterprise? Is that bad? We think that this is not true because if the management of a company is not well handled, the company cannot make the impact they want. If they only fund the projects, then that company is not feasible as an enterprise or organization.”

“Financing depends on the necessities of the funded organization then, thus if it is a starting business it is really difficult for this organization to have any debts or to get a loan because the business plan does not allow it. Maybe in 3 or 4 years, according to the business plan, the organization can start to get revenue, but not during the first year. It goes the same for a normal enterprise. But, then why do social enterprises get asked to start achieving results so early on? It is impossible to obtain them. At first, they normally need ‘free’ money, which means they do not have to give it back, that is, subsidies. Then, further on, the idea is to help them not to be so dependent on external financing.”

“What we want is to make stronger, more solid and more stable social enterprises so that they can also be selfsupporting, that means, without needing external financing. In fact, the final objective is for them to have more social impact, and how are we going to do that? Following the model in which, first of all, the investor, the financier, gets really involved in the organization which he funds. That means, for example, being part of the Board, attend weekly or monthly meetings in the funded organization… And why? It is not to control but to help, to help see what the enterprise needs on a financial level, on a management support level, etc.”

Lisa Hehenberger Research and Policy Director at EVPA - European Venture Philanthropy Association.

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“For me, social entrepreneurship is a phenomenon that includes three aspects: the first, the entrepreneur as an individual; the second, the enterprise as an organization; and the third aspect would be social innovation, where the elements and process of civic participation would be comprised, as resolving challenges in a global level, etc.”

“The social and economic worlds are two (worlds) that need to merge to a point where we no longer need to add the adjective, that we do not have to call ourselves social entrepreneurs. I was telling my colleague that I would like to disappear, to not be needed. I think that the dream of social entrepreneurs is to not have to use the adjective “social” because everyone would be social entrepreneurs.”

Braulio Pareja.

President of the Spanish Association of Social Entrepreneurs.

“We are going to measure social impact to justify the yield of a financial investment, to justify a government subsidy, to justify it to the Board of Trustees or to the Board of Directors… great, go ahead, that is a necessary and interesting procedure. But I do not want to stop there, I mean, when we talk about measuring and impact we are not talking only about measuring quantitative changes but about real changes. We are going to cause social and environmental changes that force this to end up being a comprehensive and inclusive ecosystem.”

Raúl Contreras.

Nittúa Co-founder - Impact measurement.

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SEIP Program:

El Hueco’s business incubator

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SEIP program’s operational targets for social entrepreneurs that will be incorporated to the program are:

The Spanish Social Entrepreneurship Immersion Program (hereinafter SEIP) is an incubator program for social entrepreneurs carried out by El Hueco. It is addressed to anyone who has a newly established idea or company aimed to solve a social and/ or environmental problem. It will be made in a sustainable way and for people who wish to develop their venture in Spain or Latin America. The SEIP program will help entrepreneurs to immerse themselves in an ecosystem that encourages social entrepreneurship in Spanish-speaking countries for three months.

The objective of this initiative is to increase the number of potential social entrepreneurs thanks to the diffusion of this possibility and to promote the creation of social and sustainable enterprises. They will contribute to meet social needs through the facilitation of a friendly area, the coverage of training, technical and management needs, the support on the search of financing and the access to contacts of value.

A)

An execution of a Social Business Plan based on real, applicable and achievable initiatives in the short term.

B)

A consolidation of multinational and multidisciplinary teams inside an entrepreneurial community.

C)

A creation of a point of attraction for financing in terms of social entrepreneurship.

D) A general appreciation of the rural environment as an ideal testing ground for pilot plans of social and green projects based on real economy and social responsibility.

E)

An establishment of links and the transmission of knowledge between Europe and Latin America in terms of social entrepreneurship.

F)

An effective linguistic immersion in Castilian, seeing as the whole program is taught in Spanish (with the possibility of solving doubts in other languages).

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La Exclusiva. Social logistics.

In the following lines, we will present the 17 social ventures incubated in the SEIP Program.

The store of the ‘shopless’ villages.

Organic farming, home automation, social logistics, restoration of the cultural heritage, customer service, travelling, fair trade… a broad range of initiatives with a common objective: to obtain a major social impact in its field of activities and the resolution of a social issue that will change and, in general, improve people’s lives and society.

Members: Vicky Tortosa Vicente. Alba Tortosa Vicente. Víctor Hugo Núñez Francés.

