Enterprising for Tomorrow: Social Entrepreneurship & Youth Engagement Conference

Angela Achiței is the president of ADV Romania Foundation (since 2002), social entrepreneur and promoter of social economy in Romania and social entrepreneurship in the Republic of Moldova.

On May 5, 2022 Angela Achiței was in Strasbourg as a speaker at the most important social economy event co-organized by the European Commission and the European Parliament - Social Economy: the Future of Europe. Watch her intervention to discover unique insights from an awarded social entrepreneur and find about the amazing work of ADV Romania in boosting social economy!

On May 13, 2022 - in Social Economy Month, Angela Achiței will open the event and present the latest opportunities for social entrepreneurs, as the organizer of the Enterprising for Tomorrow Conference.

Achievements

- developed under the umbrella of ADV Romania Foundation three social enterprises that have become models of good practices at national and international level - UtilDeco, WISE Travel, JobDirect;
- wrote and implemented projects through which 42 social enterprises were established in Romania and five social enterprises in Republic of Moldova;
- registered the first social economy cluster in Romania on the European cluster platform - Accelerator of Social Enterprises;
- is the co-founder of AFIN - the first non-bank financial institution in Romania, with Romanian capital, dedicated to the social economy sector and the first NBFI in Romania to operate as a social enterprise (90% of the profit will be reinvested);
- supported the publication of the Social Economy Law and the application norms - Law no. 219 of July 23, 2015;
- introduced in the Law of SMEs the NGOs with economic activity and in the Fiscal Code, the exemption from the payment of the tax on buildings and lands of the social enterprises of insertion;
- reactivated the sector of protected units through a legislative approach approved in parliament;
- developed the National Program for the Development of Social Entrepreneurship 2021-2025 for the Ministry of Economy of Moldova and GIZ Moldova;
- developed the National Financing and Mentoring Program for Social Enterprises 2021-2025 for ODIMM Moldova and GIZ Moldova;

Awards

- Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017
- One of the three finalists at Social Economy Awards - Social Innovation  2021
- Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise 2022 
- Top 100 Managers in Romania 2022

Duration: 10:10 - 10:20 EEST

Costel Alexe is the president of the Iași County Council, elected by the vote of the people of Iași on September 27, 2020. The main objectives of his local government program are the development of transport infrastructure, construction of industrial parks for business development and growth of the local economy, improving the health system. facilitating access to education for children throughout the county, supporting cross-border partnerships. He was Minister of Environment of Waters and Forests and deputy elected in the terms 2012-2016 and 2016-2020.

Since winning the mandate of president of the Iași County Council, he initiated the steps for the construction from scratch of two new hospitals, the Regional Institute of Cardiovascular Medicine and the Integrated Hospital for Respiratory Diseases. Also, the current administration has started the construction of the first industrial park managed by the Iași County Council - Iași Industrial Park, obtained European funding of over 50 million euros for the extensive modernization and expansion project of Iasi Airport and operationalized the Integrated Management System Waste in Iași County.

Costel Alexe will be present at the opening of the conference with a presentation on the role of socially responsible public procurement in supporting the professional integration of people from vulnerable groups in social inclusion enterprises.

According to National Agency for Employment data, in March 2022, 168 social insertion enterprises were active - entities that have at least 30% of the employed staff belonging to the vulnerable group. It should be noted that they pay the same taxes and duties as any classic company, the only facility is that they are exempt from paying tax on buildings and land through the effect of the Tax Code.

And yet, we have these numbers:

- 614% Increase in the number of social insertion enterprises in 2021 compared to 2020
- 108 Social insertion enterprises set up in 2021
- 385 employees from vulnerable groups
- 25 social insertion enterprises set up in 2022
- 34 new jobs created in 2022

Public authorities can increase their social impact through socially responsible public procurement

What if part of the government's procurement budget was used to buy products and services from social enterprises? How is the reserved contract system used in practice? What can we do to stimulate cooperation with public authorities and what are the benefits for both parties?

We intend to answer these questions, together with the representative of the Iași County Council, during the opening session of the event.

Duration: 10:25 - 10:35 EEST

Antonella Noya is the Head of the Unit on Social Economy and Innovation at the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. She co-ordinates the work on social economy, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. 

Antonella holds a university degree in political science, a specialisation in legislative drafting and a post graduate degree in economics of territorial development and urban planning from the Sorbonne. She speaks fluent English, French and Italian and fair Spanish. 

