€100,000 in funding for five social entrepreneur projects

Five social entrepreneurs have been awarded a total of €100,000 in funding to support ideas to tackle social problems ranging from food waste to grief education.

The five projects each secured €20,000 in unrestricted funding, in addition to a place on the nine-month Social Entrpreneurs Ireland Impact programme. The accelerator identifies high-potential social entrepreneurs and supports them with funding, mentoring and a network of support, with training in fundraising, governance, leadership, and storytelling.

More than 110 applications were received for this year’s programme, a number that was whittled down to the eventual five successful projects.

The winning applicants were ByoWave, which makes modular, accessible, and customisable video game controllers for people with disabilities; Mother Tongues, which creates and delivers training and informative resources in multiculturalism and bilingualism; Peer Educational Technologies, which offers a cloud-based solution for people with dyslexia; Positive Carbon, which helps hospitality businesses reduce their environmental impact through a fully automated food waste monitoring technology; and Shapes of Grief, which provides comprehensive grief education and resources worldwide.

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"The Covid-19 pandemic has proven that innovation and resilience are two of our strongest assets. The role of social entrepreneurship and the individuals whose insight, inspiration and tenacity to create the solutions to our social problems, has never been in greater demand," said oSocial Entrepreneurs Ireland chief executive Tim Griffiths.

“As we continue to live through these extraordinary and challenging times, it is truly heartening to see so many people stepping up and sharing their ideas to tackle social problems.”

Founded in 2004, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has since provided support to more than 400 social entrepreneurs as they develop their ideas into action. Among previous projects supported by the organisation are AsIAm, FoodCloud, Grow Remote, jumpAgrade, Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance and The Shona Project.