expertise Baltics impact investing

Alternative Finance Roadmap: Guide to Navigating Funding Opportunities for Baltic Social Enterprises

The IBESI project has created the “Alternative Finance Roadmap”, which consolidates the most relevant funding sources for Baltic social entrepreneurs.

expertise highlights 2023 programs

2023 in a glance

2023 was a year that put a spotlight on the challenges we all face. We’ve witnessed devastating conflicts, deepening inequalities, and frightening climate change. Yet, within this complexity, we find everyday heroes offering solutions to these seemingly insurmountable problems. Our mission is to empower them to create a world where all children reach their full potential. We equip them with the tools, skills and vital networks they need to develop their impactful solutions. Here’s a glimpse into some of the programs and activities we implemented in Europe and Africa last year.

expertise ecosystem Baltics blogpost 2023 projects

Developing impact investing ecosystems

This fall, we launched the Nordic-Baltic Investor Skillsharing - a series of online workshops which gather investors from the Nordic-Baltic region who are already involved or interested in investing in social entrepreneurs. We give them an opportunity to exchange knowledge and foster new connections to strengthen the Baltic Impact Investing ecosystem.

expertise Sweden blogpost 2023

Supporting social entrepreneurs: Unplugged learnings

Our Senior Program Manager Louise Johnsson Zea reflects on the key learnings from her daily work with the social entrepreneurs in our portfolio. She delves into their most pressing needs, remarkable strengths, common pitfalls, and promising opportunities, as well as the human side of the social entrepreneurship journey.

Louise Johnsson Zea

expertise 2023 ukraine

Social entrepreneurship in Ukraine: driving social impact in the face of a conflict

Petro Darmoris, Director at Social Economy Ukraine and Board Member of Social Economy Europe, reflects on the state of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Ukraine today, on the role of social entrepreneurship after the Russian invasion and on staying hopeful and driving social impact in the face of a war.

expertise 2022 Sweden Baltics impact

Empowering Social Entrepreneurs to Support NEETs

In Europe, a concerning statistic reveals that 11.5% of young people between the ages of 15 and 25 are neither in work nor in education. This critical period of their lives, when they should be embarking on their professional journeys, utilizing their acquired skills and knowledge, is instead marked by a struggle to find employment. This situation leads to frustration, economic hardship, and even mental distress, with potentially severe consequences for their well-being. At the same time, societies miss out on the opportunity to benefit from the talents and innovative ideas these young individuals possess.

expertise Sweden blogpost 2023

Unique investments in social entrepreneurship in the EU and the UN - but where is Sweden?

With the EU's Social Economy Action Plan and a recently adopted UN resolution, Sweden has a chance to invest in social entrepreneurship. The opportunity is about to be missed, but there is still time to raise the issue, write our CEO Sofia Breitholtz and Jenny Carenco, partner in Utfallsfonden and board member of The Swedish National Advisory Board for Impact Investing.

Sofia Breitholtz

ghana expertise blogpost

Developing the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Ghana

Our Country Manager in Ghana, Solomon Twum, reflects on how the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Ghana has developed over the last decade, and shares insights on the national policy in the area, the local impact investing scene and what's needed in order to create more cross-sector collaborations for impact.

Solomon Twum

expertise Baltics impact investing

Attracting Impact Investors

Last month the social entrepreneurs part of the Baltic Sea Impact Network participated in an expert workshop on how to build successful relationships with investors. Check out 5 of the practical and down-to-earth suggestions on what to do first in order to gain investor’s interest and trust that emerged from the conversation.

expertise ecosystem blogpost

5 learnings from investing in social entrepreneurship

Our CEO Sofia Breitholtz reflects on the key learnings from our social entrepreneurship programs in Europe and Africa and the conversations with various stakeholders and investors which we're hosting.

Sofia Breitholtz

expertise 2022 Ethiopia blogpost

Creating a green and equal future through social entrepreneurship: The case of Ethiopia

As developing economies like Ethiopia face the biggest challenges in the world with youth unemployment, high levels of inequality, and are the ones feeling the impact of the changing climate the most, we asked Lemlem to reflect on how social entrepreneurship is an important tool to tackle them and to share some of the inspiring examples and lessons learned from her work.

Lemlem Sinkineh

expertise 2022 blogpost strategy

Can all entrepreneurship be social?

With the new global strategy we developed in 2021, we want to take further steps to leverage the power of entrepreneurship to reduce child poverty, inequality and environmental issues.

Shifteh Malithano

expertise Bulgaria blogpost

Fighting poverty and social exclusion in Bulgaria: are we on track?

Open the Circle is a coalition with the ING Bank initiated by Reach for Change in Bulgaria and focused on preventing poverty and fighting social exclusion. After one year of implementation, we have made significant strides in the right direction towards tackling modern Bulgaria's most pressing issues but ran into some roadblocks along the way.

Stoyana Stoeva

ghana expertise blogpost

The power of entrepreneurship to reduce inequalities in Ghana

Our Country Manager in Ghana, Solomon Twum, shares his insights on how we have been unleashing the power of local entrepreneurs to reduce inequalities.

Solomon Twum

expertise partnership Ethiopia

Reach for Change and IKEA Foundation to support young people in Ethiopia to start green businesses

The IKEA Foundation is investing 1 million US dollars in Reach for Change to support and develop green entrepreneurship and green jobs in Ethiopia. In total, the project will educate 360 young people in entrepreneurship and support 60 green solutions to develop into sustainable green businesses.

expertise global equality

An Anthology on empowering female entrepreneurs

In 2021, together with Global Utmaning we launched the Women Leaders Anthology - a collection of voices, data and insights on empowering female entrepreneurs and their importance in the transition towards sustainable societies. The authors of the anthology are social entrepreneurs, investors, civil society representatives and researchers.