Google’s Social Innovation Fund as a tool for strengthening the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Slovenia

On the 9th of December 2021 Google.org and the Slovenian Ministry of Digital Transformation have signed an agreement on the basis of which Google.org will invest 2.5 million euros in Slovenia in the next two years to help with digital transformation. The recipients of funds are the leading Slovenian research, educational and business institutions. One million euros of the whole investment will be allocated by Google.org to strengthen the Slovenian social entrepreneurship ecosystem. The funds are part of the new Google.org Social Innovation Fund in Europe, which supports the development of social entrepreneurship in Europe. Under this fund, grants were provided to Fund 05, our Slovenian partner in the Interreg SIV project. Rowan Barnett, Head of Google.org EMEA (http://Google.org), who was also present at the press conference on the Memorandum signature event between Google.org and the Republic of Slovenia that was held in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on the 9^th of December 2021, stressed the importance of social entrepreneurship during the recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. The first grant within this campaign will be €1 million to Fund 05 in Slovenia to help catalyse the country’s nascent social entrepreneurship sector.  The overall objective of the Project is to support underserved End Beneficiaries to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, access greater economic opportunity within the social economy, and empower them to create solutions to address critical societal challenges related to the sustainable development goals. Grantee will use Grant Funds to support the Project called “Act Imp Act”. The Project will support the following End Beneficiaries:

• Young underserved people (up to 28 years old), with a focus on those living in rural areas, young women, low-income households and persons with a disability
• Underserved women, with a focus on single mothers, women from rural areas and women with disabilities

As we work towards an inclusive economic recovery, the decisions that companies, funders, foundations and policymakers make now will determine what our economies of tomorrow will look like. We hope that social entrepreneurship — which truly puts purpose, people and planet at the center of business goals — can influence the economy going forward. Sources: https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/20-million-to-support-the-european-social-economy/ https://knowledgecentre.euclidnetwork.eu/2021/05/25/european-social-enterprise-monitor-report-2020-2021/ https://thepossibilists.org/europe/