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Initiative

Program to support start-ups and social enterprises and to strengthen young entrepreneurship

Program to support start-ups and social enterprises and to strengthen young entrepreneurship
SUBMITTED FROM:

PwC

PwC's accounting practice began in London a century ago. As times have changed and PwC has expanded globally, our commitment to clients – like you – has never wavered. With us, you're supported by a global network of over 284,000 people in 155 countries with one goal: to help your business thrive.

PwC: About us



Objective Action

The purpose of PwC is to create a climate of trust in society and to solve important problems. Our purpose is the basis of the Corporate Responsibility program, which focuses on supporting start-ups and social enterprises, in the context of primarily SDG#8 - Decent work and economic growth and indirectly of SDG#17 - Cooperation for the goals.

Our goal is to help them become sustainable and successful, so that they contribute to economic and social development and contribute to the reduction of unemployment. We want to empower young people with passion, dynamism and thirst for creation, and to turn innovative ideas with social and business value into action.

At the same time, our goal is to give opportunities to our employees, through volunteering, to help these businesses with their knowledge, but also through this experience to develop new skills and broaden their views.

 

Target Audience

  • Incubators, Accelerators
  • Founders and members of startups. Young entrepreneurs
  • Social Enterprises Incubators, Accelerators
  • Founders and members of social enterprises
  • NGO
  • Students with an interest in entrepreneurship
  • Employees and Partners of PwC
  • Society in general
 

Duration

The program started in July 2015 and has a long-term duration.

It is expanding in 2020 with new actions.


Description

Our program focuses on supporting start-ups and social enterprises, NGOs and people interested in entrepreneurship by offering trainings, mentoring and pro bono professional services. Our goal is to give them the necessary skills so that they can develop, create sustainable businesses and NGOs, and succeed in the new business environment.

The actions we implemented in the last four years have long-term goals, they continue in the financial year 2019-2020. Specifically, they were the following:

- Incubators & Accelerators

  • AFI, MKO with the mission to introduce microcredit in Greece to help unemployed people create their own jobs in sustainable businesses, and to improve the legal and institutional environment of self-employment. We strengthen AFI with our volunteers in its offices, trainings and mentoring to its members.
  • NBG Business Seeds: We provide trainings in business and financial matters in Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion.
  • Social Dynamo: We provide trainings on business and financial issues in Athens and Thessaloniki.
  • e.g.g.: We offered accounting and legal pro bono consulting services, and professional training to incubator startups until 2017.
  • Orange Grove: We offered pro bono services in “Agreed upon procedures” matters.

- Startups & Social Enterprises

  • Bloode: Active for the increase of voluntary blood donors in Greece. We provide training, mentoring and financial support for the organization of blood donations for vulnerable social groups.
  • Humane: Active for business employment of people with rare diseases and public awareness. We provided training, mentoring and financial support for the development of a mobile application to promote its activities.
  • Women on Top: It is active for the training of unemployed women with the aim of reintegrating them into the labor market. We provide trainings and financially supported the organization of a training day.
  • Vitabroad: Active in the promotion of medical tourism in Greece. We provide mentoring and trainings.
  • We assigned a group of students from ESMT Business School Berlin to prepare a study on the comparison of start-ups in Berlin and Athens and their success factors, which we use in mentoring.

- NGO

  • MDA: Supports people with rare neuromuscular diseases. We provide pro bono auditing services and sponsor the participation of disabled MDA members in the Athens Marathon.
  • KETHEA: We provide training to its members helping them reintegrate into the labor market.
  • We can: Provide pro bono audit services.
  • ELIZA: We provide trainings and financially support his work to educate and raise awareness among interested parties.

- Education for young people with an interest in entrepreneurship

  • AIESEC: We actively support its members with trainings and mentoring and financially support the organization and its educational conferences.
  • Job Pairs: Our volunteers participate as student mentors.
  • Panorama of Entrepreneurship: We actively support this initiative, and our volunteers participate with presentations and trainings.
  • Fulbright Foundation: We provide pro bono audit services and offer a scholarship to study in the US.

more...

Impact on Society

During the 2019 Financial Year the beneficiaries of our program were:

NGOs: 19
Startups and social enterprises: 200 in FY 2019, 28% increase in FY 2018 (140)
People with activity and interest in entrepreneurship: 1,038

Over the past four years, we have provided pro bono services, mentoring, consulting and pitching to startups and incubators, totaling more than 12,000 hours.

Since 2016, the start-up social enterprise Bloode with the support of PwC has organized 13 blood drives to support NGOs that care for children with cancer, the needy elderly, cancer patients and other vulnerable social groups, collecting 534 units of blood.

Since October 2017, PwC volunteers based in the AFI offices for specific periods of time have supported start-ups with over 1,200 hours of training and mentoring. They also supported AFI in recording AFI's Social Impact Report.

In FY2019, the number of PwC volunteers was 262, an increase of 25% from FY18 (158). We recognize and promote the contribution of our volunteers with internal communication and annual honor events in the presence of the NGOs we support.

In April 2019, we participated and supported the Convergences Forum, a conference on the convergence of initiatives and actions of all stakeholders on entrepreneurship.

During the next 12 months we have planned to expand the program, supporting and actively participating in START School of Business and Tipping Point, as well as by supporting other entrepreneurship bodies in Greece.



Initiative Location

  • PwC, AFI, Social Dynamo, HIGGS offices
  • NBG Business Seeds Conference and Blood Donation Facilities by Bloode, Convergences Forum Conference Facilities
  • Cities: Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion

More...…

Working with Organization

  • AFI
  • NBG Business Seeds
  • Social Dynamo
  • HIGGS
  • Blood
  • Women on Top
  • AIESEC

Workers Participation

Our goal is for our employees and Partners to understand the value of the program and to be a driving force for its implementation. We organize Speed Dating events to get to know NGOs and social enterprises in our offices, while we make sure that our employees are invited to 'pitching events' and incubator information events. We run internal communication campaigns leveraging all print and online social media within PwC

Our employees and Partners participate in the following ways:

  • They are mentors/coaches and provide voluntary advisory services to the members of start-ups and social enterprises.
  • They conduct educational seminars/presentations to incubators, NGOs and social enterprises.
  • They provide accounting, legal, auditing and consulting services to start-ups and social enterprises.

More...…

Benefits for Οrganization

  • The image of PwC Greece and of our country was strengthened in the international PwC network. The program has received honors from the PwC network at European and international level, as a best practice, and was presented in the international annual report of PwC's social work for 2016 - a fact that contributes to the positive image of PwC Greece in the international PwC network . In addition, through PwC's international network, the program highlights the efforts made to support social entrepreneurship in Greece.
  • PwC's relationship with employees strengthened. With our corporate culture we cultivate volunteerism and encourage our people to participate in actions for the common good. The program gives them the opportunity to help social enterprises and start-ups become sustainable and successful. In this way, our relationship with our employees is strengthened, as we share the same values and work together for a social purpose.
  • The positive image of PwC in Greece was strengthened. Since the implementation of the program, our audience has been gradually and steadily informed. The number of our volunteers is growing, while the program has received significant accolades in the field of CSR. Consequently, the positive image of PwC as a socially responsible company with results-focused values was strengthened.



Connection with Global Goals







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