The social media profile says, “RB Cafe is a special place for special people and the first café in Latvia employing people with disabilities”. During the pandemic, the café has transformed into a catering company, providing both casual lunches and catering services upon orders. Social enterprise offers a wide range of dishes, including vegan, vegetarian and special diet dishes, which are currently in demand. “As I’ve always said, if you order a catering service, you don’t have to think, ‘OK, I’ll accept this because it was made by people with disabilities’. I think you should taste it and want to eat more. So, we always try to be interesting, to receive the orders, to make sure that every time it is tasty.”

The social enterprise grew out of the association “Rūpju bērns”, which has been providing both social services and training to people with disabilities for thirty years. The members of the association had learned a wide range of skills, but were often still unemployed, which gave the idea that they should become employers themselves by founding a company. Thanks to Altum’s support, they have done just that.

Māris Grāvis is involved in the company and previously in the association because of his family: “My elder sister is a person with a disability, it has been in our family all our lives. My mother started the association in the early nineties, and gradually I became involved in all the activities and continued the family tradition. Even today, the association continues to provide social services and to represent the interests of people with disabilities.”

“RB Cafe was established in 2018 and these years have not been easy. “If we started with a lot of inspiration and momentum, with many dreams and hopes, the spring of 2020 stopped us quite quickly. There were a lot of challenges and obstacles when the pandemic started, it crushed a lot of dreams and goals. But at the same time, it led us to do things differently, to do business differently, and to feel that no matter what comes, if you do and adapt, there are always good people and supporters,” says Māris. This was also the solution in times of crisis – in cooperation with Riga City Council, the café was given free use of the premises and can now continue its work.

Since its launch, 25 employment contracts have already been signed, 22 of them for people with disabilities. Many of them have gained experience and confidence and have now moved into the open labour market. Ten people are currently employed by the company. “Year after year, and it has been six years since we started. It is very easy to make something quickly and visible to everyone, but it is very difficult to act, do and implement it in the long term. Six years is not a small amount of time, I’m glad we’re still here, it’s very cool!” emphasises Māris.

Overall, the social enterprise status has brought a lot and has allowed us to take more confident steps in our development, because there are a lot of challenges in everyday life. One of the first problems that the CEO points out is that there is always pressure on costs, because in this company the productivity of each employee is at a certain level, so labour taxes have always been a big challenge. Thanks to the Ministry of Welfare, however, it is now possible to recover part of the social tax on the café’s employees. “This allows us to continue working and keeps us afloat, as the cost of utilities, raw materials has skyrocketed. We also have to increase and raise wages, but at the same time we have to find outlets and generate revenue all the time.”

“The company is designed and operated as a stepping stone for people with disabilities to compete in the open labour market, so expansion is not part of our future plans. Our aim is to set an example and create a view that people with disabilities can work, we just need to create opportunities. We are very happy that other entrepreneurs have tried to do something similar, or that people with disabilities are accepted in the open labour market. Our goal is not to become a McDonald’s with branches in every corner,” says Māris Grāvis.

However, the Association currently runs several specialised workshops that train young people in different areas. For example, there is a laundry workshop, and if there were a larger client, the association would be prepared to set up a business in this area too, providing more people with jobs. “Similarly, we have a paper recycling and paper shredding workshop where, under certain conditions and with the involvement of a cooperation partner, we could move from a social service to a social enterprise,” says Māris, while acknowledging that even then, additional support from foundations, the municipality or the state would still be needed.

It is important to work in several directions at once, says Eva Viļķina, board member of the social enterprise “Visi Var”, proving in practice that this philosophy pays off. The company employs people with disabilities, their relatives and people from socially disadvantaged groups. The social enterprise both produces and sells – the products of the various workshops are sold in a charity shop and the income goes to implement charity projects, provide social support and purchase equipment needed to create new jobs.

“Sometimes one strand will have more orders, sometimes less, but they balance each other out. The same goes for the shop – we don’t just sell handicrafts, we also have a donation platform, we offer household chemicals that come from Germany. There are several directions we can benefit from,” Eva shares her experience.

The social enterprise “Visi Var” grew out of the association “Cerību spārni” (Wings of Hope), which was formed by parents of children with disabilities. “I have a daughter myself, who will be 32 this year, who is mentally disabled – she suffered brain damage as a result of a birth injury. Thirty years ago, society was not very accepting, and I had to face a lot of negligence, disinterest on the part of professionals from the institutions. I had to go through a lot to stand up for my child, to think how to improve her functional state – it helped me to gain a lot of experience. In 2002 I started meeting parents who also had children with disabilities, and a year later we founded an association so that we could organise support projects, donations and build a long-term support system,” says Eva Viļķina.

