The EU Supports Romania’s Social Enterprises

Christine Leșcu, 21.09.2016, 13:59

Social
enterprises are a segment of the economy that mainly focuses on how to provide
help for a community, with a view to making it stronger. Such enterprises seek to
promote a relevant activity rather than make a profit. For a few years now, the
EU has encouraged social enterprises in Romania. In order to adapt their
activity to the European legislation, but also in order to cater for a series
of real social needs, social enterprises have gradually begun to develop in
Romania, all the more so as, since mid-2015, Romania has a Law on Social
Economy.

In their early stages, many of these projects are financed through
European funds. And since their ideas are worth looking at, the Representation
of the European Commission in Bucharest has this year dedicated the ‘Yes, we
care’ campaign to social enterprises. As part of this campaign, running for
three years now, in 2016 ambassadors of EU member states have paid visits to such
EU-financed social projects. Monica Loloiu is a member of the Representation of
the European Commission in Bucharest. She will now be speaking about why such a
theme has been chosen for the ‘Yes, we care’ campaign.

Romania is no longer lagging behind. The fact that there is a Law on
Social Economy, which has been recently passed by the two Chambers of
Parliament, is an important step forward. There are organizations and companies
that have already implemented projects
targeting social economy, meaning that in Romania, people who are in the know
are also aware they can change things through such projects. But what exactly
does social economy mean? It means you think out a project in order to sort out
social inequalities or in order to integrate the underprivileged into the labor
market, thus giving them access to better jobs.

And
that is exactly what happened, thanks to a project themed MamaPan, a
bakery where bread is prepared following all traditional rules: no additives,
no preservatives and no industrial yeast. This social enterprise, a beneficiary
of European funding, was mainly set up with a view to helping single mothers.
With details on that, here is the manager of this small business Irina Sorescu:

The project was initiated in November 2014, when we got
the EU money, and the idea occurred within the Partnership for Equality
Foundation, the foundation that set up the MamaPan bakery, which is a
social enterprise, more precisely an association for women in vulnerable groups.
After we’d had contact with some of these women, we realized that what they
needed the most was a steady job. Of those vulnerable groups, single mothers
were faced with the biggest risks. For several categories of employers, they
are not desirable employees, for reasons pertaining to their family
responsibilities and the fact they cannot be made redundant any time.

Although
the bakery products market is big, especially in Bucharest, and competition
tough, the MamaPan social enterprise stood the test of time. Clients were drawn
into it not only by the artisan bread, but also by the idea of helping the six
single mothers working in the bakery. So the business has survived with flying
colors. It’s been a year since the deadline for European financing expired and
which the Partnership for Equality Center had no problem obtaining, as Irina
Sorescu told us:

As we were a rather experienced organization as regards
the management of EU-funded projects, we had no problem writing the project,
all the more so as the idea we had for that was clear. The problems we had
while running the project were mainly related to the delays in the disbursement
of funds and all sorts of other bureaucratic requirements. However, we may have
not had the chance to start up the business without the initial financial aid
that we got. It was much more difficult for us when the project saw its closing
stage, the moment we had to be on our own, just like any other business, with
no support from the outside, given that what we offered our women employees
meant a great deal more than what an ordinary business could offer. It’s pretty
difficult to create a distribution market, particularly in Bucharest, due to
the competition in this field. By and large it’s very difficult to keep a business
on the market and make a social business sustainable.

ClayPlay is another social enterprise, based on craftsmanship and
the revival of some lasting traditions. The business stemmed from the passion
for ceramics of the initiator of this project, Gabriela Hobeanu:

This is an EU-funded project. I got 25,000 Euros, which helped me purchase all the equipment I
needed, which was pretty expensive. As regard the social economy part, from the
very beginning I had two full-time
employees. One of the project’s requirements was that at least one of them
should be under 30. For the rest of it, we very much rely on students, with no
official qualifications, but who are very passionate and skilled. ClayPlay
is a combination of decorative and functional ceramics, which also involves
staging workshops for adults and children alike. We have chosen this because
it’s a very beautiful craft, which runs the risk of being forgotten.

Appetite
comes with eating, they say, so it was enough for people to learn about the
existence of these workshops to have their interest rekindled. Here is Gabriela
Hobeanu again:

I have sensed an increased amount of joy in the people
who come to our workshop, and they are happy that they can find something like
this in Bucharest. It’s beautiful, refreshing…it’s therapy.

As
part of the ‘Yes, we care’ campaign, EU-funded social enterprises in Romania
have been introduced to EU ambassadors in Bucharest as success stories.