Web page: www.laexclusica.org Email: info@laexclusiva.org

La Exclusiva is one of the most successful social entrepreneurships that this project has incubated. Its slogan is “The store of the ‘shopless’ villages”. It does the shopping for the people who live in the villages in Soria (Spain), who do not have the means to cover their basic necessities. La Exclusiva even provides its services to the smallest villages through routes that cover the whole province. Customers can hire the services from the company by phone, email or the Internet.

And they can order all kinds of things: from groceries to a fridge. They only pay for the product because it is the supermarket which La Exclusiva has a partnership agreement with, which bears the transportation costs. La Exclusiva was established in January 2014. It makes 5 routes and it has a client portfolio of more than 200 people.

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Huertos de Soria Social economy

El Hueco Labs Technology-based social venture

Members: Ver贸nica Rubio. Alejandro Calvo.

Members: Daniel Hern谩ndez. Gonzalo Gil.

Web page: www.huertosdesoria.org

Web page: www.elhuecolabs.com

Email: comercial@huertosdesoria.org

Email: info@elhuecolabs.com

Phone number: (+34) 975223169

Phone number: (+34) 975 229950

Huertos de Soria is a social venture which aims to create new jobs for people in risk of exclusion from the labour market by producing and selling organic greens and vegetables.

Huertos de Soria sells its products to 200 families. They give them a monthly basket filled with seasonal products from their vegetable garden situated in Fuentepinilla, a village which belongs to the province of Soria. Up until now, it has created jobs for around 14 people although it varies with the seasons. Huertos de Soria has also opened a store in Soria.

El Hueco Labs LLC is a social venture which aims to provoke a positive social impact and give a boost to entrepreneurs in general and social entrepreneurs in particular beyond the generation of benefits for their shareholders. El Hueco Labs seeks its own economic sustainability and reinvests its revenue in projects with a social impact, in technologic based social research and innovation and in the development of in-house products obtained from this research. El Hueco Labs provides business incubation services, as well as programming services, web design, graphic design and marketing.

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Anillo celtibérico Active tourism for rural development

Megara Energía Energy cooperative

Members: Enrique López. Carlos Molina Martín. Luis Latorre Puebla.

Web page: www.megaraenergia.com

Web page: www.anilloceltiberico.com

Email: info@megaraenergia.com

Email: info@anilloceltiberico.com

Megara Energía is an electrical energy cooperative of renewable origin. One of its objectives is to diminish the risk of energy poverty. This energy cooperative follows the lead of other similar companies already operating in Spain, and it will be the first to be established in the province of Soria. Megara Energía was founded in September 2015. The company describes itself from various points of view: first, it is a local project, because it firmly believes that energy is an endogenous resource which rent must play a direct role in the territory where it is generated. It also has a social aspect: it supports the population that cannot cope with its own supply, fighting energy poverty. Moreover, it is sustainable, since it possesses 100% renewable energy sources as a commitment to the future. And finally, it is innovative because it creates challenges concerning self-sufficiency, smart grids and energy efficiency.

Phone number: (+34) 608 154332

Anillo Celtibérico is a company dedicated to active tourism (MTB, running, ski mountaineering, etc.). Anillo takes advantage of already created networks of long-distance and short distance trails and the accommodation networks of the villages they go through. The route they cover is 291 kilometers long and it has a 4,790 meters vertical drop. It can be done in the number of stages that the customer wants, from 2 to 6. The company generates activity in the province’s rural environment, which leads to the creation of wealth.

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Sendaes “Collaborative hiking”

Aitronics Home automation available to all

Members: Javier Sanjuán. Aitor Manuel Forniés.Héctor Domingo Elvira.

Web page: www.aitronics.es Email: jsanjuan@aitronics.es

Members: Jesús Cacho y Estefanía San Quirico.

afornies@aitronics.es

Web page: www.sendaes.com

hdomingo@aitronics.es

Email: estefaniaqg@gmail.com

Aitronics is aimed at the development of an ‘Internet of the things’ platform to fully remotely control household items (lights, doors, TV, etc.). It is mainly destined for people with reduced mobility and sensory difficulties. Their dispositive also detects emergency situations and sends a message to the care providers. The differences between this and other home automation systems are its affordable prices and its ease of use. Aitronics won the First Prize in the El Hueco Starter 2014 contest.

Sendaes is a “social collaborative hiking network” that promotes rural tourism through walking routes.

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Föra.

Forest technologies

El portal del artesano.

Online artisan market

Members: Francisco Rodríguez. Íñigo Lizarralde.

Members: Sergio de Miguel Pascual.

