We organised the first live talk on social entrepreneurship on Thursday January 21. The live talk was held in Slovak language and we had the opportunity to meet three amazing social entrepreneurs. If you speak Slovak, feel free to watch the discussion on Facebook. If you do not speak Slovak, don’t worry, you will find the discussion’s highlights reported below.
Before we dive into the details let’s have a look at the guests’ BIOs.
Dominika Horňáková, co-founder Šumné.sk
Dominika dedicates her time to strategic philanthropy, project management and leadership. In her free time she drives the project Šumné focused on the rental of quality and local clothing trying to bring another alternative for sustainable dressing, saving natural resources and your wallets.
“If something isn’t impossible, there must be a way to do it.“
Petra Rendková, manager of program AZU, founder of Fresh Snack (catering)
Petra is an entrepreneur, political scientist, and, among other things, a long-term representative of students in various academic organizations and also the manager of the national project of the Ministry of Education – Activity increases success.
Martin Vasko, founder of Precious Plastic Slovakia
Martin is a mechanical engineer with a degree from Technical University of Košice. He comes from a small village called Harichovce, where Precious Plastic Slovakia is situated.
The initiative Precious Plastic stems originally from the Netherlands. The project aims at a local and low-cost solution for plastics recycling. The Precious Plastic Slovakia team currently operates a crusher and injection molding machine to produce smaller items from recycled plastic. They also develop injection molds and manufacture parts for the crusher to enable and simplify other people to start their own recycling business.
Thanks to our guests we had the possibility to discover new business opportunities as well as to understand better the term social entrepreneurship in its modern definition focusing on socially beneficial activities.
Defining one’s own business values can be a complex process. So at the beginning Martin introduced us to the so-called golden circle. The Golden Circle contains three levels consisting of What? How? and Why? Why represents the internal motivation and gives business meaning and vision, therefore social entrepreneurs always start their business by asking why? Conversely, traditional entrepreneurs mostly start with the question what? which leads directly to the product and the focus on profit.
Do you have a business idea delivering positive social impact? Try to define it according to the golden circle and send it to projects@mladiinfo.sk.
In Slovakia, we are often encountering the term social entrepreneurship, however, we perceive it as something modern or beneficial only sometimes. Until recently, this term was used to indicate work integration social enterprises or social housing for homeless people.
„Maybe, it is time for every business to be socially beneficial.“
Dominika Horňáková
The social dimension is, however, not restricted only to these categories. The definition of social entrepreneurship from the English “social entrepreneurship” is much broader and brings to the foreground the positive impact for the society as a whole. Our guests also adhere to this definition and, with their businesses in the field of education, recycling or fast fashion, rank among the innovative social enterprises.
If you have so far perceived social entrepreneurship according to a narrower definition, do not hesitate to discover our project Social Innovators Network, which will show you a new dimension of socially beneficial business. You can find more about the support of socially beneficial business at the end of our survey.
These concepts sound unconventional and their role is also exceptional. While we commonly associate the library with books, articles or newspapers, Šumné “upgraded” this concept and founded Clothes Library.
You can borrow clothes in exchange for a member fee and thus diversify your wardrobe, save some money and decrease your ecological footprint. Our guests also reacted to the hierarchy of (non) buying clothes. So far, Martin manages to stick to this trend well, but as Dominika said, it was difficult to adhere to these rules at the beginning. For Petra, as for many of you, this was a complete novelty. If you want to support the planet, Hierarchy offers you a mini guide. 😊
Also Martin leads the fight against pollution. The statistics are clear: we recycle only 9% of all plastics. His Bank of Plastics in Košice will offer you the opportunity to choose a new accessory and get rid of the accumulated plastics at your place. The Bank from Precious Plastic Slovakia supports a very special currency „Plastcoins“, so bring some bottle tops, yoghurt containers or shampoo bottles.
“Did you know that there is the 8th continent between Hawaii and the USA? It’s not Atlantis. It is a plastic island that floats on the surface. If we would balance its weight with Škoda Felicia cars, we would need more than 84,000 Felicias.“
Martin Vasko
Even if you are already running a “normal” business, this does not mean that you cannot become a social enterprise. An example is catering FreshSnack, which is led by Petra. In addition to being run by women, Petra also tries to use eco-friendly packaging and kitchen tools. However, as she noted, not all areas of business can be ecological: her goal was to buy vegetables and fruits only from Slovak suppliers, but as she found out, Slovakia is relatively independent in this area. Further, she would like to enrich her own business with the involvement of the older generation of women, so that they do not remain isolated from society.
„Did you know that Google asks you whether your business is run only by women?“
Petra Rendková
Both topics go hand in hand. As Petra from AZU highlighted, volunteering is an excellent opportunity to develop yourself and your surroundings and a possibility to develop your business idea with a positive social impact. Thanks to volunteering, you can gain the necessary experience and network to support or test your idea.
„When you are willing to do something for free and out of your own conviction, you are the ideal employee, because what will you be able to do for money, when you did this for free.“
Petra Rendková
If you did not volunteer yet, check current volunteering positions from Mladiinfo Slovakia or email to info@mladiinfo.sk .
Last year we organized online training for youngsters, during which they learned more details about social entrepreneurship and had the possibility to discuss their ideas with mentors. In 2021 we plan to organize the second edition of Social Enterprise Academy. If you are interested to participate, follow Mladiinfo Slovakia or email your details to projects@mladiinfo.sk .
There is an extensive start-up ecosystem in Slovakia that will help your idea to get off the ground. You can use the services of Slovak Business Agency, Rozbehni sa, Impact Hub but also many other hubs and incubators in Slovakia. Thanks to them, you will find out if your idea works.
„It is not important to be a market leader or the best.“
Dominika Horňáková
Do you want to know more details? Watch the whole live talk on facebook.
