Social Business Tour 2010 http://www.socialbusinesstour.com Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:32:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 “Overknit your Pension” – Winner of the Social Business Idea Contest 2010 http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/overknit-your-pension/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/overknit-your-pension/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:26:03 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1697 Barbora Kuckova and Olga Guttenova from Slovak Republic are the Tour winners of The Social Business Idea 2010 Contest

Barbora Kuckova and Olga Guttenova’s winning idea was to develop a social business aimed at fighting poverty and social exclusion of elderly women.
During the Networking Event of The Social Business Tour 2010 in Bucharest, the Tour winning team of The Social Business Idea 2010 was announced, as well as the national winners of the preliminary phase (from Austria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Serbia and Romania).












Barbora Kuckova and Olga Guttenova’s winning project idea is called “Overknit Your Pension” and addresses women pensioners with knitting skills. According to the idea, these elderly women would be offered workshops on modern design and knitting patterns, so that their products (sweaters, hats, scarves etc) would fit today’s fashion standards and would become a “must have”. More than that, a “grandma’s brand” would be created for the knitted products, which would benefit from internet promotion and, also, partnerships could be created with fashion designers.

The six national winners are:

Austria: Nicole Prop, Theresia Berger & Dorit Haubenhofer with “First eco-social Green Care centre in Austria”
Slovak Republic: Barbora Kuckova & Olga Guttenova with “Overknit Your Pension”
Hungary: Melinda Kassai & Aron Horvath with “ProRatatouille Program”
Czech Republic: Lucie Lankašová & Kristina Řešátková with “Employment of people with disability in community compost garden”
Romania: Beuca Ioan & Popovici Vasile with “Sustainable Development of Micro-region Ruscova Valley”
Serbia: Dragana Tomic, with “Centre for Social Responsible Entrepreneurship”

The Tour winning team, Barbora Kuckova and Olga Guttenova, will receive comprehensive and long-term assistance in realizing their idea from the Erste Group – this assistance will range from expert advice to provision of the required start-up financing. The national winners will each receive consultation and training to the value of 5.000 Euro, which will be provided by the ERSTE Foundation. Additional support will be offered to the winners by the sponsors of The Social Business Idea Contest: ERSTE Stiftung, Slovenská sporiteľňa, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, and Consumer Protection, Republic of Austria, Wolf Theiss, Hub Prague.

The Social Business Idea 2010 was, as the name indicates, a contest between ideas—and not a contest for the best social business projects that have already been implemented. The submitted social business ideas should have had the potential to solve a clearly specified social problem: e.g., in the areas of education, agriculture, health, energy, finance, and the social integration of people who are affected by poverty and social marginalization, and fulfill the other criteria of a Social Business—financially viable, socially and ecologically sustainable, and consistently focused on social goals. That also means that profits always remain in the business and are used for expansion and improvement.

The winner of The Social Business Idea 2010 (Tour finale) was chosen by an international jury, whose members included:

Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Founder and CEO of Grameen Bank
Ester Bergmann, representative of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, and Consumer Protection, Republic of Austria
Dominic Bruynseels, BCR CEO
Ewa Konczal, Ashoka CEO
Michael Landau, Caritas Vienna CEO
Boris Marte, ERSTE Foundation Member of the Board
Hans Reitz, Founder of the Grameen Creative Lab
Jennifer Rowe, good.bee CEO


]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/overknit-your-pension/feed/ 0 Livestream of the Social Business Tour in Belgrade http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/livestream-of-the-social-business-tour-in-belgrade/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/livestream-of-the-social-business-tour-in-belgrade/#comments Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:42:41 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1679 for all those who cannot attend the Social Business Tour in Belgrade and would like to listen to Prof Muhammad Yunus:

Livestreaming from Belgrade will be available tomorrow through this website on Saturday, October 30th from 8pm to 10pm


]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/livestream-of-the-social-business-tour-in-belgrade/feed/ 0 Please note: Submission deadline for the Social Business Idea 2010 contest changed! http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/please-note-submission-deadline-for-the-social-business-idea-2010-contest-changed/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/please-note-submission-deadline-for-the-social-business-idea-2010-contest-changed/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:29:48 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1403 Please be aware that the application period for national preliminary decisions of The Social Business Idea 2010 contest for Hungary, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Romania ends September 13th. 

If you want to receive feedback from us, you have to hand in your application by August 25th at the latest!

]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/please-note-submission-deadline-for-the-social-business-idea-2010-contest-changed/feed/ 0 Andreas Treichl in Budapest: good.bee in Charge of Financing Social Business http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/andreas-treichl-in-budapest-good-bee-in-charge-of-financing-social-enterprises/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/andreas-treichl-in-budapest-good-bee-in-charge-of-financing-social-enterprises/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:52:27 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1349 Andreas Treichl, Chairman of the Board of ERSTE Foundation stated in Budapest, the second station of the Social Business Tour: “In Central and Eastern Europe there is still a tendency to trust in the state alone when a society has social problems. With the creation of Social Businesses, a bridge can be built from the private economy to civil society. I have a lot of trust in the potential of this region. This is why we decided to give it an impulse, so we created a special budget of 10 million Euros to finance social enterprises in these countries.
good.bee is in charge with the application process and entire project management, and we would like to address an invitation to Hungarian entrepreneurs as well”.


