The Social Enterprise Scene in Berlin…Impressions From Day 1

Berlin is widely regarded in the social enterprise world as a hub of activity and a city packed full of success stories. As part of Bridging To The Future’s mission to promote economic independence through entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and education I am currently visiting the city to find out more about the successes, failures and opportunities that make up the Berlin social enterprise scene.

My personal goal is to find out what is going on to support individuals, groups and communities that exist at the margins of society. Berlin is a big place and I’m keen to know how far, and how hard, the ‘key players’ of social enterprise here are reaching out to these people. (I think this is key as I view social enterprise as an immensely powerful tool and pathway for groups to change their scenarios and support growth in their own communities and areas.)

Today was my first (half) day in Berlin and I met up with Social Innovation Lab — an 8 month programme (for 8–12 entrepreneurs) which offers a combination of hard, soft and where possible bespoke support to aspiring social entrepreneurs. They have been running for 4 years (they grew out of IQ Consultancy) and I think they are active in about 6 cities. I had a long conversation with some of their team and the three main points about the Berlin social enterprise scene I formed today (and these may be completely undermined tomorrow of course!) were:

1. The support for social enterprises and aspiring social entrepreneurs is most prominent in areas, and amongst demographics, where wealth already exists. E.g. In the big cities and amongst the university graduates having a fling with entrepreneurship

2. The organisations and people I met were inspiring and had excellent ideas — particularly impressive was their understanding that to truly tackle a social problem through a business that business needs to be financially viable and sustainable (it doesn’t necessarily need to aim at growth though…)

3. The range and calibre of support available to social entrepreneurs came from the traditional pick and mix selection of support. There is perhaps more scope for meeting declared support needs in a bespoke and new way rather than shoehorning a need in to a pre-existing solution

I’m not sure if these are positive or negative impressions — either way the range of people and organisations I’m set to meet tomorrow will certainly provoke further reflection!

Tschus!