Doing good can enrich the world around you

Behind every social improvement is a person or group of people who spotted a way to make things better, and then went out and made it happen.

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, a not-for-profit organisation that seeks out people with unique ideas to social problems, can help.

It provides civic-minded individuals, social entrepreneurs with the advice, guidance and funding they need to help turn their good idea into an even better reality - one that has a positive impact on Irish society.

Since its foundation in 2004 the privately funded organisation has supported over 550 organisations advocating for social change, distributed over €7.5m in direct funding and secured over €7m in pro-bono supports.

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This month it opened its National Call for applications which is sponsored by DCC plc, the international sales, marketing and support services group. Whether you have an idea you’d like to explore, or a social enterprise you want to grow, the Ideas Academy or the Impact Programme can help.

Commenting on the launch of the National Call, Donal Murphy, the chief executive of DCC plc, said: “Over the past twelve years, the team at DCC plc have personally and professionally seen the incredible power and community that Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has had by harnessing the transformative impact that social entrepreneurship has to solve Ireland’s social problems.”

“The Ideas Academy, which is sponsored by Bank of America, is for people who have come up with an idea and don’t know what to do next,” explains SEI chief executive Tim Griffiths.

It’s a three-month start-up accelerator “to help them really look into the problem they are trying to address, and ensure their solution addresses that problem,” he explains.

It includes training on everything from company formation to piloting solutions.

Participants receive a €500 bursary and, at the end of the programme, get the opportunity to pitch for a portion of €20,000 seed funding.

The Impact Programme, sponsored by property investor Kennedy Wilson, is a nine-month advanced business growth programme, designed for people who are about to take a significant leap and dedicate their full time to the social enterprise.

It provides one-to-one support, coaching and consultancy, as well as group training, in areas such as leadership development, communications, governance, strategic planning, fundraising, and resilience. This year, five organisations will benefit from a share of €100,000 in funding.

SEI alumni include some of the country’s best known social enterprises, including FoodCloud, started by Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward, two college friends who thought it would be a good idea to connect businesses that have surplus food, such as supermarkets, with charities and community groups that need it. Today the firm employs 70 people.

Former journalist Mick Kelly reckoned it was better to help people learn how to grow their own vegetables than buy items with excessive food miles in the supermarket. Today his business GIY Ireland employs more than 30 people and provides a range of services, including grow it yourself programmes for schools and businesses, an urban farm and an award-winning café and organic garden in Waterford.

Former McKinsey consultant Sharon Keilthy came up with the idea for her social enterprise, Jiminy Eco Toys, while trying to find a birthday gift for her daughter that wasn’t “plastic wrapped in plastic”, and typically shipped from the other side of the world.

She now sells a range of environmentally friendly toys online and provides consultancy to help other businesses make similarly positive changes.

Friends and gamers Brandon Blacoe and Eibhlin O’Riordan develop controllers that people with a disability can shape to suit their needs. The idea arose because Eibhlin has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, and found it hard to use a standard gaming controller. The pair recently raised €2.4 million in investment.

Another SEI alumni is Positive Carbon, which helps commercial kitchens to monitor and log food waste. It was founded by Aisling and Mark Kirwan, who previously worked for FoodCloud. “It’s a second-generation social enterprise,” says Griffiths.

SEI is looking for applications from people addressing a genuine social problem, “not just a nice idea” he adds.

They look at the person too.

“We have to believe there is a real passion, that they are driven by the mission, and that they have the potential to grow and develop and ultimately lead an organisation that really does make a difference.”

Thanks to support from SEI AsIAm employs 28 people, half of whom are autistic or neurodivergent

One such person is Adam Harris of AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism charity.

He was diagnosed as having Aspergers Syndrome as a child and grew to be a teenager frustrated by the lack understanding of autism generally, and by the barriers to inclusion that those in the autism community face.

He started out blogging on the subject while still a teenager and launched AsIAm in 2014.

“I initially applied for the start up programme through the National Call and then some years later did the scaling programme so all in all Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has been supporting me for the best part of a decade,” says Harris, who is now 28.

AsIAm aims to help build a society where every autistic person is accepted. To this end it developed an information website and directly supports thousands of individuals and their families.

Each year its staff provide training to approximately 10,000 people across the public service, schools, and businesses. It has launched an autism ID card to help bearers indicate if they may need additional support, time or understanding when out and about.

Today AsIAm employs 28 people, half of whom are autistic or neurodivergent.

Harris’s first social enterprise support came from friends who organised a sponsored leg wax for him, to raise funds for a website. Applying to SEI’s National Call was a lot less painful, he jokes.

“When you start a social enterprise, you are looking everywhere for help. I came across SEI’s National Call as a teen. What SEI does is make you think through your own idea. Even though it sounds cheesy, it’s not so much the financial support as the support, advice, and guidance you get that is most important,” says Harris.

Starting any new organisation is risky, he explains.

“You don’t know will it work. It’s hard to know where to start. You can lack self-belief and suffer from imposter syndrome. SEI taught me to have much more confidence to ask for support. That’s important because nobody knocks on your door saying, ‘I hear you have a good idea’. SEI helps you realise you are not asking for yourself, you are asking for other people,” says Harris.

He advises anyone with an idea for a social enterprise to apply. “Don’t think your idea has to be perfect. Just going through the process will help you because SEI supports and builds capacity,” he adds.

“It’s rocket fuel.”

Do you think you have what it takes to solve a community issue? Click here to apply