Events

Social Entrepreneurship. Hasso Plattner Ventures 4th Forum

250 participants, entrepreneurs, investors, politicians and journalists met in Potsdam for the 4th Forum on Entrepreneurship. “Can we make the world a better place – and earn money with it?” was one of the questions that found different answers throughout the day.

The projects presented encompass a wide range of social entreprises, from the initiative for the reduction of oil-dependancy by large-scale employment of electric cars (Project Better Place by Shai Agassi) to the visionary use of solar energy in transport (solar aeroplane by Bertrand Piccard), the employment of wireless networks for telephone and data services in Southafrican townships (Rael Lissoos of DABBA Telecoms) through to school meals of children in need in Germany (Caroli Dienst, Kinder ohne Hunger), to name but a few.

These initiatives crucially differ from classical development aid in their aspiration to finance themselves or even be profitable in the medium term. Through this form of organisation social enterprises can achieve a completely new dynamics and penetrating power and become increasingly interesting to investors.

“My profit is not the money in the bank or a big car but to experience social change”, says Mel Young who, leading on from the project of a Scottish magazine for the homeless created the football world cup for the homeless. The tournament has grown to more than 50 participating countries and succeeds in restoring confidence to its participants, thus empowering them to change their lives.

This year’s prize of ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ goes to Rael Lissoos from Südafrika. His company DABBA Telecoms provides the township of Orange Farm south of Johannesburg with cheap to no cost VoIP mobile communication and thus helps to overcome the disadvantages of the poor in the digital age.

The three host companies Hasso Plattner Ventures, Deutsche Bank and MAN Ferrostaal fully intend to further promote the issue of Social Entrepreneurship in the future.

agenda080625FINALb.pdf (Filesize:163 K)