In 2002, Eva started meeting parents who also had children with disabilities, and a year later the association was founded to set up support projects, organise donations and build a support system.

Step by step, the association grew, cooperation with the municipality for the provision of social services was established, and in 2016, the interest about social entrepreneurship started. “Cerību spārni” has also been involved in shaping legislation in this area. “As we started to think more about it, we decided that we could form a limited liability company to separate our economic activity from the activities in association. So, the association took the lead in setting up the social enterprise, and when the social enterprise law came into force on 1 April 2018, we had already set up our own,” Eva recalls.

“The company currently employs 15 people, the vast majority of whom are from the target group. For example, there is a person who receives services from the association, but we see that he has already reached a level where he can work permanently, create something. If we see that they can go and work in the open labour market, then we encourage that. And for those who can’t, we give them the opportunity to work with us. This is done according to their abilities and according to the working hours that the person can do,” says Eva. The company also employs several parents with children with disabilities – their working hours are tailored to how and where they need to take their child.

At the start of “Visi Var”, the company was renting space – until the owner raised the rent significantly. “Then we realised it was going to be difficult – that almost all the money we were making was going to rent. We looked for solutions and noticed that there were vacant premises in the parish centre. We asked the municipality for help so that we could use the space for free. The municipality stepped in and now we have a shop in the premises,” says Eva.

The shop sells handicrafts made by people with disabilities, but there is also a charity platform where anyone can donate household items or clothes, the best of which are sold and the income is used to buy new equipment for the workshops. There are currently five workshops: woodworking, sewing, knitting, printing and creative. Here too, the company works closely with the association, and once a month the craftspeople from both the social enterprise and the association workshops come together to think about new designs and products that could be produced in each workshop. “These are product brainstorming sessions where we think about how we can make a product when several workshops work together,” explains Eva.

The tasks are various, for example, in the sewing workshop, new garments are sewn and existing ones are repaired. Capacity also varies. Although it usually seems that more orders would be welcome, sometimes they have to be refused because they are too big. “For example, we made pencil holders for a company. We made as many as they asked for. Today they asked if we could make a thousand a month. We estimated that we could make 500 at the moment,” says Eva. Partnerships are also being formed with other shops. For example, Elvi now sells candles made in the association’s workshops. “It’s a regular order. There are also various corporate orders from time to time.”

The idea of this type of company has also caught on in other parts of Latvia, and there is already some thought about how branches could be set up. The idea is to expand to more cities, but each place is evaluating whether to set up its own business or whether it would be better to work with someone else to sell its products.

Nowadays, there is a growing demand for socially responsible entrepreneurship, and social enterprise “Sonido” is an example of how providing a professional service can be a way to make a profit, support socially at-risk groups and contribute to society at the same time. The main activity for “Sonido” is a call centre that provides a wide range of high-quality services for businesses in any sector. Besides that, the company employs people with disabilities, providing special adjustments to the workplace and training for employees as well as runs the social project “Let’s Talk” alongside its day-to-day work.

“The dream of creating a business is to say too much – I would say I had no choice but to make money and be my own boss! And I see the approach to making calls, telemarketing and handling incoming calls differently than other companies – that was my advantage,” says the founder Inga Muižniece when talking about how she started her own business.

During the work in different places, Inga realised that she could not and did not want to work under the supervision of other bosses: “Without much consideration at my last job, I said – I’m going to prove you – I’ll start a company and I will be successful! Then I went out and realised – I don’t have any entrepreneur friends, I don’t know how to make a business, I don’t have any money.” She managed to find a business partner, but the first two years were difficult – Inga had no idea where to start. Joining BNI, or Bussines networking international, an organisation that brings together different entrepreneurs helped a lot. Gradually, contacts were made, the client base expanded and, as the company stabilised, Inga came up with an idea she had already thought of – to set up a phone line where people could call just to talk, express their worries and be listened to.

“When I worked in other call centres, I noticed that people often called to talk. When I had a functioning call centre, I came back to the same realisation that most conversations are 70% about emotions and only 30% about solutions. I realised that there are different helplines for all kinds of help – psychological, legal, etc. – but there really isn’t a line where you can call when you have no one to talk to,” says Inga Muižniece.

