The BASET project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, addresses the needs of trainers, mentors, lecturers, SMEs experts, investors and other professional intermediaries (educators, facilitators) of methodological guidelines in training and supporting their target group – social entrepreneurs. 

The main objective of the project is to foster social entrepreneurship through elaborating, testing and providing a set of learning and training instruments to social entrepreneurs’ educators and investors. Hence, the project outcome is a clarified learning model for training educators and investors to contribute to the success of social entrepreneurs.

The model consists of three main intellectual outputs: Social Entrepreneurship Development Model (SEDM) – a very practical and easy-to-use handbook for educators to understand the needs of social ventures and hands-on guidance that helps entrepreneurs carry out their social missions more effectively; Train the Trainers Toolkit (TTT) – providing educators with background knowledge, skills and practical experience, virtual space to support the Social Entrepreneurship Training and technical assistance to social entrepreneurs’ communities.

​And:

Train the Investors Handbook (TIH) – equipping investors/ mentors with practical knowledge and model of working with social entrepreneurs at risk. TIH provides practical knowledge, lessons and hands-on guidance that support investors to understand the social entrepreneurs' needs and train them in all issues related to financing and encouraging social ventures. 

​More specifically, this handbook will prepare investors to measure social impact prior to the potential investment in social impact businesses/ social enterprises, whereas they will act as mentors to social entrepreneurs on that topic and support them with finance, expertise and networks to grow, reach more people, and develop a viable business model for greater impact. ​

​TIH has been developed to optimize and simplify the use of the book, make it easier to digest accordingly and provide insightful information that can be used to train investors as well as educate them to better understand social ventures, how to measure and evaluate social impact and approach investment opportunities providing social impact.

Thus, investors will be capable of delivering enhanced support to social entrepreneurs, including empathetic approaches to their social journeys and how they can reach more people, scale and be financially sustainable. 

We have structured the handbook in a way that:
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• you will learn more about the BASET Project
• you will get an overview of the support for social entrepreneurs, providing insights that would help you understand a vast spectrum of information about pioneer countries and practices in investing in social impact
• we have illustrated the social and impact investment scene using a descriptive approach to provide you with a snapshot of this field, while assisting you in making better decisions in identifying and choosing social investees in your portfolio based on several criteria
• we explain funding and supporting businesses in general, along with the sources of funding available for entrepreneurs, referring to impact and social businesses;
• how to coach and support your social ventures in being motivated and goal-oriented as well as better understand the relationship you can build with them.

Furthermore, you can review some of our case studies and example of support available, whereas for the countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Belgium and the UK, please get in touch by using the BASET project website: www.baset.info
 
We recommend that you review the whole Train the Investors Handbook, while also using the table of contents to jump directly where you feel you may need extra knowledge/ know-how. Additionally, we understand that this handbook is not extensive and conclusive and there’s much more to be added, but we feel that we have grasped an adequate amount of information. 


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Author
Partner @BASET
Caban Capital

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On 25 June 2019 all partners in the BASET project gathered for the final project meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was scheduled a day after the international conference 'Investing in Social Challenges', organised by the project coordinator Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) and the project partner CEED Bulgaria, with the strong support and active participation of IDEC, Caban Capital and Creative District.

The main topics discussed during the meeting were: the upcoming conference in June and the evaluation procedures, finalization of all outputs of the project, with special attention to the final Output 3 - Train the Investors Handbook (TIH), which has to be completed by August 2019. The meeting had a great emphasis on the project dissemination and reports by the partners as well as quality assurance and overview of all project activities until the end of BASET.

Furthermore, all project partners reviewed potential opportunities for continuing the work together on the topic of social entrepreneurship and supporting mentor and investor with more concrete materials and tool.

