How do Social Entrepreneurs Make The World Better ?

They started in 2004, three years before the global crisis. Even though the economic situation in many European countries was better back then, the organisation called Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) had a lot to do anyway. Now, in the times of higher unemployment and governments cutting social help expenses, the role of social entrepreneurs is bigger than ever.

The Irish society has a lot of good ideas to raise their country’s standard of living. Sometimes they just can not find the sufficient funds to realise them. SEI knows that if they want to get results from social entrepreneurs, they have to help as many organisations as possible with not only the financial obstacles, but also the bureaucracy and knowhow.

SEI’s idea is seeking out “social entrepreneurs who have the most potential to positively impact upon challenges in our country. We work with them intensively to develop their projects and ensure that their ideas are implemented as effectively, efficiently, and sustainably as possible”.

There are four general ways of how SEI supports social entrepreneurs :

• providing facilities,
• enhancing public knowledge of an issue,
• providing a model that others can replicate,
• altering policy at a national level.

Since 2004, they have supported 190 social entrepreneurs and contributed the significant amount of €6,264,584 to their projects. Their activity of only the last twelve months impacted 89,868 people. All of whom received help from social entrepreneurs who were partly financed by SEI. That’s how it works.

Visit SEI site or attend their meetings (all of them will take place in March) :

Dublin, 8th

Belfast, 9th

Galway, 22nd

Cork, 23rd