Being active at BNI taught Inga that ideas need to be spoken out loud, because someone might already know the easiest way to make them happen. “And that’s what I started to do – I said I wanted to make a phone where people could call to talk, but I didn’t have the money. Where do I get the money? I just put my thoughts out into space and hoped that maybe it would catch on somewhere.” Zita Baranova heard Inga’s idea – she told her about social entrepreneurship, wrote her first project for support and the helpline was operational from 1 September 2018.

It was clear from the outset that the people who would be answering these calls did not need specific knowledge, but a great deal of empathy. A colleague called for her father, who is in a wheelchair, to be given a chance. “I went to meet him and he said, ‘That’s a very good idea! I’ll bring you more like me, and let’s make it happen! So suddenly out of nowhere, the staff came and it all happened so organically that I don’t even know if it was me – apart from telling everyone around me that I wanted to do it!” Inga says with a laugh.

More than five years have passed, and from 40 calls in the first month, the number of calls has now grown to a thousand a month. “The most interesting thing is that this is still a unique service in Europe, where there are only helplines. Why? Because it’s the most realistic way you can make money from this kind of activity – the state pays you to provide a service. For me, the business model is different – my call centre customers know that I’m supporting “Let’s Talk” with part of the profits when they choose my services. I would say that my customers are all value-based – they understand why my service might be more expensive sometimes because they see the added value.”

The company employs 26 to 30 people on a daily basis, about half of whom have disabilities. The turnover of employees is very low, but the selection criteria for anyone who wants to work in the call centre are identical: when hiring a person, no one here looks at their disability group, but at their ability to do the job. The job requires language skills, computer skills and the ability to learn new information. Every potential employee also has the opportunity to shadow a prospective colleague for a day to see for themselves if they are ready for the job, as it is not for everyone.

“We call all our employees with disabilities ‘the great colleague’. It’s easy to get staff for “Let’s Talk” line because there are no additional skills needed. For example, Lolita, who is visually impaired, and Vineta, who is hard of hearing, also work there. They have experienced the world, they have heard the world, so it is easier for them to perceive the other person. In the call centre, where you need computer skills, language skills, it is already more difficult because you have to admit that the education system does not help people who have been disabled since birth,” says Inga, emphasising once again that the education system is not inclusive for people with disabilities, especially those who have mobility problems and would actually be very good at learning new things. Often, they are sent to the special school with auxiliary services just because of their disability, where they have no possibility to develop. “We tell people with disabilities already from the beginning – you will never work! Mentally, it’s already built into them – we don’t prepare these people themselves to be educated and to work.”

Inga wants to change this attitude and employ people from groups at risk of social exclusion as widely as possible, finding ways to train and integrate them. “I believe that everyone in Latvia has the right to work, and the entrepreneur can adapt to give people more opportunities. We can do a lot of things just by investing time. I would like to see companies in Latvia starting to think how they can be sustainable now, and how they can choose socially responsible services, instead of finding them when Europe is already imposing fines,” the entrepreneur stresses.

A unique experience that not only allows you to get to know yourself and the world around you better, but also to understand people who have to live without one essential sense – sight. This is how one could summarise the journey into darkness offered by the social enterprise “Neredzamā Pasaule”. It is an experience that breaks stereotypes and changes thinking.

The museum’s founder, Maksims Mihejevs, came up with the idea quite by accident. In 2016, when he went to Moscow to support the Latvian national team at the World Ice Hockey Championships, he walked into a museum of this kind that was located in a shopping mall. “I was shocked! There are a lot of myths about visually impaired people, but here I learned, I experienced, that blind people can even be airplane pilots, programmers, architects, that they travel, they do sports. That was a big stereotype-breaker for me. I walked out of this museum and I thought – we sighted people often complain a lot, even though our problems are small. There is so much that visually impaired people can do here – things that even many sighted people cannot do! It convinced me that maybe all our obstacles are just in our heads, everything can be achieved.”

This conviction remained, and a few years later Maksims was encouraged to try. He found out what social entrepreneurship was, researched everything there was to know about the idea of such a museum. It turned out to come from Germany, where it is very popular. They also found similar museums in St Petersburg and Kijiv and managed to build good relationships with their managers to discuss the business idea and get advice or recommendations.

“Since I was a child, I’ve loved both helping people and discovering interesting things about them. And I like the idea that through entertainment you can show people serious things. That people not only get unique, vivid, unforgetable emotions from this interactive tour, but they become more empathetic, they think about diversity, that people are capable of anything, that they can adapt and not only survive, but really enjoy life,” says Maksims Mihejevs.