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During the days of 8-12 April 2019 all BASET partners - KISMC, CEED Bulgaria, IDEC, Caban Capital and Creative District, together with investors, finance professionals and lecturers, experts and social ventures from Bulgaria, Greece, Belgium and the UK, took part in a 5-days training in London under the project BASET: Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training, co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
 
The training, which was organised and hosted by the BASET project partner - Caban Capital, aimed at delivering a brief overview of the project, its target groups, main objectives and results so far, and more specifically the details of the 3rd intellectual output: Train the Investors Handbook (TIH).
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All participants had the opportunity to support and contribute to the BASET project, as well as learn more about training methods in investing in social ventures as well as provide feedback on the current status of the development of TIH. There were discussions on impact investment and raising funds for social impact, impact measurement as well as challenges in attracting financing for impact, case studies and best practices in angel investment in social enterprises. Moreover, as part of the training, there was a workshop on choosing appropriate business models and marketing strategies for social entrepreneurs.  

Additionally, views were exchanged on important areas within impact investment and investing in social enterprises with a social mission such as the role of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, how crucial the size of the market is when investing in impact as well as the tenacity of those leading social impact projects. During the training and discussions among all participants, a number of factors playing a key role within the impact investment training domain regarding investors were concluded: empathy, impact first - then profit, measuring impact, SDGs, selection process, prioritizing, sustainability and circular economy, data, business models, country legislation, risk, value, ROI, collaboration and consciousness.

​Despite the training and overview of the intellectual outputs - TIH, the participants from all countries, invited by the project partners, actively took part in a specially organised by Caban Capital tour for experiencing the social impact ecosystem in London with the support of Social Enterprise Experience Tour. The tour demonstrated a range of innovative social enterprises in developing areas in London. The enterprises were:
- Shine - a community-led space to shine, a place for people in Haringey to grow ideas and build networks within the local community;
​- Blue House Yard - a redevelopment and re-imagining of an empty and underused site in London; a transformed area for local creatives, entrepreneurs and residents to use for period of 5 years;
- Cakes & Ladders - a board game cafe with a conscience; a double-decker bus in the heart of Wood Green selling locally sourced coffee, cake & toasts, alongside ale and over 500 board games on board;
- Green Rooms - a London's arts hotel; a social enterprise offering affordable accommodation and event spaces inspiring creativity.
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Additionally, Eddie Capstick and Gianprietro Pucciariello's, who are change makers of the social impact's ecosystem in London as well as far beyond, and founders of Appymaps - an app mapping the social impact ecosystem - social businesses within communities, presented their new and exciting impact project to all the participants. 

Currently, Appymaps is focused on 3 things:

• building maps of social impact places and businesses;
• building an app prototype which integrates maps of social impact places and businesses to support communities and individuals in the way they choose where to eat, drink, buy, go to events, get informed and find a job. All communities around the world can now have their own app which includes these features;
• running Social Impact Experience Tours: walking from one social impact venue to another and meeting their founders, which is an incredible experience to be inspired and explore the specific local area.

 
In June 2019, their London Social Impact Map reached 10.000 views.
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During the 5 days of training, all participants had the opportunity to learn more about the work of Caban Capital and its work for accelerating positive impact via the Seedslife Caban Impact Investment. The business model of the fund is to support social entrepreneurs in Africa, while providing an opportunity for investors to participate in high growth emerging markets and benefiting from the longstanding infrastructures created by enterprises nurturing sustainable impact in local communities.

The feedback of all participants' experience was extremely positive and insightful in the topic of social impact not only in London, UK but also in the BASET project partner's countries. All participants exchanged views, experience and took part in discussions which will help with the final shape up of the Train the Investors Handbook and materials in the Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training project, co-funded by the Erasmus plus project of the European Union. Moreover, each participant had the chance to experience and embrace a part of the London's social impact ecosystem and feel the positive energy and passion of running a social enterprise or an enterprise creating social impact. 



