Hotspot for social entrepreneurship

Climate protection, demographic change, digitization - the world is facing major challenges. Against this backdrop, social enterprises have been gaining significant relevance for some time. Instead of increasing profits at any price, the focus for social entrepreneurs is on solving urgent social and ecological problems. The coronavirus as well as climate change have once again accelerated the trend towards start-ups in this field, contrary to the general trend of a declining start-up rate.

The state of Hesse has also recognized the potential of social enterprises and was the first federal state to develop a funding program tailored to social entrepreneurs. The Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland e.V. (SEND) is involved in its creation. "With this funding program, we have the opportunity to identify and promote social innovations in our state of Hesse," said MdL Kaja Kinkel (Bündnis90/Grüne). Birgit Heilig, board member at SEND, adds: "Social entrepreneurs are looking for entrepreneurial solutions to social problems and thus have specific needs during their start-up. Through the funding, we can provide targeted support here."

The program, which is initially limited until the end of the year, supports individuals who want to start a social enterprise in Hesse or have recently done so. Geographically, the state is divided among various project partners, who then use regional scouts to identify local social entrepreneurs and transfer them to the project. The University of Kassel is responsible for the Kassel area.

"Depending on the needs of the founders, we can provide support with expert advice in a wide range of areas, a strong online community and targeted workshops," explains Gabriele Hennemuth from the UniKasselTransfer Incubator, the University of Kassel's start-up consultancy. The regional scout is Ms. Annette Fauvel from the Kassel University of the Arts.

"With this, in addition to this year's UNIKAT special prize "Social Entrepreneurship", we have a great further offer for the increasing number of socially committed project ideas", Jörg Froharth, head of the UniKasselTransfer Incubator, is pleased to say.

In addition to UNIKAT-mehr unternehmen at the University of Kassel, HIGHEST at the TU Darmstadt, Social Impact Lab Frankfurt, heimathafen Wiesbaden, MAFEX at Philipps University Marburg and the TIG are also on board as regional partners.

More information on the program is available to socially and environmentally sustainable startups here: https://bit.ly/Sozialinnovator-Hessen

Contact:
Gabriele Hennemuth
University of Kassel Start-up Advisory Service
Tel. 0561 804 1859
Email: hennemuth[at]uni-kassel[dot]de