Sweden partnering for change Social Entrepreneurship Innovation

Partnering for Change 2024: Innovation for a more inclusive Sweden

On Thursday, September 26th, we celebrated the 14th edition of our event series, Partnering for Change, in Stockholm, Sweden.

Andréa Råsberg

Sweden news 2023 programs capacity building

The social entrepreneurs who won our Pitch Day in Sweden

On December 5, in our annual Pitch Day in Sweden, we selected the 6 new social entrepreneurs who will join our Incubator program in 2024, and the entrepreneurs graduating from the Incubator pitched for 200 000 SEK in funding.

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Raising the voices and improving conditions for children and youth living in foster care

Historically there has been a stigma surrounding children and youth growing up in foster care. To combat this, to work to improve the situation for those in care, and to make sure the voices of the ones affected are heard, Knas Hemma was founded in 2013. Today they are part of our Swedish Incubator program, aiming to help social entrepreneurs scale and take their initiatives to the next level. We sat down with Anna Sabelström, Emiliya Larsson and Jennie Persson Thörnqvist, three forces behind the organization, to talk about what drives them, what challenges they have faced and what they have learned from it.

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Supporting social entrepreneurs: Unplugged learnings

Our Senior Program Manager Louise Johnsson Zea reflects on the key learnings from her daily work with the social entrepreneurs in our portfolio. She delves into their most pressing needs, remarkable strengths, common pitfalls, and promising opportunities, as well as the human side of the social entrepreneurship journey.

Louise Johnsson Zea

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Conversations that change: Fighting segregation through dialogue

Fatima Gronblad is passionate about making people feel less like strangers to each other. Born and raised in a tight-knit community in southern Sweden, from an early age she observed how easily people with different ethnic or socio-economic backgrounds can be categorized and how that often leads to misunderstandings, prejudices and segregation. She founded “Världen finns här" where she works tirelessly to build a more inclusive society, one conversation at a time.

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Your idea - our support. Looking for new social entrepreneurs to join our Incubator in Sweden

Our Incubator program in Sweden is open for applications. Social entrepreneurs with ideas that make a difference for children and young people can apply until September 30th. The national outdoor campaign is shown on Clear Channel's digital screens across the country.

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Turning fear into fins

That a girl who grew up far from water, without any experience or knowledge of swimming, would take her first swims on her own as an eighteen-year-old; and then training as a swimming instructor and starting her own swimming school, is a story that inspires. Muna Idow is the mermaid who found her fins relatively late in life and who has made it her life's project to spread the love of water further.

Sweden change leader story equality 2023

Sounds of hope: Reshaping suburban children's lives

A child of Caribbean immigrants, Jean-Charles Cari grew up with his mum in the rough suburbs of Paris and saw many of his friends end up on the wrong path. But role models and music saved his life. Ten years ago he moved to Sweden and when he recognized himself in many of the young teenagers, he decided to offer them what he had helped him, and so Artozik was born.

Sweden ecosystem 2023 partnerships

Promoting social entrepreneurship in Sweden together with Clear Channel

We’re happy to share that we’ve just entered a long term partnership with Scandinavia's leading outdoor media company - Clear Channel. Together we have developed the outdoor campaign "Your idea - Our support" which will increase awareness about our work and promote local Swedish social entrepreneurs offering solutions for children and young people.

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Empowering Social Entrepreneurs to Support NEETs

In Europe, a concerning statistic reveals that 11.5% of young people between the ages of 15 and 25 are neither in work nor in education. This critical period of their lives, when they should be embarking on their professional journeys, utilizing their acquired skills and knowledge, is instead marked by a struggle to find employment. This situation leads to frustration, economic hardship, and even mental distress, with potentially severe consequences for their well-being. At the same time, societies miss out on the opportunity to benefit from the talents and innovative ideas these young individuals possess.

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Unique investments in social entrepreneurship in the EU and the UN - but where is Sweden?

With the EU's Social Economy Action Plan and a recently adopted UN resolution, Sweden has a chance to invest in social entrepreneurship. The opportunity is about to be missed, but there is still time to raise the issue, write our CEO Sofia Breitholtz and Jenny Carenco, partner in Utfallsfonden and board member of The Swedish National Advisory Board for Impact Investing.

Sofia Breitholtz

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Training for a more equal society

Throughout her life, our Change Leader Susan Dahlbeck experienced how local gyms in Järva outside of Stockholm were dominated by men and lacked safe places for young women. As health issues have increased in socio-economic challenged areas, she decided to start Healthy Women - a network for young women to engage in physical activities and ongoing social gatherings. We talked with her about her journey and the impact created by Healthy Women.

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Inclusive environments for kids: lessons from a social entrepreneur

The close environment has a big impact on how children interpret social structures, and how they interact with each other. It’s up to us adults to create an environment that reflect that we’re all equally important. Our Change Leader Johanna Abdo, founder of the Swedish educational brand Elsa och Sam has dedicated herself to creating more inclusive environments for kids. We talked with her about her entrepreneurial journey and the products and impact she’s creating.

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Gathering forces for increased youth employment

In 2021 in Sweden 10.3% of youths are registered as unemployed at the employment agency. In Eskilstuna municipality the number is 13.9%. If you look at it even closer, the number goes up to 26.7% for youths born outside of Sweden. The numbers show a city where young people do not have the same opportunities to reach their full potential. The coming two years, Reach for Change together with Right By Me and the municipality of Eskilstuna, and with support of Inkludera will join forces to turn this around.

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Dolls that bring us all together

Fatma Guettou and Hamid Noroozian's passionate commitment to children and young people cannot be mistaken. However, they never planned on starting their own business. Fatma has a background in biochemistry and Hamid - as an engineer in urban planning. But then they had their first child, and that changed everything.

Sweden network ecosystem Baltics

New peer learning network for Swedish-Baltic social entrepreneurs

Reach for Change Sweden, Social Enterprise Estonia, Social Entrepreneurship Association Latvia and the Lithuanian Social Business Association will pilot The Baltic Sea Impact Network - a new transnational network for peer learning between social entrepreneurs from the Baltic Sea region.