Who we are

September 17, 2018

NGO “Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia” (SEAL) is a member organization to promote the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia. We bring together like-minded organizations, companies and people who believe that social entrepreneurship in Latvia has huge potential and who are ready to participate in the development and strengthening of the sector.

The SEAL was founded in autumn 2015 and five its founders are the Foundation for Open Society DOTS, the Social Research Center PROVIDUS, the Latvian Samaritan Association, the charity store network ‘Otra Elpa’, social business accelerator ‘New Door’. They are organizations that had done a great deal in the field of research and promotion of social entrepreneurship even before, as well as the ‘pioneers’ of social entrepreneurship in Latvia, who have proved with their work that social entrepreneurship in Latvia is necessary and possible. The SEAL currently has more than 90 members – full list and short descriptions can be viewed HERE.  

WHAT WE DO? 

The association operates in three main directions:

1. Advocacy of interests at local, regional and national levels. The SEAL participated in the development of the Law on Social Entrepreneurship, our representative is currently in the Commission for the Status of Social Enterprises at the Ministry of Welfare. The SEAL also focuses its attention on social entrepreneurship opportunities at the Latvian level, as well as participates in the development of a social entrepreneurship support program. We also work with other regional and national decision-makers and policy-makers to create a supportive environment for social entrepreneurship in Latvia. Our cooperation network includes municipalities, entrepreneurship support organisations, local, regional and national stakeholders.

2. Improvement of the capacity of members, development of the experience and knowledge-sharing platform. In various ways, we help our members to achieve better their goals by providing joint activities, fast and effective information exchange, up-to-date information on finance and cooperation opportunities, and counseling support. We promote the goods and services of our members in various ways, for example by collecting information about the member’s offer, organizing the Social Entrepreneurship Market in the Kalnciems Quarter, and introducing with useful partners.

3.  Informing society about social entrepreneurship. The SEAL takes part in various events to inform the wider community about the opportunities offered by social entrepreneurship. We have created a network of social entrepreneurship ambassadors in the regions of Latvia, we regularly participate in the events organized by our ambassadors. Every year we organize the industry’s largest and most ambitious event – the Social Entrepreneurship Forum. We maintain the largest source of information in the Latvian language about social entrepreneurship – www.socialauznemejdarbiba.lv.

OUR TEAM

The daily work of the association is managed by SEAL team: director Regita Zeiļa, project manager Līva Švarce, project manager assistant Māra Skuja and event coordinator Līga Ivanova.

The Association’s Council consists of five people elected by the members for a term of two years. The Council acts as the strategic advisory body of the Association, defining the main directions of the SEAL, as well as voting for the admission of new members of the SEAL. The Council meets not less than once a quarter.

Composition of the Association’s Council (of date until November 23, 2021)

Andris Bērziņš, Chairman of the Association ‘Latvian Samaritan Association’
Inga Muižniece, Head of social enterprise “SONIDO”
Elīna Novada, Head of social enterprise “Svaigi.lv”
Agnese Frīdenberga,  think-tank “Providus” researcher
Miks Celmiņš, Head of  “Make Room Europe”

Business details

Association “Latvijas Sociālās uzņēmējdarbības asociācija”

Reg.No. 50008244721

Legal address: Alberta street 13, LV-1010 //

Swedbanka // LV35HABA0551040981984