Andreas Treichl (Chairman of the Board of ERSTE Foundation) and Prof Muhammad Yunus (founder of the Grameen Bank)

]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/andreas-treichl-in-budapest-good-bee-in-charge-of-financing-social-enterprises/feed/ 0 Leadership Symposium in Budapest: Business based on Trust http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/leadership-symposium-in-budapest-business-based-on-trust/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/leadership-symposium-in-budapest-business-based-on-trust/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:44:35 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1364 Discussing the potential of Social Business in Hungary, Prof Muhammad Yunus and Hungarian Business leaders stressed the importance of trust. Erste Bank’s foundation in Vienna in 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank enabling the unbanked to save, was based on trust. The business model of Grameen Bank is based on trusting their 8 million customers. good bee’s support of social enterprises and social business in CEE in becoming sustainable is based on trust.









Jennifer Rowe – good.bee









János Major – Erste Bank Hungary









Balog Zoltan – Secretary of State of Social Convergence

]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/leadership-symposium-in-budapest-business-based-on-trust/feed/ 1 Social Business Day in Budapest http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/social-business-day-in-budapest/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/social-business-day-in-budapest/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:05:37 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1357 The Networking Event on 7 July in the Palace of Arts, opens with a speech by Mr. György Matolcsy, Minister for National Economy of Hungary. Also, highlight of the Social Business Networking Event is a panel discussion with Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Jennifer Rowe (good.bee), János Major (Erste Bank Hungary), Hans Reitz (Founder of the Grameen Creative Lab), and young people from Budapest. The closing speech will be held by Boris Marte, Member of the Board of ERSTE Foundation.

In the context of the Social Business Day, Prof. Yunus will meet with leading representatives from business, politics, culture, and civil society to discuss possible Social Business projects in Central and Eastern Europe. Social Business stands for innovative business models aimed at tackling social problems with entrepreneurial means – and to further these business purposes, all profits are reinvested, on principle, rather than being distributed.

]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/social-business-day-in-budapest/feed/ 0 Social Business Tour 2010: Next Stop Budapest http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/social-business-tour-2010-next-stop-budapest/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/social-business-tour-2010-next-stop-budapest/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:04:18 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1319 The registration period for the Social Business Networking Event in Budapest is over.

Winners of one of the 50 entrance tickets will be given notice via e-mail.

Participation in the Social Business Networking Event is free of charge (you must provide your own transportation to/from the event).

7th of July 2010
17:00 – 20:00
 
Palace of Arts
Komor Marcell u. 1.
1095 Budapest
Hungary
 
]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/social-business-tour-2010-next-stop-budapest/feed/ 0 Update on the final round of the Austrian and Slovak idea contest http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/update-on-the-final-round-of-the-austrian-and-slovak-idea-contest/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/update-on-the-final-round-of-the-austrian-and-slovak-idea-contest/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:59:53 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1328 Many interesting Social Business ideas have been submitted at the first stage of ‘The Social Business Idea 2010’ contest in Austria. But only few of them were chosen by the Grameen Creative Lab and good.bee to advance to the second round…

Now the best candidates have 14 days to submit their detailed business plans. Following this, the Austrian jury, which consists of bank professionals and social entrepreneurs, will decide on the winner.

The best idea in each country wins consulting services, legal support and business assistance valued at € 5.000.- upwards. Additionally the top 5 ideas will be able to send in their business plans and get qualitative feedback (supported by ‘i2b’). They as well have the possibility to receive basic legal support (powered by Wolf Theiss).

In the Slovak Republic, the first round has just been completed and soon the best ideas will be invited to join the second round.

Each week, we will present one of the many inspiring ideas and we encourage you to send in your ideas next year as well…

First off:

The first eco-social Green Care Centre in Austria (submitted by Nicole Prop)

Green Care Centres have been established in many countries worldwide and have proven successful. The idea follows a holistic approach of blending social benefits in the areas of agriculture, education, healthcare, integration and energy to help create a healthier society – mentally and physically. The Centre is meant to offer a broad spectrum of health promoting interventions, all using elements of nature (plants, animals, landscapes) in their treatments. Thus it is destined to tackle the lack of knowledge of (especially urban) children and adolescents about nature, animals, as well as nature and environment protection.

]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/update-on-the-final-round-of-the-austrian-and-slovak-idea-contest/feed/ 0 http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/1301/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/1301/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:15:08 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1301 Andreas Treichl, Chairman of the Board of ERSTE Foundation, and Rudolf Hundstorfer, Federal Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, and  Consumer Protection, of the Republic of Austria, welcome Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and patron of The Social Business Tour 2010.


]]> http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/1301/feed/ 0 The Social Business Days in Budapest: July 7th 2010 http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/the-social-business-days-in-budapest-july-7th-2010/ http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/the-social-business-days-in-budapest-july-7th-2010/#comments Sun, 30 May 2010 15:48:57 +0000 Annunziata http://www.socialbusinesstour.com/?p=1155 The Social Business Days in Budapest are planned for July 7th 2010. Shortly, we will provide you with programme details and information about your opportunities as a participant.

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