December 18, 2020

Organized by Hilfswerft gGmbH - a UNESCO-awarded ESD initiative, GoodThinks and the xLab of Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, the three-day workshop in mid-December was all about social and value-based entrepreneurship. The focus for the participants was on jointly developing their own business idea, which they pitched to a jury on the last day.

Suspenseful input supplied contributions of founders and foundresses, who are socially entrepreneurially active even in most diverse ranges. Laura Schorb, founder from the xLab ecosystem, for example, reported on her app FIAMI, which connects pregnant women and midwives and aims to enable all women to receive care from a midwife. The highlight of the weekend for many participants was certainly the impulse from Christian Kroll, founder of the ecological search engine Ecosia. He openly reported on the story behind Ecosia and motivated the participants to develop their own ideas that have an impact - even if it often takes several attempts.

Motivated by the many impulses and informed by short interludes on topics such as forms of financing and business modeling tools, the participants worked enthusiastically on their ideas. The grand finale was then on Sunday afternoon the pitches in front of the jury, consisting of Lena Ohlig, project manager at GoodThinks, Manuel Kreitmeir, chairman of the Initiative Social Entrepreneurship BW, and Daniel Karszt, head of CyberForum. All teams received valuable feedback that they can use to independently develop and advance their ideas.

The great ideas and the overwhelming feedback from the participants show that such formats can provide important impetus and food for thought for one's own career path.

Information about the partners
Hilfswerft gGmbH activates people. It increases their self-efficacy in order to initiate change. In doing so, it pushes new economic approaches: It teaches social entrepreneurship in university camps, citizen entrepreneurship in its engagement competitions in mainly rural regions, and sustainable entrepreneurship through its sustainable consumption poster. The UNESCO- World Programme of Action "Education for Sustainable Development" and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research awarded the Hilfswerft for its exemplary educational work.

GoodThinks Capital Changes is an independent and interdisciplinary think tank based in Karlsruhe, Germany. It deals intensively with the current problems of our time and approaches for their solution. In doing so, GoodThinks is guided by the 17 "Sustainable Development Goals", the UN's global goals for sustainable development, also known as "Agenda 2030".

More information about the event is available at https://www.hilfswerft.de/veranstaltung/social-entrepreneurship-camp-karlsruhe/