How to promote collaboration between social enterprises and large companies: our success story
On September 6th, the long-cherished dream of the Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia for a meeting between social enterprises and “big” businesses came true! The event took place in the lively and beautiful spaces of the Āgenskalns market, bringing together 15 social entrepreneurs and 15 representatives from large businesses. They got to know each other, understood each other’s offers and needs, had face-to-face conversations, and worked towards forming new, socially responsible business partnerships.
Each of the 15 social enterprises gave a brief one-minute speech, introducing their company and the products or services they could offer to large businesses. Afterward, the 15 large businesses also presented their companies in one-minute pitches, outlining their needs and desires for collaboration with social enterprises.
During these valuable 15 minutes, SEAL members, the social entrepreneurs, learned that some large companies already collaborate or have collaborated in the past with SEAL members. For example, Riga International Airport has worked with “Everybody Can” (“Visi Var”) and “BlindArt”, “Rīgas Satiksme” with “Apeirons” and “DHL” with “SOS Children’s Villages” (SOS bērnu ciemati). These partnerships have been successful, so the large companies are interested in learning more about other social enterprise offerings.
While there were some overlapping interests and visions for collaboration among large companies, there was also a lot of diversity. The most frequently expressed needs included venues for corporate events, employee well-being through team-building activities and gifts, education on sustainability issues, and partnerships in material recycling.
After learning about the needs from both sides, the large and social enterprises were paired up, and within five minutes, they had the opportunity to discuss potential collaboration models face-to-face. There were three rounds of such discussions.
The event featured participation from social enterprises, SEAL members such as:
The large companies were represented by:
At the event, the Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia (SEAL) also presented a catalog of products and services offered by social entrepreneurs. This catalog includes not only social enterprises but also various organizations, associations, and foundations involved in social entrepreneurship, covering a wide range of sectors – education, culture, food services, tourism, fashion, design and more.
The event was a tremendous success, leaving everyone with an exceptionally positive experience, and we will definitely organize more in the future! A big thank you goes out to all the participants for their responsiveness and openness, as this was our first time organizing such an event! The success is also reflected in the survey results – 64% of participants indicated in the post-event survey that they had agreed to collaborate!
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Buy Social Europe B2B project is co-financed by the EU Single Market Programme and SAP and is implemented in collaboration with Euclid Network, the Social Enterprise World Forum, Social Enterprise UK, Yunus Social Business, Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland (SEND), Social Enterprise NL, Reach for Change, Sustainable Procurement Pledge, Zurich Insurance, and partners from 17 countries.