Author
Partner @BASET
Caban Capital

On 12 April 2019 all partners in the BASET project gathered for the 4th project meeting in London, UK after the organised 5-days' Training & Review on the Train the Investors Handbook + Social Impact in London. The project coordinator Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) and the project partners CEED Bulgaria, IDEC, Caban Capital and Creative District gathered to discuss the current status and results from the intellectual outputs so far as well as next steps for implementing the project BASET: Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training.

The timing of the project meeting was very good, i.e. after the 2nd project training, since all the feedback collected could be discussed and reviewed for taking on board the updating of the drafts of the 3 intellectual outputs: 

• Social Entrepreneurship Development Model (SEDM)
• Train the Trainers Toolkit (TTT)
• Train the Investors Handbook (TIH)

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The training organised prior the project meeting contributed also to the discussions for the future development cycle of the project as well as post the project duration. 

During the project meeting all partners provided feedback on the training and the topics discussed with all participants such as investments in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, venture capital and best practices from Caban Capital. The project partners had an extensive overview of the current status of the project and provided insights from the training's comments and feedback on the TIH. Moreover, Caban Capital and Creative District discussed the final steps for execution of Output 3 - Train the Investors Handbook and what collaborative steps need to be taken to better support investors in social impact.

Furthermore, all project partners covered topics such as quality assurance and evaluation, dissemination of the project as well as the conference that will take place in Sofia in June 2019 to support the BASET project and the investment in social impact. The project meeting helped the entire project team sync their efforts in a direction that would be beneficial to all stakeholders in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. ​The meeting was also focused on discussions about the project activities, financial and administration details.

On 26 October 2018 all partners in the BASET project gathered for the 3rd project meeting in Brussels, Belgium after the organised 5-days' Training & Review on the Social Entrepreneurship Model + Train the Trainers Toolkit. The project coordinator Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) and the project partners CEED Bulgaria, IDEC, Caban Capital and Creative District gathered to discuss the current status and results from the intellectual outputs so far as well as next steps for implementing the project BASET: Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training.

The timing of the project meeting was very good, i.e. after the 1st project training, since all the feedback collected could be discussed and reviewed for taking on board the updating of the drafts of the 2 intellectual outputs: 

• Social Entrepreneurship Development Model (SEDM)
• Train the Trainers Toolkit (TTT)

The training orgnised prior the project meeting contributed also to the discussions for the future development cycle of the project as well as post the project duration. During the project KISMC provided a progress update on the SEDM, taking on board the additional comments and feedback from the previously held training with the educators from Bulgaria, Greece, Belgium and the UK. All partners suggested additional aspects that could slightly be improved and updated. Moreover, IDEC and CEED Bulgaria provided insights from the training's comments and feedback on the TTT and led the discussion on the structure and the development on the online platform. On the ground of all discussions, Caban Capital and Creative District took on board a collective overview of the best development of the intellectual output 3 - Train the Investors Handbook.

Furthermore, all project partners covered topics such as quality assurance and evaluation, dissemination of the project as well as project management and next steps. The project meeting helped the entire project team sync their efforts in a direction that would be beneficial to all stakeholders in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. ​The meeting was also focused on discussions about the project activities, financial and administration details.


Author
Partners @BASET

The Social Entrepreneurship Development Model (SEDM), which also serves as a guide for Social Entrepreneurs (SEs) educators, is the 1st output produced under the Project “Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training” (BASET), funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. It was created by the team of the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club and shares the project team insights and its experience of working with entrepreneurs. This guide is followed by two other interrelated outputs - Train the Trainers Toolkit and Train the Investors Handbook. These three tools are components of a package for professionals who support or invest in the social enterprises’ development.

The model builds on the work of partner organisations: Caban Capital - UK, IDEC - Greece, Creative District - Belgium, CEED - Bulgaria and the project coordinator KISMC - Bulgaria, that have experience not only in their countries but also around the world and which collectively can be recognised as visionaries in the development of this important field of knowledge.

