Entrepreneurs as catalysts for an inclusive society.

Can entrepreneurs accelerate the development of an inclusive society? Can they harness the potential of the most vulnerable and thus unleash all talent to create added value, both social and economic? With these questions we address entrepreneurs in Marseille, Antwerp and Rotterdam who have proven that they can contribute in an innovative way to an inclusive society. Together with them, we co-create a learning programme for entrepreneurs as a catalyst for an inclusive society.

A School of Will is an ESF project that was started by Blenders, WEB/I-Diverso and Moving Marseille/Wetopia in order to develop a learning programme for Flemish entrepreneurs who want to train themselves as catalysts for an inclusive society. To this end, we draw inspiration from entrepreneurs in Antwerp, Marseille and Rotterdam. These three port cities have many similarities but are also very different, which makes the chance of finding interesting convergences around inclusive entrepreneurship very great.

In a first phase (spring 2021), in each city we select a development group of 5 entrepreneurs who are already committed to an inclusive society. With the data from this development group, we will put together a learning programme for a first group of 15 Flemish entrepreneurs in A School of Will. The result is a blueprint and roadmap on entrepreneurship as a catalyst for an inclusive society and recommendations for the Flemish government but also for all participating entrepreneurs.

A School of Will is also an ideal opportunity to highlight the work of a number of inspiring entrepreneurs for an inclusive society. It offers the entrepreneurs from Marseille, Antwerp and Rotterdam the opportunity to look across the border and get to know each other’s models. What can they learn from each other, from each other and with each other? How can they reach their target groups even better with other initiatives? Which elements in their business plans can serve as an example for other entrepreneurs? How do they deal with a retreating government? Which earning models had they not yet thought of? We are convinced that this transnational cooperation offers many opportunities to make the various initiatives of the selected entrepreneurs more widely known and also offers opportunities to learn from and inspire each other as entrepreneurs for an inclusive society.

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