He founded the company, received his first Altum grant and, despite the covid pandemic time, “Neredzamā Pasaule” is now in its fifth year. During this time, he has received several more grants, various awards and, most importantly, encouraging reviews from all visitors. “It was such a turning point in life for me personally, and it has all gone well. It is my first business experience and, of course, we all learn from our mistakes, but it is good that I dared and actually opened this place,” says the entrepreneur.

Although he is visually impaired – he has been blind in one eye since birth – he has had no previous exposure to the world of the blind. “My parents brought me up as a normal child, without taking this disability into account. The only difference is that every year I had to go to the doctor to have my eyes checked. In the last years of school I had to change my glasses, and he said, ‘You can buy those glasses with your disability pension. How, please? What disability? It was a great miracle for us – for me and also for my mother. Yes, I knew that I had to protect my health, I had to protect my eye, but I didn’t have any big restrictions in that respect. Although nobody guaranteed me that the disease would not develop in the other eye. Thank God, everything is fine, it did not develop. But somewhere in my subconscious I was afraid that I might become blind. So, I guess you could say I’m still involved, even though I wasn’t in the blind community until this business,” says Maksims.

He only found out about the Latvian Society of the Blind when he was looking for staff. He started working with the society, and 14 people responded to the first job advertisement. Almost half of them had received a special training on how to lead a group, how to keep people’s attention, etc. Finding people to work is not a big problem – there are about 12 000 visually impaired or partially sighted people in Latvia, most of whom do not have a job. So, there is internal competition, but those who have got a job usually don’t want to lose it.

The company currently employs four people. The main selection principle is that the employee must be responsible and can be relied on, and must be willing to work and learn. In addition to Latvian, you also need to speak Russian at least at a conversational level; English is an advantage.

It is not easy to compete with other entertainment offers. “Like everyone else, you have to compete and find your place,” says Maksims, adding that he can’t complain about the attendance and the interest of the people. The museum is now also part of the Latvian cultural programme for schools, so pupils come in relatively large numbers. Companies organise team building events here.

The impact and contribution to society is easy to measure – just read the feedback from visitors. “They say it’s a great stereotype-breaker, they become more empathetic, they understand the problems of blind people better. Even some parents of blind people say afterwards – now we can understand much better how our child feels. I really like the way the schools are responding – the pupils understand not only how visually impaired people feel, but how anyone with mental or physical health problems feels. That makes me really happy,” says Maksims Mihejevs.

The social enterprise “RaMaLa” has brought to Latvia a perhaps less familiar form of therapy – Bread Therapy. It is a method of working that helps different people to create an atmosphere of trust and a feeling of home by baking and sharing bread together. It is also another way to help victims of violence, people with special needs or simply those who need to build their self-confidence and realise their worth.

“These values are very important in today’s society – the opportunity to be heard, to be appreciated, which is disappearing in today’s age of haste and stress, and people feel lonely, it is perhaps more difficult for them to get along with others, to prove themselves,” says Ruta Šenkevica, the owner of the Creative Bread Laboratory.

The idea comes from the “Bread House” in Bulgaria and was inspired by research on how people in different communities in different parts of the world use their time to cook together. It’s a wonderful way to bring people together and unite them, as everyone involved in the process becomes more open and honest. “RaMaLa” in Ventspils is now a full member of Bakers Without Borders, a network that works with this form of therapy all over the world.

“On an exchange visit to Bulgaria, together with the specialists of the crisis centre “Paspārne”, we discovered this form of therapy. It has very good results, and it’s here and now, because from the very first session, the person is very satisfied with what they have done and how they have done,” says Ruta. “Bread therapy builds self-confidence because it shows that I can do something, I can talk to others, I can express my opinion, I can do a range of different things, and it results in a smell and a taste – something you can feel immediately. I’m simplifying it a lot at the moment, but the idea is to help people who have problems with confidence and communication. In our case, we work with victims of violence, with people with special needs for therapeutic purposes, but it works for anyone who needs to build their self-confidence.”

The method is also integrated into leisure activities for both children and adults. This generates income, which allows bread therapy to be provided free of charge to the target groups. Eight such free sessions can be provided per month – there is no possibility of offering more, as there is dedicated time for paid events that can cover the costs. The free groups are for both adults and children and are run by two organisations: the crisis centre “Paspārne”, which is also the founder of the social enterprise “RaMaLa” and helps victims of violence, and the day centre for people with special needs “Cimdiņš”.

