Social Entrepreneurship in Romania

The DOR Guide for Social Entrepreneurship

Monica Chiorpec, 20.11.2019, 14:01

The Decat O Revista team, DOR, has launched the 24/7: A Life and Work Guide for Creative Entrepreneurship 2019. This latest edition of the guide is dedicated to social entrepreneurship, starting with 20 stories about associations, foundations, companies, start-ups and a changing business environment.

Jennifer Brandel, an American journalist and entrepreneur, was the special guest at the launch event for the guide. Ms. Brandel, who has herself experienced models of entrepreneurship that no longer answer the needs of society, has decided to propose an alternative to the so-called unicorn model for companies. The success of such a company relied on monopolistic behavior, attempting to maximize profit and competition. The alternative she proposes is the zebra model, one that is aimed at the human factor, and the social impact of a business. The values that Jennifer Brandel proposes are illustrated in the social entrepreneurship guide launched at the event. Community impact, the level of trust from employees, customer satisfaction, but also a supply chain based on ethics and cooperation count the most in such a business. Here is Irina Tacu, coordinator of the DOR Guide:

“We were interested in finding people with businesses and organizations in various cities who have an impact in other areas as well. We were interested first and foremost in understanding how social entrepreneurship is seen by people who know the ecosystem, because they work in organizations that support this approach, such as Ashoka Romania, the NESsT Foundation, or Social Innovation Solutions. We re very interested in finding out what moves these people, what their missions is, and what gets them out of bed in the morning.”

The ideas in the DOR Guide involve several areas of activity, including education. Alternative educational methods, in line with the emotional needs of children, were the basis for the Tzitzi-Poc project, which Irina Tacu told us about:

“One of the stories that we documented with the DOR team was the Tzitzi-Poc project, which is a business started by a person who wanted very much to take into account emotions when it came to educating children between the ages of 3 and 8. To this end she created a theater show that involves children who attend it, and engages them directly. This helps them understand emotions like empathy, friendship, and even anxiety.”

Nutrition cannot be ignored when it comes to social entrepreneurship. Some new farming co-ops want to support small communities of entrepreneurs while supplying Romanian families with fresh vegetables. Irina Tacu told us about a sweets shop that offers jobs to women from disadvantaged backgrounds:

“We went to Apahida, a place in Cluj County, at the Lunca Somesului Mic Farming Cooperative, where we met sales manager Anca Marcu. We got to see how a modern farming co-op works, which helps unite farmers and helps them cooperate in producing better vegetables, allowing them to provide farm to table products. Simona Craciun opened the sweets shop called Marshmallow Cake, which aims to provide support for the team of employees there. After three years of running this business, Simona is trying to find even better solutions to help her employees improve their lives.”

The DOR Guide also includes complex areas such as architecture, another area where people can help improve other peoples lives:

“We discovered the ArhiPera Association, which revealed to us a wonderful story, about a group of architects that practice what we call participative architecture. They help families from disadvantaged areas across the country build homes that they design, and then build together with the family. FABER is another initiative, in the city of Timisoara, a growing business in which 13 people from creative industries have gotten together to restore a historic building in the city, which is meant to become a hub for creative people, with a bistro and an area for events, because they want to bring together creative people from across the city, helping them work together.”

The DOR Guide is a great source for social entrepreneurship stories, ideas for start-ups, thoughts on making an impact, and lots of information. It is available on the dor.ro website.