Scale-up event: BUYSOCIAL & BUY WISEly, July 30, 2024

The event, held Iași, Romania, was jointly organized by ADV Romania, RISE Romania, and the Iași Chamber of Commerce and Industry, within the Buy WISEly and BuySocial projects.

The aim was to connect mainstream businesses with social enterprises and foster partnerships between the two.

Key Activities and Presentations:

Angela Achiței (President of ADV Romania):

• Presented insights from the national BuySocial campaign.
• Highlighted the challenges faced by social enterprises in meeting the requirements of large retailers like Kaufland.
• Emphasized the importance of social procurement as a long-term tool to reduce disparities and the need for a vision to implement such policies.
• Discussed the barriers social enterprises face, such as complex due diligence processes, cash flow issues that can arise when partnering with retailers that have high demand, and high resource requirements for listing with large retailers.
• Noted the potential for social enterprises to access markets through mainstream companies’ marketplaces and the importance of direct procurement from social enterprises by companies.

Sorin Gheorghiu (Director at Chamber of Commerce of Iași):

• Provided insights on the local economy, highlighting its steady growth in recent years.
• Discussed the relationship between local economic growth and businesses’ interest in the social economy. Emphasized that local economic growth directly correlates with increased interest in social economy initiatives.
• Stressed the importance of educating entrepreneurs about social enterprises and expressed support for bringing social enterprises’ cases to the business community.
• Highlighted that local businesses are showing increased interest in contributing to society by giving back to their communities. This represents a slow but promising shift from a solely profit-focused approach to one that also considers social impact.

Ana Hannotte (Project Officer from ENSIE):

• Shared key insights from the Buy WISEly project, focusing on successful collaborations between social enterprises and mainstream companies in Europe.
• Highlighted the importance of mutual efforts from both social enterprises and mainstream businesses to foster effective partnerships.
• Presented examples of successful collaborations, such as between a digital services social enterprise and Deloitte in the Netherlands, and between Atelierul de Punza and IKEA in Romania.
• Emphasized the need for mainstream businesses to take an active role in seeking collaborations with social enterprises to achieve social impact.

Discussion and Q&A Session:

• Participants shared their experiences and challenges, such as the misconception that social enterprises should offer cheap products.
• Emphasized the need for continuous education and awareness to overcome barriers and build effective collaborations.
• Highlighted the importance of academia’s involvement in raising awareness about social enterprises.
• Mainstream businesses already collaborating with social enterprises shared their satisfaction with the quality and customization of products, such as locally made workwear.
• Companies new to working with social enterprises found the event eye-opening and appreciated the networking opportunities.
• Insights included the challenge of changing the perception that social enterprises produce low-quality or low-cost goods and the importance of direct, sustained engagement to build understanding and support.

Tour of ADV Romania’s Social Enterprises:

The event concluded with a tour of the social enterprises developed by ADV Romania, including WISE.Travel and Job Direct.

Participants visited:

• The workwear production area, where they saw the process of creating customized workwear and met the team.
• The archiving and document storage facilities, where services are provided to large companies and public institutions. Participants observed the process and met the staff.
• The coffee roastery, branded as Opya, where specialty coffee is roasted. Participants learned about the roasting process, tasted the coffee, and saw operations that mainly supply businesses and online customers.
• The tour provided valuable insights into the operations of successful social enterprises and inspired both social entrepreneurs and mainstream businesses.

Networking Lunch

• The event concluded with a networking lunch, allowing participants to engage in discussions and explore potential collaborations.
• The main outcome of the event was sparking ideas for collaborations and fostering connections between social enterprises and mainstream businesses.
• Participants engaged in meaningful conversations that could lead to future partnerships and initiatives.

The event was successful in bringing together various stakeholders, sharing valuable insights, and fostering a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the social economy.

It highlighted the importance of education, awareness, and mutual efforts in building successful collaborations between mainstream businesses and social enterprises.

The tours and networking sessions were particularly effective in showcasing the potential and capabilities of social enterprises, making the event a significant step towards stronger collaborations in the future.

---

The project “Buy Social B2B – Buy Social Future of Social Economy“ is co-funded by the European Union. Project partners: Diesis Network, Cgm Consorzio Nazionale Della Cooperazione Sociale Gino Mattarelli – Societa’ Cooperativa Sociale (CONSORZIO CGM), Camera Di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura Di Torino, Fundacija Za Izboljsanje Zaposlitvenije Moznosti Prizma Ustanova (PRIZMA), Knof Zavod Za Kreativni Razvoj Posavaja – Socialno Podjetje (KNOF, so. p.), Stowarzyszenie Na Rzecz Spoldzielni, Gospodarska Zbornica Slovenije, Camera De Comert și Industrie Iași.

The “Buy WISEly” project is co-funded by the European Union and is coordinated by ENSIE, arbeit plus, de omslag, Consorzio Sociale Abele Lavoro, ISEN, Wirtschaftskammer Österreich and MKB Amsterdam. RISE Romania – Romanian Network of Social Economy, Latvian Social Entrepreneurship Association, Transistor and Dublin City Council (Ireland) are associate partners of the project.