What is day-to-day life for Hungarian social enterprises?

The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and its project named SENTINEL is ready to show you. The project has been going on for two and a half years, led by the Charity Service in partnership with 6 Central-European countries, funded by the EU to help social enterprises throughout the region. In the frame of this project, the Charity Service has organised a fair named “Shared Basket” presenting 20 enterprises as exhibitors.

Social Enterprises' Fair in Budapest

Shared Basket: Social Enterprises' Fair in Budapest

Social enterprises, entrepreneurs and experts gathered from all around the country at the Hungarian Headquarters of the Charity Service to inform the public on the following topics: how they cope in the economy, what products help them enter the Hungarian market, how a social enterprise can contribute to environment-friendly shopping while creating workplaces for workers who had found it hard get a job in the labour market for years.

The two-day fair named “Shared Basket” provided an opportunity for 20 social enterprises to introduce their products, while several experts of the Charity Service and other organisations with expertise in this field talked about why and how to support these enterprises. Besides teaching environmental consciousness and conscious consumer behaviour, they provide high quality products, whether it is food, services or articles for personal use. Participants of the professional day wrote a marketing poem with the help of Kristóf Horváth alias “Actor Bob”. One of the Hungarian partners in the SENTINEL project, Konett Team gave a useful presentation on the mentoring process and the importance of establishing networks.

Shared basket in Budapesz

Shared Basket in Budapest

At the two-day event, numerous guests had a chance to discover the world of social enterprises, as well as to pick over, test and buy their products. In addition, they could listen to the acoustic concert of Romano Drom, and children were entertained with puppet shows and by the instructors of the Mobile Playground of the Charity Service. The international project named SENTINEL has been running with the leadership of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta since 2017. Based on their long term experience, several social enterprises of the Charity Service, such as the meat factory in Gyulaj, and the electronic disassembly enterprise in Pécs serve as a best practice for the project partners.

19 October 2019, Budapest, Hungary