By Yannick Fischer on February 1, 2023
Yannick Fischer

Yannick Fischer

After completing his M.Sc. in Global Governance and Ethics, Yannick has been continuously working in the field of social innovation and entrepreneurship. First for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German agency for international development and cooperation, supporting the secretariat of an intrapreneurship accelerator and now at Ashoka as the Venture and Partnerships manager. At Ashoka, Yannick has managed an acceleration programme for social entrepreneurs on the topic of integration and inclusion and is currently managing a new edition on climate change and circularity. Additionally, he is responsible for the search and selection of new Ashoka Fellows in Belgium and supports on a European level other Ashoka staff members in the due diligence process.

Impact Programme

Ashoka Belgium, in collaboration with ABN AMRO Private Banking Belgium and Accenture Belux, launched the 7th and final edition of the Impact Programme earlier in 2023.

The Impact Programme: “Scaling Systemic Change for People and Planet” was an opportunity for 10 select entrepreneurs working on issues of climate change and/or circularity to build a strategy to scale their impact. Participants engaged in four professional seminars received weekly personalized coaching from Accenture and ABN AMRO, and took part in the public final pitch event and co-creation opportunities between April and November 2023.

The programme aimed to help these entrepreneurs strengthen their scaling strategies and expand their networks., an accelerator for social entrepreneurs working in the field of Climate Change and Circular Economy.

While the programme is no longer active, it played a significant role in supporting and developing social entrepreneurs and their organizations. 

The 2023 cohort featured an impressive group of social entrepreneurs and their initiatives:

Thomas de Groote - River Clean-up

Laurence Claerhout - LinkedFarm

Jan Christiaens & Ine Bosmans - The Cycling School

Gaylord Rouikine - BLED

Laetitia Cloostermans - Less Beton

Bruno van Steenberghe - Kalani

Pierre-Alexandre Klein - Trois Tiers

Anton Maertens - BC Materials

Nicolas Spineux - Copains des Bois

Alain Boribon - Citizenfund

Impact Programme final event - group picture

What is the Impact Programme?

The Impact Programme: “Scaling Systemic Change for People and Planet” was an opportunity for 10 select entrepreneurs working on issues of climate change and/or circularity to build a strategy to scale their impact. Participants engaged in four professional seminars received weekly personalized coaching from Accenture and ABN AMRO, and took part in the public final pitch event and co-creation opportunities between April and November 2013. The programme aimed to help these entrepreneurs strengthen their scaling strategies and expand their networks.

 

What did social entrepreneurs gain from this?  

The Impact Programme supported a social entrepreneur to develop their organization’s scaling strategy, rethink their business model, gain visibility, and build new relationships with public, private, and non-governmental actors.   

 

At the end of the programme, three awards were given:   

The Scaling-up Award: The winner received 100 staff days of consulting support to help them continue working on their scaling plans.   

The Ready to Invest Award: The winner will be prepared to present their solutions to investor rounds organized and facilitated by ABN AMRO   

The Public Choice Award: For the most popular solution decided through a public vote. A special award (tba) was provided to the winner of this category.  

 

The selection criteria were the following:

  • Be operational since minimum 1 year (non-profit or for-profit structure)  
  • Be active in Belgium or having concrete plans to scale activities to Belgium  
  • Have proven environmental/social impact in Belgium and/or beyond  
  • Have created an innovative product, service or way of working with environmental/social impact  
  • Be Changemakers with motivated team with at least 1 leader available for 1 day per week to follow the programme (April 2023-November 2023)  
  • Have a functioning economic model  

 

MEET IMPACT PROGRAMME 2023 WINNERS: 

Congratulations everyone!  

Find more information about the Programme here.

Business & Social Enterprise