28 February 2023
Enhancer Project Phase 1: student implementations
We are proud to say that after four exciting months, we completed a international student collaboration that is part of the Enhancer project: ‘Entrepreneurship on a Mission!’. Students from Germany, Portugal, The Netherlands, and Spain came together online to form multicultural teams and tackle global challenges in social entrepreneurship. They conducted interviews with entrepreneurs and created informative posters and videos based on their findings. One recurring theme in the students' work was their emphasis on promoting diversity and inclusion.
As project leaders, we were pleased with the quality of the students' products. However, we knew it was important to take a step back, sit down and evaluate the progress of the project. In an online meeting, Professor Richard Martina, Professor Linda Lundgaard Andersen, and Constantinos Hadjipolycarpou (program officer at consortium partner CSI) discussed the project's achievements and the way forward. One of the key points raised was the importance of involving marginalized groups in social entrepreneurship. The students' work highlighted the need to help these groups move forward in life, for example, through education. Social entrepreneurs must also have skills related to education, democracy, and participatory governance. The objectives of social entrepreneurship (local, regional, and international) and their mission must be clearly defined and integrated into the organization of social entrepreneurship, and then into the competencies of the social entrepreneur. Such as the double bottom line, a business strategy that enables financial profit to consistently contribute to a social cause.We interpreted this as having three layers of impact. Individual social entrepreneurship competencies affect the organizational setting (teams, governance, administration, etc.), which then leads to impact at the local, regional, and international levels. As we move forward in the Enhancer project, we will keep this in mind and implement this research result and other findings in upcoming project phases.
These visualizations were made by students of the Enhancer program
What is social entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship is a powerful tool for creating positive social change while ensuring sustainable and responsible business practices. It is a vital and growing field that offers new opportunities for innovative and creative solutions to complex societal issues. As we move forward, we must continue to support and invest in social entrepreneurship as a means of creating a better world for all. The beauty of social entrepreneurship lies in its ability to combine the entrepreneurial mindset with a focus on social impact. By identifying opportunities to create positive change and implementing sustainable business models, social entrepreneurs can transform communities and contribute to a better world. Also, social entrepreneurship has the potential to provide marginalized groups with employment and economic opportunities, promote equal access to resources, and improve the overall quality of life. This field has helped to shift traditional business practices towards a more socially
responsible and ethical framework, proving that financial success and social good can go hand in hand