Antonella has authored, co-authored and co-ordinated a number of OECD publications and policy papers on various topics.

She represents the OECD at the United Nations Taskforce on Social and Solidarity and at the EC Group on Social Economy and Social Enterprises (GECES) In 2021, Antonella was recognised by the Euclid Network as one of the 100 influential Women in social entrepreneurship. In April 2022 she  was  nominated as expert by ministerial decree to sit in the Frech High Council on Social and Solidarity Economy.

Duration: 10:40 - 10:50 EEST

Social entrepreneurship in Eastern Partnership countries - encouraging the involvement of young people in the social economy!

Maxim Pijevskii is trainer and facilitator in non-formal education, working with Civil Society Organizations, individuals and groups in the Republic of Moldova and in the Eastern Europe for more than 10 years. His passion is visual facilitation as well as contributing to raising sustainable and efficient teams, fruitful coexistence of people and in discovering diversity.

- Organizational management over 10 years
- Non-formal education, facilitation over 10 years
- Team development over 10 years
- Visual facilitation over 5 years

Duration: 10.55 - 11.05 EEST

The creation and development of social enterprises in the Republic of Moldova will be supported by the National Financing and Mentoring Program for Social Enterprises. The program is exepcted to be launched this year, by ODIMM - Organization for the Development of the Small and Medium Enterprises Sector.

Duration: 11.10 - 11.20 EEST

Olena Prysiazhniuk - Finance & Operation Officer in emergency mission IsraAID Moldova

Before the war in Ukraine, Olena was a thought leader in the social economy sector. She has been the coordinator of a unique Program in Ukraine for social entrepreneurship - the most successful case of development of the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship (Vinnytsia City Council, Ukraine) and has initiated and implemented more than 300 projects in the field of diplomacy, entrepreneurship, non-formal education, culture, philanthropy and more.

She develops and implements projects to support business and SME development, coordinates the unique in Ukraine Program of Social Entrepreneurship Development of Vinnytsia City TG, participates in the formation of strategic documents and local development programs. She works on building the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship, is a speaker and mentor, author of a number of socially oriented initiatives and legislative documents.

She teaches social entrepreneurship at the Norway-Ukraine International Center. She is a civic leader and the head d of the active group "Not indifferent hearts-Vinnytsia", volunteer, philanthropist. He has 3 higher educations in the field of public administration, tourism, finance and economics. 

Duration: 11.25 - 11.35 EEST

Ancuța Vameșu, President of RISE Romania (Romanian Network of Social Insertion Enterprises), member of 2022 Euclid Network Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise, co-founder of AFIN - the first non-bank financial institution in Romania, with Romanian capital, dedicated exclusively to enterprises from the social economy.

Ancuța Vameșu has been active in the Romanian non-governmental sector since the 1990s when she initiated and designed a series of civil society development programs. She has been a member of the Expert Group on Social Economy of the European Commission 2012-2014 and in the International Scientific Commission of CIRIEC (International Center for Research in the Social and Cooperative Economy) since 2017.

Ancuța founded and was the first director of the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, in which she initiated in 2010 the Institute of Social Economy and in 2013 the Solidarity Laboratory.

Duration: 11.40 - 11.50 EEST

Dana Verbal, Team leader for Social Economy, Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), European Commission

Dana is leading a team in charge of the overall follow-up to the Commission action plan for the social economy launched in 2021. The team is currently preparing the ground for the implementation of several key initiatives announced in the action plan. Dana has joined the European Commission in 2012 and worked so far on different measures to facilitate access to finance for social enterprises and to develop the knowledge base on social economy.

Her academic background is in International Economic Relations and Social Sciences, topics that she studied and researched at the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest and the University of Trieste.

Duration: 12.05 - 12.15 EEST

Víctor Meseguer joined Social Economy Europe, the voice of the 2.8 million social economy enterprises and organisations in the EU, in 2014. Since 2018 he represents Social Economy Europe at the European Commission Expert Group on social economy and social enterprises and at the UN Taskforce on Social and Solidarity Economy. 

He studied a BA in Political Science at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona. In the framework of an ERASMUS exchange, he studied for a year at the King’s College of London. Victor holds two master’s degrees: in Corporate Social Responsibility (University of Murcia) and in European Affairs (European Studies Institute, Université Libre of Brussels). Passionate about entrepreneurship, collective action, policy and international relations, Víctor writes columns in the Spanish newspaper ‘La Verdad’. 

