During the last weeks, we have witnessed how many people, companies, institutions and social organizations have stepped forward to help. This social response to the coronavirus crisis is our light at the end of the tunnel. We are hopeful, and we trust that the empathy, generosity and love shown by so many in these difficult times will last when the crisis subsides.
What are social enterprises doing?
One of the characteristics of social enterprises, perhaps the main one, is that they are genuinely driven by their social mission and values. This explains why, in the face of the crisis caused by COVID-19, the first thing many of these organizations did was ask themselves what they could do to help.
We have compiled here some of these initiatives, the ones that are closest to us, although we are sure there are many more:
Kuvu connects older people who have a spare room with people from other generations looking for accommodation. Kuvu’s mission is to improve the quality of life of the elderly and that is why, given the situation caused by COVID 19, they did not take long to get down to work to create COVIDA , an application that connects the most vulnerable people to the virus with volunteers willing to help them when it comes to shopping, buying medicine or other needs.
AUARA dedicates 100% of its dividends to bring drinking water to people who do not have it in developing countries thanks to the sale of mineral water and other products. Faced with the coronavirus crisis, this social enterprise has turned to deliver bottles of mineral water to Spanish hospitals. Between their donations and their crowdfunding campaign they have donated almost 1 million bottles, more than 760,000 liters, to hospitals around the country.
Adopt a grandfather connects generations so that older people feel listened to, accompanied and loved and that young people learn values and experiences through their visits. They have launched Minutes in company , a telephone number and ‘call center’ through which older people can alleviate their isolation during confinement by talking to volunteers. In addition, they have launched the #retoadoptaunabuelo to combat the loneliness of our elders.
Farmidable allows access to local, fresh, natural and seasonal products, connecting consumers and producers and facilitating quality, healthy, sustainable and environmentally responsible food. In the face of the coronavirus crisis,Farmidable is delivering the purchase for free to the most vulnerable people , mainly the elderly and high-risk groups.
Inbonis Rating is the first rating agency specialized in SMEs in Europe. Its mission is to improve the access of these companies to more agile, humane, transparent and wealth-generating financing. Faced with the threat of an economic and social crisis caused by the pandemic, Inbonis has prepared a report to guide public funds destined to face the economic and social impact of the coronavirus towards SMEs .
Zubi Labs promotes and co-creates companies that seek to generate a positive impact. From the beginning, the Zubi Labs team has turned to trying to provide an immediate response to the problems derived from COVID-19. They have created Zubi Help, adapting the activity of each one of its initiatives and creating new ones to solve some of the social and economic challenges resulting from this situation. From Zubi Go , a home food service, they have created a campaign to collect contributions with the intention of helping the most needy families. From this same ecosystem, and specifically from La Pinada Lab , Salvia was born , with which the aim is to help small companies identify business opportunities arising from Covid-19.
Bridge for Billionsis an online incubation platform that seeks to democratize access to the necessary tools so that entrepreneurs, wherever they are, can structure, develop and strengthen their businesses. At the beginning of the crisis, they launched a special edition of The Leap , their online incubation program, to support entrepreneurs who are developing solutions that improve people’s lives during the COVID19 outbreak.
Uninicio offers support , training and employment to young people in vulnerable situations through gastronomy and the production of food for restaurants and catering. They have launched a food donation campaign at home through their Homey page and also a crowdfunding campaign to bring food to people or families who are in dire need .
The Bolsa Social is a participatory financing platform for companies with a social impact. It has partnered with private investors and impact organizations such as Ship2B , Creas , Mumtree , Youandlaw and Open Value Foundationto launch an extraordinary call for participatory and open investment to finance companies that are developing solutions to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus at the health, economic and social level. The first company selected, Tucuvi, managed to raise € 160,000 in less than 36 hours .
ComGo , an acronym for The Common Good Chain, is the first blockchain platform for the management of solidarity projects and traceability of social impact. Faced with the crisis, ComGo has made its blockchain technology for traceability and management of social projects available to social entitiesthat work to improve the situation of the groups most affected by the coronavirus crisis for free under the common umbrella of stopcovid.io . Based on blockchain technology, stopcovid.io allows donations management in a simple, transparent and fully traceable way.
Debuencafé sells organic coffee in biodegradable and compostable capsules . In this crisis they are contributing their grain of sand – or coffee, in this case – by delivering more than 20,000 coffee services to health personnel in hospitals, workers in nursing homes and transporters from Mercamadrid.
Square Ventures is a social and environmental innovation consultancy that has launched the projectZero Hunger to help in the health crisis by distributing food to the most vulnerable groups. They have already distributed more than 110 tons of food .
RobinGood distributes food products with a social conscience. They have launched a crowdfunding campaign with the Can Roger Farm to transform into cheese and avoid throwing away the organic milk that the market cannot assume due to the coronavirus crisis.
And what are we doing at Open Value Foundation?
Social enterprises, like any other form of business, face great challenges derived from the COVID-19 crisis. From the Open Value Foundation we have contacted all the projects we support in Spain and the rest of the world to find out how they are affected and how we can help them overcome those challenges. We are here to help you minimize the disruption caused by this situation and take advantage of the opportunities that may arise.
On the other hand, we have had to cancel or postpone all the meetings, events and trainings that we had prepared for the next few months. We want to continue training society and strengthening the impact ecosystem and we are organizing ourselves to carry out some of these activities online. Among other things, in April we launched our first online introductory impact investing course and continue to host inspiring events in virtual form.
We want to thank once again all the people who, in one way or another, have mobilized to help. From the largest gesture, to the smallest. You are our light at the end of the tunnel. May this virus not prevent us from continuing to work together to build a better world.
We will update the initiatives that appear in this article and add new ones. Do you miss a project? Do you know of any other social company that, in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, has taken a step forward to help? Tell us here or on our social networks!
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