Stories of the Successful Cooperations from Croatia
Bad position of persons with eyesight problems in the labor market - Sfera vizija & Drogeria Markt Croatia
Sfera vizija is a social enterprise which is mainly producing soaps and is tackling inequalities among people with special needs, especially the ones with eyesight problems. Drogerie Markt Croatia - is a chain of retail stores headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, that sells cosmetics, healthcare items, household products and health food.
Having in mind the low levels of development of social entrepreneurship in Croatia, it is of great importance when collaboration between altruistic entrepreneurs such as DM and social entrepreneurs such as Sferavisia enter in a fruitful partnership with several outcomes that tackle the visibility of the problem but also the resolution of such.
Furthermore, the potential of similar businesses also gains more visibility and influence future social entrepreneurs. DM is distributing Sferavisia products in its store chain which has an enormous boost in Sferavisia product sells. By this, the work integration ideas are also visible to the DM costumers who are not familiar with the concept of social entrepreneurship. The collaboration began in 2018 and the soaps are at the time of writing (December 2019) a regular product on DM shells.
Healthy psychological development of children - Centar “Pričaj mi” & telecommunication operator TELE2
Tele2 (AE) is one of the fastest growing telecommunications operators in the EU. Tele2 is a member of the UN Global Compact, the world's largest initiative for sustainable development and corporate sustainability. Successful cooperation with international foundation Reach for Change. Centar “Pričaj mi” - an association that creates and implements projects and programs aimed at increasing the quality of life of children, young people, families and professional associates.
The cooperation between AE and SE is set around the educational tool “Ku-kuc! The story is in”. It is a didactic tool for children which is used by them in various workshops.
Added values: - strengthened civil society organisations and social cooperatives which work with marginalised groups provided support to institutions in Croatia that work with children (i.e. kindergartens, children libraries) whose expert associates use the didactic tool - Joint promotion of the project resulted in the general public awareness of the importance of playing for healthy psychological development of children - continuous cooperation was achieved not only in the field of financing but also through the availability, counseling, education and mentoring program which contributed to the development of the Center as a social enterprise.
Unemployment of persons with disabilities; Textile waste recycling - Huma Nova & Erste Bank
Social Cooperative Humana Nova Čakovec encourages the employment of the disabled and other socially excluded persons through the production and selling of quality and innovative textile products made from ecological and recycled fabrics for the needs of the domestic and the foreign markets.
Erste Bank has a long tradition of donor and socially responsible business (CSR) and thus supports and encourages various segments of society. The Bank supports a wide range of humanitarian and educational, as well as cultural and sports institutions throughout Croatia, taking into account specific regional characteristics and local needs in society.
ERSTE bank saw an interest in long term sustainability of Humana Nova’s business, and has developed a cooperative business model which is related to the employment quota obligation (employers with more than 20 employees have a legal obligation to employ persons with disabilities, amounting to 3% of employees in relation to the total number of employees). The collaboration deepened with an agreement (business cooperation agreement) which resulted in procurement of marketing materials, tracksuits, canvas bags and T-shirts produced by Humana Nova for ERSTE bank.
