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    2024 in a glance

    Sofia Breitholtz
    Sofia Breitholtz
    CEO of Reach for Change
    2024 has been quite a year - with more than half of the world’s population going to the polls, and volatile conflicts and humanitarian crises feeding instability and worry. At Reach for Change, our solution to these anxious times is to rely on trust, community, and conviction that there are social entrepreneurs out there who can tackle these uncertainties with innovation and powerful solutions. Additionally, with a smart, brave, and passionate team, we overcame these uncertainties and could rely on our community of entrepreneurs and new and committed partners who have joined us.

    As we approach the end of 2024, we are excited about several new project wins in Ghana, Sweden, and Ethiopia, which we believe will positively impact our community and empower social entrepreneurs to thrive. Here’s a glimpse of some of the projects and activities we implemented in 2024 and a look at what the future holds for us.

    Empowering Local Social Entrepreneurs to Address Pressing Social Challenges

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    We're proud to be continuing our partnership with the IKEA Foundation, investing in green entrepreneurship in Ethiopia. Over the next three years, we'll be supporting waste and circular enterprises that create employment for young people and reduce the amount of waste in the environment through two programs: the Green Business Incubator and the Green Innovation Lab.

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    In Ethiopia, access to quality education remains a challenge for many. We believe technology has the power to revolutionize education and provide access to quality education for all children, regardless of their background or circumstances. With learnings from our experience in delivering the Scaling Readiness Program for EdTechs in Ghana, we joined forces with the Mastercard Foundation for a three-year catalytic accelerator program to scale innovative EdTechs enterprises in Ethiopia.  

    We are already wrapping up with the first cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship for 12 innovative EdTech enterprises. Recruitment has ended, and we look forward to the kick-off of the second cohort in January 2025.

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    After an extensive selection process, Reach for Change, The Inner Foundation, and the Tim Bergling Foundation revealed 20 Nordic social entrepreneurs to our Next in Mind scaling readiness program, focused on investing in and supporting solutions for mental health for emerging adults aged 18-29. They will all receive an initial investment of 300,000 SEK and in-depth business development support until the end of 2025.

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    As part of our commitment to supporting startups, fostering collaborative networks, and creating thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems across sub-Saharan Africa, we will implement the Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Africa program in Ghana in collaboration with Village Capital for the next two years.

    We will run investment-readiness programs and direct capital to 30 climate-focused startups in Ghana by 2025. These startups are aimed at driving impactful solutions to accelerate progress to SDG 13 - taking urgent actions to combat climate change and its impacts.

    Collaborative Partnerships for Scalable & Collective Impact

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    Reach for Change Sweden and Latvia are partnering with Social Enterprise Estonia, the Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia, and the Lithuanian Social Business Association to implement the Baltic Sea Impact Network, supported by the Swedish Institute. 

    After piloting the initiative in 2023, we are excited to scale it up as a unique transnational network for 50 social entrepreneurs from Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Ukraine. In October 2024, members gathered in Tallinn, Estonia, for the first time to strengthen connections and explore collaboration. Our long-term goal is to formalize the Network and attract more funding partners to expand into additional Nordic and European markets.

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    Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionise our way of doing business, creating impact, and probably our lives. The World Economic Forum estimates that 65% of the world's population will have internet access by 2030 and that AI can add value to the social impact sector at an estimated worth of 308 billion USD. 

    Launched at the start of the summer, the Reach for Change Research Assistant is a collaborative project with AI Sweden. The Research Assistant is an AI-powered tool to help social entrepreneurs analyse the social problems they aim to solve more efficiently and simplify the process of developing specific tools to gather evidence about their impact.

    Learn more about the tool here.
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    To ensure that the social economy thrives, we teamed up with four dedicated European partners ACT Grupa, ScaleChanger, Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia and PULSE GROUP, to empower incubators, accelerators and networks in Europe. 

    This initiative will provide them with essential resources to guide social entrepreneurs in boosting their impact and making a real, lasting difference. Together, the partners will develop new tools, including a Self-Assessment Tool and a Scaling Guide, based on data collection and need validation.

    Learn more about the Scaling Catalyst here.

    Indeed, 2024 has been our year of a renewed sense of strength and energy and a commitment to the belief that social entrepreneurs have the potential to solve many of the challenges we face today

    Sofia Breitholtz

    We are so thankful for the trust and commitment of all our friends, partners, and Change Leaders across the globe. Together, we have achieved remarkable milestones. On behalf of our whole team, I wish you happy holidays and a peaceful, hopeful and even more impactful 2025!