In June 2021 we hosted the first round of our social business model competition. It was a great success, and we are happy to share that among the number of promising proposals our jury decided on three winning projects that will be awarded monetary prizes:
🥇20,000 DKK were awarded to LOCAL
Problem Identification: Due to COVID-19, the majority of the population from y-cities lack easy access to buy items of daily needs such as groceries, disposables and other household items. While lockdowns continue to batter lives of people, lack of accessibility to household, daily, consumables have added more to the sufferings of people.
Theory of Change: We aim to address this problem by creating a mobile-based platform where people can easily access local corner shops. These are the shops that buyers already trust, have relationships with the seller and knowledge about the quality and availability of items. Our platform aims to be simple, user friendly and minimalistic so that it can work for the people in smaller cities.
Fundraising Pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sojpatxy1JY
🥈5,000 DKK were awarded to She-lter
Problem Identification: The number of victims of domestic violence under the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing at a worryingly rate. For many women and children, home is the most dangerous place to stay during these times, and as shelters start to become overwhelmed, they have to face the question of whether they will stay at home and continue to endure the abuse, or be homeless. And it is no secret that COVID-19 has hit the hotel industry hard. Due to the closing of borders and travel restrictions, hotels are not receiving as many guests and many businesses are struggling to survive.
Theory of Change: Our proposed solution is to build a platform where we help these women find a safe space to stay at hotels that have been struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rooms provided by the hotels will be their temporary residence while they find a more permanent place to stay after escaping an abusive situation. To help women (and their children), She-lter assists them in finding a temporary safe place. These safe places are rooms offered by hotels that during this pandemic have little revenue, as they do not receive many clients. It is like hitting two birds with one stone: women can find temporary shelter, while helping hotels and their business make profit during this critical time. We believe that we identify an already pre-existing hidden complementarity that helps us overcome the antagonism. For the hotel, the victims are the hidden complementarity as they are a new segment of their market, "customers". For the organisation and the victims, the fact that the hotels have a lot of empty rooms is a hidden complementarity. Our organization creates revenue for hotels by providing them customers who are in need of temporary accommodation after they've fled from a situation of abuse.
🥈5,000 DKK were awarded to Tech Balance
Problem Identification: Our social enterprise wants to help those whose digital wellbeing has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The capitalist attention-based business model has driven neuroscientists to design features and applications that enable technology platforms to keep us hooked to our devices. We live in a society where it is culturally acceptable to embrace a lifestyle dictated by technology, despite the social problems that comes along with it. These include:
Stress, loneliness, feelings of addiction, anxiety, low self-esteem and depression;
Lack of empathy, confusion and disconnection in social relationships; and,
Loss of crucial abilities including memory and focus, which affects our ability to think and solve problems.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these problems by:
Introducing studying at home, which has increased the time that students spend on their devices; and,
By restricting outdoor activities, which has increased the use of devices as a leisure replacement.
Theory of Change: Tech Balance will help students and their families develop healthier relationships with technology through workshops and coaching, offered both physically and virtually, in classrooms at schools, over web-conferencing and through online EdTech platforms. Our services will cover:
The causes of the problems associated with addictive technology;
The positive and negative impacts of digital technology;
The importance of technology for wellbeing; and,
Effective techniques for developing better relationships with technology
Fundraising Pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7R5ZEAP9qE
Congratulations again to all three winners and thank you to the jury, our sponsors and all participants for sharing their ideas and turning this award into a huge success 🚀
Would you like to learn more about the winning projects? Sign up to Babele, and take a look at their social business models.