“There are also special cases. For example, if a mum calls and says she wants to organise a birthday party for her child who has special needs, we always find a way to offer discounts, and there are discounts for independent clients too. We are very flexible – if it’s a client from our target group, then we give them the service on a slightly different basis,” explains Ruta.

In Bulgaria, this type of therapy works a lot with Syrian refugees, also with Romanians, with Roma people. “We saw how well it all worked, but we knew there was no money, because you also need the material basis for it, not just the knowledge. But we went, we studied, we took exams – it’s not that easy. Back in Latvia, we were looking for ways to implement this type of therapy service, and that was when the first support programme for social entrepreneurship opened, when we could apply for Altum grants. At that time we hadn’t yet set up a limited liability company, we had a crisis centre through which we applied for a grant. We were able to start our activity thanks to the grant of the crisis centre. We got funding for a year. We looked at the premises, renovated them so that we could also do business. Then, with the next grant, we set up a company, and we have been working as a limited liability company since 2020″, Ruta recalls the journey to the company that is working well today.

They are looking for staff with a background in pastry and cooking, but the classes are run by one person – Ruta herself, who is trained and qualified to do so. So, in principle, there are two different parts to the business. One is simply catering, the other is everything that goes on in the classroom, where there are therapeutic classes, entertainment workshops, bonding events and everything else that can be done to earn money to realise the social aims of the company. “RaMaLa” employs eight people at the moment, with additional staff in the summer season.

“We received our first grant as a work integration social enterprise. The employees were those who needed it – women who were long-term unemployed, Roma women. Not only did they learn how to bake the perfect cakes that everybody loves, but now they are working in other jobs. They have learnt what discipline is, what professional relations are, and so on. The fact that you see the results is probably what motivates you to keep going,” says Ruta.

“RaMaLa” could also compete as a regular café – the quality is good, customers have recognised it. There are companies that deliberately choose the services of this place year after year for its social purpose. But no one is resting on their achievements – various innovative ideas are also being brought to life. For example, we offer also cakes for pets.

“We had a little chef school for children and they expressed that they wanted to learn how to cook treats for their pets. So, we made cakes and biscuits for the dogs and cats, and the Ventspils Canisterapy team came and tested the treats. It is true that those who are working with people from difficult situations, all the closest partners are from different alternative therapies, methods e.g. canister therapy, reitherapy, pedagogical riding – we bring in as many different resources as possible to get a positive result in these rehabilitation services. Dogs are also one of our partners, hence these cakes for dogs,” says Ruta with a laugh.

The plans for the future are also clear – documents are being prepared and everything is being sorted out to create a franchise and bring this type of place to other cities. “There are already plans, business partners who are ready to try something in Riga. We have the ideas, but we lack the funding at the moment, so we are waiting for the support programme to be able to go all the way,” says Ruta. If “RaMaLa” becomes a success in Riga, then perhaps other cities could be considered.

“Both the association (crisis centre) and the social enterprise are my creation, they are my ‘children’, and I see the good sides when both of these places work well. You can bring so much positivity to people! At the end of the session, there is a moment when they take the towels off the covered bread… You can’t describe it – the feeling, the energy that comes when the children see that they have done so well, that everything smells like warm bread! I guess that’s what motivates me – that moment,” says Ruta Šenkevica.

Initially, Ruta set up a crisis centre because there was no such thing in Ventspils – people could not get all the help they needed in one place. “I used to work for a human rights support network that was active all over Latvia. The programme was coordinated by Rūta Dimanta and the NGO Centre in Riga. Together with Rūta and other people from different regions, we created this network and talked about everyone’s rights and what they were entitled to. It was a crazy time twenty years ago – resources in Latvia were very scarce and NGOs were the ones who could give people hope and support. At that time, the idea came up that there should be a crisis centre in Ventspils. Through this support programme I helped young mothers who, for example, had nowhere to live because they had a violent husband who was chasing them out of the house. That’s how it all came together and the crisis centre was created,” Ruta recalls the beginning of her work. Gradually it became clear that more needed to be done, because the crisis centre was selling a service to the state, and the state was not prepared to pay for a broad basket of services. Trying to find more money led to this business idea.

Travelling is no longer an exclusive activity, but still not everyone has access to it. That is the reason why the social enterprise Difftravel was created – to provide transport services and tourism opportunities for people with various disabilities or reduced mobility. And to do it in a way that will leave them with fond memories long after the trip – a sort of emotional therapy.