SEE has a permanent dialogue with EU Institutions, Member States and International organisations to support social economy enterprises and entrepreneurs by mainstreaming the social economy in the main socio-economic policies and boosting its visibility. SEE is responsible for the secretariat of the European Parliament’s Social Economy Intergroup formed by more than 80 Members of the European Parliament belonging to the main political groups.

Duration: 12.15 - 12.25 EEST

Andrea Bratu is investment manager in EIF’s Inclusive Finance team, responsible with the implementation of the microfinance and social entrepreneurship programs. 

From Romania, working in the financial sector for more than 15 years, mainly with financial institutions and social enterprises dedicated to financial inclusion in Europe and Africa. 

Duration: 12.25 - 12.35 EEST

Daniel Sorrosal - Secretary General, European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks and Financiers (FEBEA).

He  coordinates the Federation's strategy and oversees the implementation of the annual operational plan. He represents FEBEA and its members before the European Institutions and coordinates the lobbying and advocacy work of the Federation.

Duration: 12.35 - 12.45 EEST

Dónal Traynor is CEO of The Community Finance Ireland Group.

Today it is the fastest growing social finance provider across the island of Ireland but there is always more to do.

He and his team are driven by their overall mission to ensure that Social Impact is Felt not just Dreamt.

He has over 23 years working with charities and social enterprises as well as with stakeholder and government influencers across the island, helping find social finance solutions that supports both ambition and sustainability.

Dónal holds a degree in Economics & Geography from UCD, Grad. Dip. in Business Studies from UL, an MBS in Co-operative and Social Enterprise from UCC, and is QFA accredited from the Institute of Banking.

Duration: 12.45 - 12.55 EEST

Duration: 13.00 – 14.00 EEST - Coffee Break

Get to know the stories and people behind the numbers!

We'll talk to five entrepreneurs from Romania and Moldova and find out:

- what a social enterprise is and what it can do
- what a social entrepreneur is and what their why is
- the results of these leaders of change
- how you can be profitable and at the same time have a positive impact in the community

Roxana Damaschin, founder OilRight
Ion Georgescu, founder Paper Mill
Ioana Cerescu, founder AER
Alina Beteringhe, cofounder Memories of Communism Museum 
Romanița Alexeev, fondator REINVENT UPCYCLYING
Codruț Bogdan Gîrboan, founder Bricked
Gohar Mkoyan, founder of Social Entrepreneurs International Academy, Armenia

Duration: 14.05 - 14.50 EEST

Get to know the stories and people who have developed extraordinary models of social innovation, who bring value to the community, who create jobs for the marginalized, who show the power of social economy enterprises.

We will talk to 7 entrepreneurs from Romania and the Republic of Moldova and find out:

- what a social enterprise is and what it can do
- what a social entrepreneur is and what their why is
- the results of these leaders of change
- how you can be profitable and at the same time have a positive impact in the community

Elena Potur from Asociația La Timp
Viorica Ilici from ADIR
Lucian Butnaru from Cofeels
Bogdan Dimciu from OPHORI
Tamara Sirotencu from Senior Delta Grup
Sergiu Gurău from Floare de Cireș, R.Moldova
Ecaterina Țăruș from ”Prietenii noștri”, R. Moldova

Duration: 14.50 - 15.50 EEST

The Cinemateque of Social Economy - an event with a unique concept that presents and celebrates the social impact stories created by the 42 social entrepreneurs within the Accelerator of Social Enterprises  project.

The event will take place in the Atrium Palas Mall, from 18:00 - 20:00.

Moderator: Amalia Georgescu

Duration: 18.00 - 22.00 EEST

Buy for Good Expo is a concept-event taking place for the first time in Romania - an exhibition selling products and services made by social enterprises from all over the country.

Local. Sustainable. Inclusive.

There will be 20+ social enterprises from various fields - decorations, events and experiences, B2B services, zero waste, recycling, children's services, wooden toys, services and personal care products.

What are Social Enterprises?

They are businesses that produce competitive, innovative products and services and are set up with a mission to solve community problems and support social or environmental initiatives.

• 90% of the profit goes to the social mission

• people, environment and community come first

In other words...

Good for you! Good for the community!

📍 Atrium Palas Mall

🕙 10:00 - 22:00

Duration: 10.00 - 22.00 EEST