We like people who want to bring positive change to their communities and we encourage them in their learning process. Through the Social Entrepreneurship in Local Communities project, we support entrepreneurs with innovative ideas who want to develop businesses with social impact in their communities. Together with our five project partners will organize business incubation programs for 60 entrepreneurs in Romania, Italy and Cyprus, in order to improve their entrepreneurial skills. In this way, we will develop learning tools to be promoted in the partner countries and at the European level.

We want to develop business incubation models for social entrepreneurship, which will then become functional at the national level in Romania, Italy and Cyprus. With the help of our partner from Belgium and after conducting research on entrepreneurial development, we will generate an integrated business incubation model dedicated to entrepreneurs from all over Europe.

The incubation programs will thus be based on a research that will be conducted starting January 2020, in Romania, Italy and Cyprus. The research will focus on the following topics:

• the real image and the main characteristics of social entrepreneurship;
• the profile of social entrepreneurs;
• opportunities for financing, incubating and boosting social business;
• platforms for developing business ideas with social impact;
• public policy recommendations.

The incubation programs will be used as innovative learning tools by the partner organizations, which will be piloted with the involvement of 60 individuals with social entrepreneurial background, from Romania, Italy and Cyprus, selected in the project. Through the two transnational training courses to be organized within the project framework, we will transfer knowledge, methods and tools that will contribute to the development of local communities in these countries and generate new jobs.

The project will also establish an online platform that will grant visibility to social business ideas, endorsement of the best concepts and the chance of being financed by the local communities.

“We believe that businesses with a strong social impact are innovative solutions for the well-being of communities and can generate new jobs. With the help of our partners and their valuable experience, the Social Entrepreneurship in the Local Communities project aims to support people through business incubation programs adapted to the business environment and by providing access to innovative financing instruments” declared Simona Bartiș, project coordinator, Civitas Foundation for Civil Society – Cluj-Napoca Branch.

In December 2019, representatives of the partner organizations participated in the first transnational project management and implementation meeting, held in Cluj-Napoca:  Fundația Civitas pentru Societatea Civilă (Romania), Centrul pentru Legislație Nonprofit (Romania), Fundația Danis (Romania), Matera Hub (Italy), Diesis (Belgium) și Synthesis (Cyprus). The project is co-funded by the European Commission through Erasmus+ Programme and the Romanian National Agency – ANPCDEFP.