Social Entrepreneurship

Aksana Shauchenka has managed the Homel company "Meteorite Plus", which employs people with disabilities, for more than ten years now. The company is a well-established market player producing high-quality educational toys and sports playing modules from environmentally friendly materials using the latest expertise in children's psychology and teaching methods. Aksana spoke to Biz4all-2 teams about the most valuable lessons she learnt over the years: common mistakes social entrepreneurs make in Belarus and how to avoid them.

Lidya Piatrova from Minsk and Olga Galamaka from Mahileu came to Biz4all-2 social entrepreneurship training programme with an idea they were already implementing: natural farming. Lidya works in Minsk and has created Sianie (“Shining”) gardening centre, which, in addition to selling gardening-related goods, also provides advice to customers and organizes a natural farming school — all the while keeping a very chill and friendly atmosphere, where every customer feels like a welcome guest and can receive answers to all of their questions.

On the second day of marketing and sales training, teams of the Biz4all social entrepreneurship training programme studied and practiced the method of story modelling, used to promote new products and services on the market. Participants were introduced to this technique by Darya Reutovich, a coach from the Netherlands, who is also one of the mentors of this year’s teams.

On March 10-11, participants of Biz4all social entrepreneurship training programme gathered in a large conference hall of the “U Fontana” hotel to learn how to create a minimum viable product. “U Fontana” is a social enterprise, where more than 50% of employees are visually impaired. As per tradition, the training kicked off with analysis of home assignments and a number of project pitches.

Karina Sitnik, participant of the Biz4all social entrepreneurship training programme and creator of "Walk to Folk" commercial project, invited ODB Brussels on a bread baking trip in order to show how the project works and to give them a chance to spend time together in the warm atmosphere of a Belarusian agricultural estate. A pleasant bonus is the new skill of baking home-made bread using leaven with a century-long history.

When trying to set up one’s own business, it can be very beneficial to study other people’s experience. That is why organizers of the Biz4all-2 programme often invite practicing social entrepreneurs to share their inspiring stories about the challenges they overcame when they were building their businesses. Many participants of the social entrepreneurship training programme note how useful it is to be among like-minded people: listen about other people’s problems and solutions to then take a different look at their situation and possibly see new areas to develop their projects.

Educational Club for Women "Miriya”  is one of the projects that went to the grand final of the first Biz4all programme (watch video from the final). Founders of the course are candidates of psychology sciences, practical specialists with a lot of experience and work history — Yelena Aliakhnovich and Tatiana Nedvetskaya. According to the creators, they were always enthusiastic and willing to organize therapy groups but lacked business skills. Who needs these courses, what is taught there and where their social focus is —"Miriya" creators spoke about all this to ODB Brussels.

Civil society activists often provide help to stray animals, but can this socially beneficial activity have a business edge to it? Creators of the “Mops Shmops” project, who are taking part in the Biz4all social entrepreneurship school, are convinced that it can. Natalia Bublei and Vitaly Paulahradsky offer home made high-quality healthy dog treats. All the ingredients are certified for human consumption and have a vet’s seal of approval. Natalia and Vitaly plan to send 10% of the profits to support animal rights organizations. When they need to expand their work, the couple will employ people with disabilities.

Natallia Kuntsevich, a vigorous and lively woman, is a lawyer by trade and a compassionate person by nature. Together with her team, Natallia took part in the Biz4all programme, with the idea changing three times throughout. As a result, during the final pitch she presented her latest idea, which was to collect plastic bottle caps, send them for recycling and then use the money to pay for treatment of critically ill children. At the end of 2017, by the Biz4all final, the team only had an idea and their passion, and by spring of 2018 they are already preparing for their project launch.

Kate Tikota and her eight-month-old son Zahar greet me on a weekday in the studio — a large cosy attic in the city centre, where customers can try on TIKOTA UNIQUE clothes. The team takes part in the Biz4all-2 programme with one of the brand branches, TIKOTA INCLUSIVE. Kate, who created the brand, tells us over a cup of fragrant herbal tea how selling stylish designer clothes can have a social focus.

Biz4all-2 training is part of the “Social Entrepreneurship Incubator” programme, organized by ODB Brussels (Belgium) in partnership with TNU Network University (Netherlands) with financial support from the European Union.