It all started with small trips around Latvia, but now Difftravel organises trips to European countries as well, and plans to develop it more and more. Santa Beitāne, the company’s CEO, emphasises that this is a slow-growing but sustainable business niche with great potential. “This will be our third season, but we haven’t really stopped over the winter either – we’ve been going to warmer places. In the autumn, when the local season ended, we went to Germany, we had Christmas in Prague, then we visited Cyprus and at the end of April we were in Switzerland. And then the local season starts again,” says Santa.

Difftravel differs from a regular tour operator because it adapts the trip plan to its clients needs – knowing that these travellers will not be able to move quickly and will each have their own specific needs, travelling in small groups (no larger than 30 people) and making sure that everyone is comfortable throughout the trip.

“Difftravel is part of Mobilizing, a social enterprise that offers driving lessons for people with hearing impairments. The desire to help people who are deprived of something because of their health was rooted in my childhood, when I had to undergo treatment for a pulmonary tuberculosis infection and spent a long time in various sanatoriums and medical institutions,” says Santa Beitāne.

But how did the idea for such a special tour company come about? “I wanted to do this for a very, very long time. I think it was 2008 or 2010, but there was absolutely no infrastructure for it in Latvia at that time, and I couldn’t do it alone. The support organisation for people with disabilities “Apeirons” has done a lot in terms of accessibility, a lot has been achieved and improved, and the general perception is slowly changing. However, compared to other European countries, there is still a lot to do. There, for example, accessibility is available even very, very high up in the mountains, where the conditions are supposedly difficult. We still have room for improvement here in Latvia, but we can also see improvements,” says Santa Beitāne.

The choice of trip routes and destinations in Latvia is therefore based on the principle of roughly defining the destination and then assessing which attractions, places of interest or interesting businesses are available along the way. After that, it is a matter of contacting and checking whether, for example, a wheelchair user will be able to get to the chosen point and enjoy the offer. The websites of municipalities and tourist centres are also a good help.

Travelling to other countries is much more complicated. It all starts with booking hotels, which is a lot of work as availability is not always sufficient. “The word ‘accessible room’ does not mean that everything is really adapted. Many people think that if a wheelchair can fit through the door, it’s accessible for disabled people. So you have to get in touch and ask for details: do the toilet have handrails, does the shower have a grab bar, how wide is the door, how high is the bed…,” says Santa. Reservations often need to be changed, and transport availability needs to be thought of right away. For example, when organising a trip to Switzerland, Santa left earlier so that she could bring the bus all the way across Germany to Switzerland and leave it at the airport. Then she flew back to Latvia and joined the group so that she could have the journey from the airport in her own vehicle.

To find the best routes, the Difftravel manager also sometimes does research trips. Artificial intelligence is also a good help, as it can roughly create a route by suggesting stops at a glance: “It does not prepare the precise information. It just provides me some clues, but then I need to check everything.”

Most of the time Santa organises everything on her own, but she gets a lot of help from Aivars Krūzmētra, a board member of the People with disabilities’ Association “Aizvējš”. “I also have Aivars. He has a very sharp mind, he has a disability himself, but his mind – hats off! I make a plan, give it to him and ask him to check and get back to me if anything is wrong! He looks at everything very carefully, notices what I’ve forgotten,” says Santa, grateful for the help.

Without grant support, social entrepreneurship would struggle to survive, as the cost of providing a trip is higher than for a normal tour operator. One of the reason is because the trips are organised in relatively small groups. “It’s not a 40 or 50-seater bus, where all the costs are then spread out,” explains Santa.

She is determined to get another bus in the near future, which has already been reserved. A second driver is also needed to expand the operation. “At the moment I use family members, whom I don’t pay anything, but how long can I do that? This is just a solution for now, I need a second driver who will be paid as an employee,” says the Difftravel manager.

It’s already in the future plans, and Santa is very clear. “I definitely want to develop the specialised vehicle service. Where is the problem? At the moment, if more people with disabilities come to Latvia – even athletes or participants in major events – no one can provide [them with adequate transport]. For example, I was recently asked – can you transport 100 wheelchair tennis players to Valmiera? I would like to do that, I want to develop this specialised vehicle service. And then the next stage – when I’m done with this, I really want to set up a campsite for people with disabilities to host international events. I will not give that up. As long as there is no war in Latvia, I will do it!” Santa Beitāne is determined.