The goal of a social enterprise should not be self-preservation, but rather to make itself redundant by addressing a problem until it no longer exists.
Initiative
Creating future prospects for young Africans through social entrepreneurship
Impact 2023
18 self-organised learning communities across Africa; graduates have a 3-fold higher income, 50% work in their own company
Etienne grew up in Berlin and came to Uganda for the first time at the age of 19. He worked there for a year as a volunteer at a Children’s Home. Soon he realized, that the orphans were not receiving any further education after primary school, so he founded a non-profit organisation that awarded scholarships to them. But when the first generation of sponsored children graduated from school, Etienne realised that they could neither find work nor study at university. Together with these young people, he developed a new and relevant educational concept for young people in Uganda. This led to the founding of the first Social Innovation Academy in Uganda, which develops the potential of disadvantaged young people and refugees in Africa.
The Initiative
Etienne’s Social Innovation Academy (SINA) enables disadvantaged young people – including refugees, orphans, former child soldiers and young people from extreme poverty – to set up their own social enterprise. Through individual learning modules, personal development and independent action, the participants launch sustainable businesses that solve social and ecological problems. The 18 SINA communities throughout Africa are now run largely independently by the participants, who are aged between 16 and 27, according to the principle of ‘freesponsibility’ (freedom and responsibility).
Vision
Young people across Africa can realise their full potential and become the change they want to see in the world.
Programme & Activities
Each ‘SINA Scholar’ creates their own curriculum based on the roles they have taken on in the SINA community. Participants take on responsibility, make decisions and manage accounting, logistics or public relations. As a result, they gain valuable practical experience and grow personally and professionally, which will help them to manage their own social enterprises.
In the community, new ideas and teams for setting up social enterprises gradually emerge. Traumatic experiences and successfully overcome challenges often serve as the impetus for the foundation of a social businesses to solve social and ecological problems. SINA supports the participants with mentoring, design thinking, the lean startup approach and target group development. Former SINA participants who are already successfully running their own social enterprises pass on their practical knowledge.
The aspiring entrepreneurs then refine their ideas in boot camps in order to develop resilient business models and qualify for the SINA Accelerator programme. Here they receive training and seed capital to maximise business growth, job creation and the social and environmental impact of their startup.
To date, SINA Scholars have founded over 90 social enterprises and created more than 970 jobs.
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