Curriculum
MODULE 1 - Inspiration for Social Entrepreneurship
Unit 1 - What is a social enterprise and what does it simply setting up one?
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Unit 2 - Identifying opportunities in empty Europe related to gastronomy
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Unit 3 - Ideation of the product & service related to gastronomy
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Unit 4 – Market analysis
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Case Study
The Social TeaHouse is a small social enterprise with several owners located in Varna, Bulgaria. The economic sectors of operation of the enterprise are gastronomy and food wholesale and retail trade, providing to customers (on regional, national and EU levels) various restaurant and culinary services, as well as opportunities to use event halls. The Social TeaHouse functions as a bistro, event halls and a shared workplace and gives first job and mentoring support to young people deprived of parental care, or to those who grew up in a problematic family environment.
The impact of the Social TeaHouse on the local community is very easy to be measured – all of the organised cultural formats and charitable initiatives are of great interest; their cause is already popular and more and more representatives of the civil sector are involved in it. The effect of their work with the target group can be traced among the successfully realized professional young people who have gone through their program – more than 50% find their way and lead a fully independent and decent life.
The Social TeaHouse has established partnerships with local authorities and institutions. The building in which the Tea Room is located is a shared property between the Municipality of Varna and the District Administration while at the same time also has free access to various family-type accommodation centers and enjoy a full and fruitful cooperation on their behalf. The Tea Room often implements activities in cooperation with other NGOs and social enterprises – cultural events, volunteer initiatives, activities organised under the mentoring program and others. In the recent years the Tea Room also emphasizes on business partnerships to which corporate products and services are being directed.
The team of the Social TeaHouse has countless „lessons learned“ – both successes and failures. As a good practice, it can be pointed out the investment in their team. At first, they thought they could improvise the services offered and rely on their popularity to be associated only with their cause, but this turned out to be the wrong business model for their enterprise. Then, they start to redirect more financial and time resources in the quality training and selection of their staff, and today, the Tea Room has a team in which each position is occupied by a specialist in each of the specific fields. This not only improves the quality of their services and makes them competitive with other companies that do not invest in social activities, but also gives them much more financial profitability.
The most important advice for future social entrepreneurs is: It is very important to be surrounded by a serious team of people with similar values and goals.