The Program continues with a $85,000 donation from the Citi Foundation
April 21, 2011
NESsT and Citi announced today that altogether 34 civil society organizations (CSOs) from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been selected to participate in the 2011 NESsT-Citi Regional Social Enterprise Competition, the third in the series of this program launched in 2007 and implemented with financial support from the Citi Foundation. Altogether 74 CSOs from the three countries in this region competed with their submissions to participate in this year’s program, 39 of them being organizations from Hungary. The program will run from April this year to next Spring and will provide enterprise development support to an average of 10 selected CSOs in each country and an award of US$ 10,000 to the best organization from each country winning the competition.
A wide range of idea were represented among the record number of applications, including enterprise concepts aimed at finding innovative solutions to help create jobs for or develop people with mental or physical disabilities and marginalized communities, or promoting environmental protection.
The 2011 NESsT-Citi Social Enterprise Competition is a part of NESsT’s decade-old mission to develop social enterprises in Central Europe and it is implemented with a grant from the Citi Foundation and with professional support of Citi employee volunteers in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This year’s program was enhanced to be run in local languages for the first time that is expected to increase the program’s efficiency.
Batara Sianturi, Citi Country Officer for Hungary said, "As 2011 marks the European Year of Volunteering we are pleased that through this long-term program we can extend the volunteering opportunities to our employees who are very enthusiastic about dedicating their knowledge, experience and time in support of the community. This program is in line with Citi’s global CSR strategy and we wish to provide a good example of engaged and long-term corporate partnership with high impact nonprofit organizations, such as NESsT and the social enterprises that participate in this program."
The program consists of a series of workshops and one-on-one mentoring to help each selected participant assess the feasibility and plan the most efficient implementation of its enterprise idea, in furtherance of both a social goal and the search for financial resources. Participants will learn about key business planning concepts and techniques and get hands-on advice and coaching from NESsT and Citi volunteer experts. The first workshop was organized in early April and the program will culminate in an awards ceremony for the best business plans in a year’s time.
In Hungary, the US$10,000 award in 2010 went to Csoport-téka Association from Budapest, for a high-impact, replicable employment services model that has proven to be successful and efficient for beneficiaries with often multiple disadvantages on the labor market.
"The funding we recieved with the award has helped us further develop our social enterprise in terms of financial planning, work processes and sales and marketing. We were able to cover the promotional costs of our trainings and services as well as hire a marketing and sales colleague who has greatly contributed to implement our expansion plans. We continue to make all efforts to maintain the highest standards in our work," said Timea Sofalvi, one of the founders of Csoport-téka Association.
"We are glad to witness this continued high interest among CSOs in our program. This year we not only saw an increase in the number of applications, but also a marked shift towards more developed social enterprise concepts. We see an increasing number of organizations turning to social enterprise as a solution to critical social problems, such as unemployment or marginalization, as well as a sustainable funding opportunity," said Roxana Damaschin-Tecu, Enterprise Development Director for NESsT Europe.
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