Web page: www.fora.es

Web page: www.elportaldelartesano.es

Email: paco.rodriguez@fora.es

Email: portalartesano@hotmail.com

Inigo.lizarralde@fora.es

Phone number: (+34) 675 751215

Phone number: (+34) 645 830476 / 669 458320

El Portal del Artesano is a tool designed to help the artisanal world to sell its products on the Internet. It is a website in which artisans can display and sell their products without the need of having their own portal. The company wants to promote this type of products by giving maximum visibility to the artisans and their work. In El Portal del Artesano you can find: ironwork, pottery, leather, stone, wood, paintings, glass, paper and jewellery crafts.

Föra is a forestry innovation consultancy established with a social entrepreneurship nature (on the basis of its legal structure as a LLC). The company focuses on research and development in the forestry and environmental sector, it aims to evaluate: forestry resources, the connection between forests and climate change, specialized training and the use of new technologies and ecodesign. On its web page, they emphasize that their most noted service is the registration on The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality under the section “carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emission reduction commitment”.

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Hola Ghana.

Atención al Consumidor España.

We stand up for your rights as a consumer and a user

Members: Carlos Javier Marqués Temprano. María Mercedes Abad Cabrejas.

Web page: www.atencionalconsumidor.com Email: comunicacion@atenciónalconsumidor.com

Members: Óscar Pérez Marcos (Founder and Director). Íñigo Reyna (Vice President).

Phone number: (+34) 902 101 785

Juan Manuel Pérez (General Secretary) and another 15 people.

Web page: www.holaghana.org

Atención al Consumidor España provides information and assistance for private individuals, SMEs and self-employed workers about consumption and social rights. Atención al Consumidor supports out-of-court solutions that each legal system offers (mediation, legal arbitration and administrative support) so that the citizens know and assert their rights at a reasonable and acceptable cost.

Email. hola@holaghana.org

Hola Ghana NGDO is a social entrepreneurship specialized in the design of disruptive experiences that generate changes in people as a way of achieving social transformations. They create areas for personal development, promoting critical awareness as well as the identification of their joint responsibility with the problems of other communities, with the objective of developing human potential for service and social transformation. Hola Ghana gives opportunities for international volunteering, funding of cooperation projects and offers conferences and workshops revolving around social entrepreneurship and life purpose.

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Bizzi.

Now your bike also has a license plate

Flor de Lis Restoring the heritage

Members: Sara Pizzolato.

Web page: www.bi-zzi.com Email: hola@bi-zzi.com o bizzi.cleta@gmail.com

members: Cristina Aza.

Phone number: (+34) 685 671 661

Email: cris_aza@hotmail.com Phone number: (+34) 625 149852

Bizzi is a social enterprise dedicated to the design, fabrication and commercialization of decorative and original license plates with various messages, sold at a price of €7. 75% of the benefits are destined to the purchase and donation of bicycles to students in rural schools.

Flor de Lis is a company that restores ancient cultural heritage, from furniture to altarpieces. It also offers restoration workshops for anyone to do it on their own. One of their objectives is to take into value the great legacy of the past in a province such as Soria. The company won the “Prize of the Best Rural Entrepreneurship” in the El Hueco Starter 2014 contest.

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Como Cabras

Consultoría Edificios Passivhaus- EECN

Members: Diego Serrano Gómez. Julio Lacalle. Teófilo Serrano.

Email: diego.serranogomez@gmail.com Phone number: (+34) 699 936340

Como Cabras is conceived as a global business venture through three strategic pillars.

Members: Jesús Menéndez Amigo.

Web page: www.jmenendez.net

1.- Sustainable agriculture: ecological exploitation of goats for the sale of canal and milk and the manufacture of derived products.

2.- Culture and traditions: manufacture of in situ popular meals and cultural events.

3.- Rural tourism: Enhancement of the province through events organization in a natural environment. Touristic recovery and exploitation of the pastoral lifestyle and transhumance.

Email: passivhaus@jmenendez.net Phone number: (+34) 615 283949

Consultoría de Edificios Passivhaus-ECCN is a consultancy specialized in high energy efficiency. It specializes in the combination WOOD + PASSIVHAUS, which entails the achievement of a high-quality building, with a minuscule energy consumption and a fewer necessity of foundations, reduced building times and enviable green credentials. And potentially with fewer costs. Passivhaus is an international standard on home building based on its energy efficiency.

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Fairchanges The marketplace in favour of human rights

Wild and Rural

Members: Cristina Palacios, founder and CEO. Félix Martínez, developer

Members: Roberto Lozano.

and SEO auditor.