The purpose of SEDM is to provide the educators with practical instruments (tools) that will enable them to effectively teach, mentor and facilitate entrepreneurs who have decided to do business with a social mission.
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In the context of social entrepreneurship and for the needs of the BASET project the EDUCATOR definition in this guide is: a person who acts professionally as a trainer, teacher, mentor, coach, advisor, consultant, facilitator or some other kind of professional who works with social entrepreneurs in order to facilitate and support the start-up and the development of a social business (venture).

The guide can help educators to better understand what social entrepreneurship is, what the social entrepreneurs’ profiles look like and what is the typology of the business models used. So, it will enhance the professional development of these group of people by providing them with general and specific knowledge of how to work with social entrepreneurs in an effective way.

During the first stage of the development of the BASET project and after an in-depth research of cases, good practices and findings from other projects, the partners discovered that educators who use well-structured tools can better prepare themselves for their important roles to support social entrepreneurship.  

Ultimately, the guide includes a step-by-step process for assisting social entrepreneurs how to launch new ventures, support educators in exploring and using diverse models of social entrepreneurship and in giving capacity to social entrepreneurs to get a global vision.
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The beta version of the guide is ready and there is an open access to read it here


Author
Coordinator @BASET
KISMC

Each partner had the chance to talk about the social entrepreneurship environment in their country whereas many case studies encouraged interesting discussions comparing the ecosystems in a variety of European regions. Furthermore, the main topic that everyone provided feedback was on the SEDM progress - such as results from the focus group that took place in Sofia, framework and suggestions for the content of the model and the main concepts, existing models and frameworks for social and business enterprises were analyzed together with previous and ongoing Erasmus+ projects on Social entrepreneurship.

The project meeting helped the entire project team sync their efforts in a direction that would be beneficial to all stakeholders in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. ​The meeting was also focused on discussions about the project activities, dissemination strategy, financial and administration details. All partners agreed on next steps and the evaluation and quality assurance framework for the project.

Author
Partners @BASET

On 31 January a group of stakeholders in social entrepreneurship gathered together with the teams of the project coordinator KISMC and the project partner CEED Bulgaria in Sofia, Bulgaria. The group gathering took place as part of the main project objective of BASET: Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training which is to establish and maintain a well-developed and a more effective the process of training the trainers of social entrepreneurs (SE).

During the focus group day all stakeholders participated in clarifying the training needs of the educators and the elaborated model for training. Also, three reference points regarding the training of SE trainers were propose:
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• Train the trainers' process
• The framework of the Social Entrepreneurship Development Model (SEDM) and the content of the training (modules)
• The instruments

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​The focus groups was created to ensure a common understanding on attractiveness, usability, ergonomics and functionality that the BASET project should have. Hence, the focus group supported the early validation of the users of the model as well as helped in understanding their profiles and characteristics in terms of what information was of their interest, which channels were more appropriate for reaching them, etc. These activities as part of the Intellectual Output 1 defined and clarified the necessary skills, knowledge and competences for further outputs and final project results.

Moreover, all participants exchanged views on the framework of SEDM or more precisely on the following related to its structure:

• Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise basics 
• Marketing Social Ventures models 
• Coaching Social Entrepreneurs models 

Author 
Partners @BASET
KISMC & CEED Bulgaria

​On 26 October 2017 the BASET project kicked off with a meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria where all partners – the project coordinator Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) and the project partners CEED Bulgaria, IDEC, Caban Capital and Creative District – launched BASET: Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training [Project No. 2017-1-BG01-KA204-036360].

The project has been successful in the Erasmus+ call in 2017 and consequently co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for its 2-years' implementation. Erasmus+ is the European Union’s (EU) programme for education, training, youth and sport, with the EU committing £12 billion to the programme between 2014 and 2020. By 2020 it is expected that over 800,000 education and training staff and youth workers will teach or train abroad across Europe with Erasmus+. Projects provide opportunities for learners and staff to improve their skills, enhance their employability and gain cultural awareness.

