Why
Ethiopia has an ambitious strategy to transition to a green economy but there is currently not a strong pipeline of new green businesses to tap into existing opportunities or help accelerate this strategy. At the same time, young people lack the right skills for existing jobs and are disconnected from entrepreneurship opportunities within the country’s rapidly growing economy. 

How 

Providing entrepreneurship and marketable skills for TVET and university graduates has therefore become a key priority as they seek to improve the transition from school to work. While entrepreneurship training is a mandatory part of all TVET courses, the national curriculum is primarily theoretical, which results in students not being equipped with key skills and knowledge on access to finance, market availability, tax support, etc which are critical to start and sustain businesses. 

What

We will run a Green Entrepreneurship  Bootcamp to help 360 young people nurture an entrepreneurial mindset, develop an interest in the green business sector, and generate ideas for starting their own business. Its Green Innovation Lab will help 60 people test their ideas and build viable enterprises that protect the planet and  offer employment to others.

Why 

Becoming a social entrepreneur often comes from a place of passion towards helping others. This often means that social entrepreneurs don’t necessarily have all the knowledge and experience needed for driving a startup into sustainable business. Working on your own or with only as few people also often means that you have to make all the decisions and have to do all the brainstorming by yourself, making it harder to think outside the box and abilities of yours. 

How 

By supporting social entrepreneurs with advice and inspiration they are able to move forward and past challenges and thereby work towards more impact and a sustainable business. By engaging them in a longer program it becomes possible to get help along the way also when there are bumps along the way. 

What 

A one year advisory program where social entrepreneurs are partnered up with advisors from the management agency Bain & Co. The program includes workshops and check-ins with the advisors and a one week internship week, where students get to work with a specific challenge of the social entrepreneur. The program is supported and run by a team from Bain & Co, who also facilitate the events such as the mid-year event and final “leaving the nest” event. 

Why 

Over 32% of the population in Bulgaria live at risk of poverty and social exclusion. This is the highest percentage in all countries in the EU. We know that via social entrepreneurs we can provide a perspective and an opportunity for development in order to help people avoid the risk of poverty and social exclusion and remain fully functional members of society. 

How 

Later stage social organizations, who provide employment opportunities for people at risk of social exclusion, have the capacity to fight this issue by scaling their positive impact and expanding their activities to reach even more people at risk.  If we help them to grow further we can contribute to lowering the percentage and generate long-term positive societal effects.

What

In partnership with ING Bulgaria we have supported two later stage social entrepreneurs, who provide employment positions and improve the financial status of families at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The program aimed at helping them improve their business models and thus scale their positive impact to a significant number of vulnerable members of our society. They were supported with tailor-made capacity development consultations, mentoring sessions with external experts and ING employees, funding and communication campaigns dedicated to improving the awareness about their work.

Why

Despite significant progress in recent decades, the Ghanaian educational system continues to face several challenges. Many children still have poor educational outcomes due to overcrowded classrooms, lack of access to school materials and a shortage of well-trained teachers. Over half a million children are not enrolled in primary school - a problem which disproportionately affects girls and children with disabilities. Assessments have further shown notable disparities in educational outcomes and completion rates between urban and rural areas and between the highest and lowest income quartiles.  

How 

There are many social entrepreneurs in Ghana with innovative solutions to develop and contribute to a more effective educational system. Though, many don’t have access to tools, network, funding and knowledge in order to scale their solutions. This project will target social entrepreneurs in an early growth stage, and help them to prepare to scale their solutions through capacity building, networking and seed funding. 

What

Reach for Change have developed a 18 month Scaling Readiness program to support 10 early growth social entrepreneurs working within education. In the selection of individuals to support, we are specifically looking for social entrepreneurs that have been active for at least three years and are targeting children between the ages of 2-12 years. The goal is to improve educational outcomes with the intention to create social change for children.