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The second part of the Idea Reframing Workshop at the social impact enterprise lab took place today. Six social enterprises including the Village Scribe Association were present again. This time, we were introduced to the Value Proposition Canvas and the Business Model Canvas. We went straight into our own projects and defined our most important customers, their pains&gains and our product to release pain and enhance gain. From there, we went further into the business model and developed our ideas or simply straightened out the chaos….

It was another good experience and the new knowledge has already helped us to plan the next steps and the way forward with our awarenet programme in Germany and Africa. Stay curious – we will inform you about details soon!

Yesterday, the VSA took part in the workshop “Idea Reframing – From Idea to Business Model”, together with 6 other social enterprises of the social impact lab. We were introduced to the basics of the Design Thinking Method. After going though “The Wallet Experience” we intensively worked on our own business models and developed solutions in groups.

The workshop was very valuable – also helpful to get to know the other social impact lab enterprises better – and motivated us to re-think our ideas and take the next steps to reach our goals. Now, we will have two weeks to work on our projects using the new input before we will meet again for recap, feedback and further introduction to the Value Proposition Canvas.

We would like to thank Philipp Breil and Daniel Reichelt and are looking forward to the second part of the workshop, after which we will inform you about the outcome of the workshop.

Last month, the VSA pitched awarenet at the social impact lab in Berlin-Kreuzberg. I have blogged about this event.

As an outcome of the pitch, we have been offered free participation at two workshops about Idea Reframing – From the Idea to the Business Model. Further, we were offered a free work space in the social impact lab – I am here right now! – until the next evaluation after the workshops.

This is a great step forward and we are very happy to be given this opportunity to adapt our ideas and work on the European business model of the awarenet programme. We are looking forward to good networking in a warm and social space and will present the next outcome by mid April.

We proudly announce that the VSA will pitch awarenet at the social impact lab this Friday 22/02/13 at 3pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and help us by voting. We hope to win a co-working space in the social impact lab, incl. coaching&consulting, mentoring by SAP staff, further qualification and a chance of additional financial support.

Here is a little preview of my concept.

Come and join if you would like to see more!

The year end was used to found the German Village Scribe Association. This important next step was done to enlarge the global network of the VSA and to make collaboration between German and South African schools easier. Further, the official status as NGO in Germany is necessary when applying for funding.

The foundation took place on the 27/12/2012 in Berlin. Eight foundation members were present and signed the statutes, which were subsequently handed over to our lawyer for registration with the German authorities. The foundation meeting was very successful and also lots of fun. Many thanks go to all the participants and advisers.

iq consult offers a mentoring programme “Initiative MENT” for social entrepreneurs and small and medium sized companies. They promise a win-win situation, in which social entrepreneurs will profit from SMBs’ market experience while SMBs will enhance their corporate social responsibility. We have now applied after a very informative and promising meeting last week.

We are confident that we will benefit a lot from this programme and that it will give us a great chance to develop further and better into the European market. At the same time we are happy that we won’t be the only one who gains in this partnership. Africa has to come out of its donation dilemma. It needs real partnership for sustainability and peaceful development. We are on the right track!

The VSA was invited to a panel discussion about “Business cooperation and digital Operation – Must-Haves for successful social entrepreneurs?!” On the panel were Dr. Hartmut Kopf, Head of the World Vision Institute For Research and Innovation, Carolin Silbernagl, Chairperson und Founder Member of dotHIV, Nadine Schön, MP, Norbert Kunz, CEO of iq consult, and Tanja Kufner, Director of the Wayra Academy Germany. They were invited by Telefónica Germany and moderated by Thomas Friemel, Chief Editor of the enorm Magazine.

Everyone was very positive about the possibilities and the potential win-win-situations that result from cooperations between traditional businesses and social entrepreneurs. Traditional businesses can learn more about how to work under extreme financial and time pressure. Social entrepreneurs bring a new dynamic into the “old business”, also because of their innovative and intuitive way of using digital means to reach their goals. In return they can profit from professionalism and seed funding, access to information and contacts.

We see this development in Germany as a great opportunity for the VSA. It is wonderful to see how positive people from all fields think about the possibilities for our society and the future that arise from such cooperations. We are working hard to also be a partner of such a cooperation, soon, and have applied at iq consult for participation in the MENT Programme.

The VSA AGM 2012 took place on Saturday, the 3rd of November at 11am in Berlin-Zehlendorf. 11 members participated, two of them over skype, 8 members were excused, 1 member was unexcused.

Anna and Ron Wertlen reported about VSA finances and activities in the past year. A presentation containing all details can be accessed here: VSA AGM 2012 Presentation and Report.

The feed back was fantastic. We experienced great interest and a lot of questions, ideas and suggestions were discussed. All of this will be followed up by Anna Wertlen in the coming weeks. We hope that the new contacts will improve the VSA’s reach and impact. We will send out more reports in the coming weeks.

The VSA was invited to attend the Makana Leadership Forum on Tuesday, 30 October 2012 at the Center for Social Development. The Makana Leadership Forum is an opportunity for leaders in civil society to form a strategic network of support and knowledge to help each other deal with the challenges of running an NGO. Topics of discussions aimed to cover all aspects of running an organisation shared by thought leaders with an in-depth understanding of the NGO landscape.

Speakers were Margie Keeton, former CEO of Tshikululu Social Investments, Pam Picken of Leadership in Development and Carol-Ann Foulis, the Early Childhood Development portfolio manager at DG Murray Trust. Sarah Hanton, who represented the VSA took the chance to network well with other NGOs and access information about grant and funding possibilities. This will be followed up by the VSA now.

The participants of the forum decided to meet on a regular basis now and also invited the VSA to the Literacy Forum, which will take place today.

This year’s AGM will take place on the 3rd of November 2012 at 11am in Berlin. Please, RSVP to this blog if you would like to take part. Here is the agenda for the meeting:

1. Welcome and excused

2. Reports

2.1 The Association: VSA as NGO and PBO, eKhaya ICT-VSA MoU, awareNet software and programme, old and new coordinators and trustees, the yearly financial statement, new bank accounts

2.2 awareNet: stats, champions, partners

2.3 eKhaya ICT: awareNet software/product, mobile servers, CSIR, license key/fee

3. Roadmap for 2013 for the awareNet programme, incl. research and conferences

4. Miscellaneous

We are looking forward to talk to all interested members and non-members and to hear your opinions and questions.