Inspiration Days teaches students social responsibility
By linking entrepreneurs with business students, the Positive Entrepreneurs Network aims to highlight the importance of an economy based on social development
Inspiration Days in Flanders
Contributing to sustainable economic development has been among the priorities for the government of Flanders since 2000. In its Pact 2020 long-term development plan, it encourages businesses to take social responsibility seriously.
But to profoundly change the way business is done, you have to look to the next generation of leadership. Reaching out to today’s students who will be the decision-makers of tomorrow, Inspiration Days is a first step in transforming the way we look at economic development.
“Social entrepreneurs start a business out of idealism because they want to tackle a societal problem,” says Caroline Godts, manager at the Sociale Innovatiefabriek, a Brussels-based organisation focused on promoting social innovation. “This requires innovation, as our classic economic models externalise costs and negative effects on society or the environment. Social enterprises do everything but that.”
Sociale Innovatiefabriek is delivering a workshop about social business models during Inspiration Days.
Positive economy, positive entrepreneurs
The Positive Entrepreneurs Network was founded in 2010 by Poseco, short for “positive economy”. Poseco’s mission is to promote such an economy, based on benefiting the common well-being of society.
How do these ideals translate into reality? To answer this, Poseco has created a portal where information and advice for current and aspiring entrepreneurs can be shared. According to Inspiration Days co-ordinator Nora de Herdt, it’s important to “make students realise that the economy is changing and that young people can start cool enterprises”.
After all, young people who are currently finalising their university education will be next in line to take the decisions that will influence our future economy. By highlighting success stories of flourishing businesses that benefit people and their environment as well as generating profit, initiatives such as Inspiration Days show that social entrepreneurship has the potential for growth and innovation.
From green logistics to renewable energy
In this year’s Inspiration Days, the Positive Entrepreneurs Network is teaming up with the business schools of the universities of Ghent and Liège, as well as Solvay Brussels. Taking the form of lectures, discussions and workshops, bringing together an array of relevant themes such as renewable energy, green logistics and sustainable food, the event is at the forefront of raising awareness about social entrepreneurship.
The concept features 12 workshops per school. The session in Ghent next week features Maarten Kooiman, co-founder of Tapazz, a software platform focused on car-sharing; Daan Creupelandt, European project manager at Ecopower, focusing on renewable energy initiatives; and Benjamin Rieder, co-founder of Bubble Post, which specialises in environmentally friendly city logistics.
“Belgian entrepreneurship 2.0 only benefits from refreshing discussions like these. I only wish there were more events like Inspiration Days,” says Morvan.
Bert Boone, CEO of Compaan, will address how to integrate people with underutilised talents in the job market, while Lieven D’Hont will explain his efforts to lower people’s impact on the world’s resources via a sharing app that has reached more than 10,000 members in one year.
Although the road to a fully positive economy is long, initiatives such as this offer a fresh perspective on how business can be combined with sustainability.
The next Inspiration Day takes place on 21 April at Ghent University
Photo courtesy Positive Entrepreneurs Network