Web page: www.wildandrural.com

Web page: www.fairchanges.com

Email: web page subscription.

Email: available on the web page.

FairChanges is the online market of sustainable projects. The Internet portal that gathers sustainable consumption proposals, without intermediaries and produced without slavery nor child labour. In order for the consumers to be able to access them easily, it allows to make a search by keywords such as ‘proximity’, ‘categories’ or even ‘10 sustainable stamps’.

FairChanges aims to provide easy access to sustainable consumption by gathering responsible creators and producers in an international multi-awarded platform. They receive money from the consumers and part of it is destined to Colecciones FAIRCHANGES, with people in risk of social exclusion.

Wild and Rural is a platform for trips around Spain, which wants to have an impact on rural development by making the most of the huge variety of biodiversity in a country such as Spain, in which bears, lynxes, wolfs, eagles, etc. as well as plants and insects, are exclusive to Europe. The touristic routes link the excitement from the trip with the respect for the traditions and the environment, as well as the first-hand knowledge of the Spanish rural areas.

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Statement of Soria about

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Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship

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1

5

Social entrepreneurs play an active role on inclusive growth, economic change and social transformations on account of their dimension, objectives and benefits that aim to positively impact on people’s quality of life. Social entrepreneurship is a value in itself.

Social entrepreneurship needs to go hand in hand with collaborative and transparent work that promotes experience and talent without losing its reproducibility and its ability to work in multiple scales: from a local level to an international level of the activity.

6

2

Institutions have a key role as the ones responsible for setting up stable regulatory frameworks. Entrepreneurship law must integrate social entrepreneurs and include incentives for investment, especially among young people.

Local, regional, state and supranational institutions have the obligation to develop public policies that benefit this new way of producing goods and services. Connection, coordination and responsibility among other characteristics are required.

We have the obligation to accurately define what is understood by social entrepreneurship and especially, for social benefit. It is necessary to revise the welfare and wealth indicators— currently merged with traditional economic behaviours, as the best way of making new values, necessities and behaviours visible.

3 Additionally, for the results to be effective and efficient, it is necessary to connect social entrepreneurship with the area of work, both for identifying potentialities and problems and for its importance in the stimulation of own processes of local development. Social entrepreneurship and local development must advance together.

7 Collaborative efforts from politic institutions are essential to avoid disagreements between dynamic approaches on a supranational level (as it is the case with the EU) and domestic policies, which sometimes ignore or reject this process. The role of the European Commission is decisive when forging links between the different scales of public institutions.

4 Social entrepreneurship has to be associated with a professional, innovative consultant with a business project that has entered the market. However, it is not a usual entrepreneur. The obtained benefits have to be reinvested mainly in initiatives which have an impact on society. Its objective must be to keep creating jobs, social welfare and sustainable entrepreneurship.

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8 Together with politic institutions, the financial sector occupies a prominent place. Social entrepreneurs require credit to flow and that they have few obstacles, all of which leads to a restructuration of the sector. Social benefit can be a new form of earning profits: with synergies towards other fields, without renouncing to traditional economic benefit. In this regard, new forms of financial organisation impact investing funds, social funds, participative financing, microfinance and the connection between entrepreneurs and local financial institutions are indispensable. The ongoing creation of a new financial culture together with new technologies will help to motivate a change.

9 Society plays an essential role in this new form of entrepreneurship. If it recognizes its value, accepts it, uses its services and gives it credibility, it will contribute to its popularity and inclusion in economy and its territory. Cultural change brought about by education, training and research is essential. Law changes are important but changes in the current mindset of people are more important.

We would like to make a request to the European Commission and to the Government of Spain to create a legal framework that supports social entrepreneurship and that generates the mechanisms to motivate the development of this sector of the economy, which is typified by a new human dimension committed with universal rights.

Due to its commitment with social entrepreneurship, pioneer in Spain, Soria could be one of the territories of reference in the European Union and in Spain to foment actions, evaluate results and transfer knowledge. It constitutes one of the ideal places to integrate social entrepreneurship and local development together with the European ecosystem of social entrepreneurship. It also counts with an implicated and articulated society, which has shown that with specific actions another economy is possible.

10 The creation of a social entrepreneurship influential group is necessity if we aim to achieve the aforementioned objectives.

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More info www.civesmundi.es www.elhueco.org @civesmundi @elhueco facebook.com/civesmundi facebook.com/huecosoria VP/2013/017/0400 this project is cofunded by the european comission

This programme is implemented by Spanish NGO Cives Mundi. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reect the views of the European Commission