About Estonian Social Enterprise Network

Our mission is to increase the number, capacity and societal impact of social enterprises in Estonia. Current strategic objectives were approved by our members in May 2017.

Important facts about us:

• A non-profit association that belongs to an official list (administered by Estonian Tax and Customs Board) of Estonian NGOs working for the public benefit.
• Founded in 2012, we have currently 51 of top Estonian social enterprises as our members.
• We have been among three contracted civil society partners for the Ministry of the Interior, helping to achieve the objectives of National Strategy for Civil Society 2015-2020.
• Our advocacy results consist of the inclusion of social enterprise concept and practical support measures into two national development plans as well as the new Public Procurement Law.
• Our programs for social enterprise development have concentrated on increasing sales and improving scope, quality and impact of their activities, using a variety of methods like design thinking and action learning.
• We are working closely with the main stakeholders in the field of formal and non-formal education in Estonia. For example, together with the Estonian Youth Work Centre and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research we are implementing an informal strategy for developing youth social entrepreneurship. Another example: the new economics text-book for all high-school will have a section written by us about social entrepreneurship.
• Our flagship youth program Changemakers Academy is an intense learning-by-doing program for high school students. In teams of five, multilingual youth fulfil creative and professionally demanding tasks, creating marketing solutions for the social enterprises as the result. It is organized as a competition between the teams, keeping the level of excitement high.
• We have been supported both by national (e.g. National Foundation for Civil Society, Ministry of Culture) as well as international funders (e.g. Nordic Council of Ministers, British Council). We have always fulfilled our commitments to the funders that can be proven by our grant track record.
• Our Chairman Mr Jaan Aps has been a member of European Commission´s Expert Group on Social Entrepreneurship (GECES)..

As one video tells more than a million words, please get introduced to one or our programs. Changemakers Academy brings together Estonian and Russian speaking youth to tackle the marketing challenges of social enterprises in their communities.