During the kick off meeting in Sofia all partners discussed their previous experience in social entrepreneurship and agreed on an agenda that would focus on producing quality intellectual outputs that would assist all stakeholders in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. 
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No matter that we have already mentioned what BASET stands for here’s a quick preview: ‘Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training’. The project duration is 2 years and will continue running until August 2019 which will end in Sofia with an insightful conference about the produced results for social entrepreneurship in Europe.

Although the project has a set end date for its implementation under the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, we are firmly willing to continue contributing to this topic by using BASET as an already established network and community to create social value and assist finding solutions to the world’s problem our society faces.

In order to understand more about what the project is about, keep reading below...

We could easily sum up the answer in one sentence but it would hardly cover all. However, let’s sum it up in a sentence:

“We kicked off BASET because we believe that social entrepreneurs can solve crucial problems that we all face.”

But let’s dig in deeper.

After extensive research and looking back at our joint partners’ experience in social entreprneurship we discovered that specialist support for social enterprises is largely absent and where it exists it is often limited or fragmented. There is lack of mentoring and training schemes as well as investment support corresponding to the specific features of social enterprises.

The main objective of the project is to foster social entrepreneurship in Europe through elaborating, testing and providing a set of learning and training instruments to educators.

​All instruments will be tested whereas a group of educators will be trained to offer a set of resources such as training in entrepreneurial skills, mentoring focussed on designing business models and business plans, networking within the broader social entrepreneurship ecosystem and access to grants or seed capital.
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For the execution of BASET our activities will concentrate on the preparation of two methodologies and their testing:

1. Through a 5 days’ course for educators (trainers and mentors)
2. Through a 5 days’ course for investors

The methodology concentrates on a collaborative approach based on commonly accepted rules, preliminary defined tasks and critical milestones, strict reporting and effective control through an online project management platform. We believe that communication is key, therefore we have decided to work with cloud integrated platforms to enhance and ease up the collaboration among the whole consortium.
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The project outcome is a clarified learning model for training educators to contribute to the success of social entrepreneurs. The model consists of three main outputs

• Social Entrepreneurship Development model – a very practical and easy-to-use handbook for educators to understand the needs of social ventures and hands-on guidance that helps entrepreneurs carry out their social missions more effectively
• Train the Trainers Toolkit – providing educators with background knowledge, skills and practical experience, virtual space to provide Social Entrepreneurship Training and technical assistance to social entrepreneurs’ communities
• Train the Investors Handbook – equipping investors-mentors with practical knowledge and model of working with social entrepreneurs at risk

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The methods and the achieved results will contribute to the understanding of the process of social enterprise management through the eyes of the educators in Europe who are involved in the entrepreneurship development and will be able to advance to specificity of the social entrepreneurship in a long-term scale.

With the outcome of the BASET project the educators will be armed with a set of resources that will make the process of training, mentoring and networking for social entrepreneurs sustainable while facilitating their access to effective services and capital.
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In order to have longer-term benefits the project presumes creating a sustainable network of stakeholders and selection processes open to a broader number of trainers and social business cases.
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The project consortium comprises of 5 partners from 4 countries:

• Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) – Bulgaria
  An NGO focusing on developing competences for adults in innovation management, creativity and entrepreneurship
• CEED – Bulgaria
  An experienced business support organisation in the entrepreneurship development in Bulgaria
• IDEC – Greece
  A consultancy with an accredited lifelong learning centre in Greece and organizing in-service training courses for teachers and trainers, informal learning and vocational training
• Caban Capital – UK
  A fund manager providing opportunities for investors to invest in entrepreneurs through services each business requires to be successful
• Creative District – Belgium
  ​A Brussels-based organisation supporting initiatives in the creative and cultural industries for societal impact through providing innovation spaces for guidance and support to entrepreneurs

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