Social Entrepreneurs

Vlad Andreev is a photographer from Chisinau, Moldova, who is always on the move. Thanks to his talent for taking beautiful photographs, he gives people joy every time. People who know Vlad well always notice an open smile on his face. His strength of mind and optimism in life is something everyone can envy. Vlad is 30 years old and he believes that his success in his work has come from working hard on himself and constantly improving in photography. In 2019 Vlad became the “Gala Tinerilor Super Eroi” photographer of the year.

Vlad has cerebral palsy. He has had mobility difficulties since childhood. But that was no reason for him to give up. He has always worked hard on himself, practiced sports (gymnastics, swimming, armwrestling) and this has helped him to be in shape now.

Olga Afanas, educator and psychologist-coach aus Chisinau, Moldova. She is 38 years old. She is a translator and teacher of English and Romanian. In 2012 Olga opened her own company for translation, editing and for educational activities, personal development and psychology training. She is also vice-president for international relations within the Ecological Green Party in Moldova.  Olga considers the promotion of women at all levels very important, including in decision making for the State. This year she was first on the party’s list of candidates for the parliamentary elections.

Serghei Obade, carpenter, says, “My dream is to make my work a decoration for interiors all over the world”. Serghei is a native of the north of Moldova from the village of Mihaileni, Riscani district. He is 34 years old. His technique is original: he combines wood (walnut, oak, maple or cherry) with glass to obtain 3D works of exceptional beauty, which are difficult to take your eyes away from because of the visual effects. His exquisite handmade products (tables and doors) not only grace the interiors of Moldovan customers but also spoil the eyes of clients all over Europe. For his work, he orders the highest quality wood and processes it with the utmost care. 

In 2019 Anush Aslanyan from Armenia founded “EREO style” sewing and printing social enterprise.

Anush: “Social entrepreneurship provides an opportunity to create a social value, to do something useful for the community by solving the problem of employment of persons with disabilities. I was pushed by the idea that we could be a successful example for employers, so that they understood that persons with disabilities could be good employees and do quality work.”

When she learned that the British Embassy in Armenia is conducting a social entrepreneurship course, she took part in the year-long training. I thought I had the opportunity to implement my idea. As a result of a year-long training, I gained a comprehensive idea and understanding of social entrepreneurship.

Ashot founded the gym in 1999, with the main goal to maintain the health of persons with disabilities and improve their physical condition. He says, “Years ago, when I founded this gym, I did not imagine how important role it could play in the people’s lives․ People not only train here, but also gain self-confidence, become independent, motivated, feel themselves a full member of the society, due to which many of them achieve success both in personal and professional life.”

Today it is an inclusive gym with all necessary equipment, where people with and without disabilities can train. People with different types of disabilities and without disabilities train and work together, share their experience, make friends and communicate. It promotes inclusiveness in the society. Being a unique gym, it has attracted the attention of state bodies and has been valued by them.

Suren founded in 2010 the Full Camping Stepanavan summer inclusive camp in Stepanavan, Armenia. It was founded thanks to donations.

Every year about 150 children with and without disabilities enjoy their summer vacation at the camp. 

The camp provides interesting entertainment and leisure, creates an environment for communication of persons with and without disabilities and the children get to rest in nature.

There are services of a psychologist, speech therapist, ergotherapist, art therapist provided to children with disabilities and they have an opportunity to meet and communicate with volunteers from different countries.

The children also learn for life, the workers at the camp teach them cooking in specially adapted kitchens as well as craftsmanship like pottery and woodworking.

Ana is a 34 years old woman from Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2016 she founded Cafe “Mziuri”  as a social enterprise. 

Anna’s initiative had many supporters. First, she got the space from the Tbilisi City Hall for a period of 2 years, which was extended three times by the City Hall. As well as she got financial support from such big companies as TBC Bank, Geocell, etc. Anna also received a grant from the President of Georgia at the time and  with this money she bought a sound system for the cafe. 

“Mziuri” has a great impact on society. Various events, such as outdoor movie times and exhibitions are held here. The cafe helps to raise people’s awareness and change their attitudes by creating an inclusive space. The cafe is adapted and any person, be it disabled or not, has the opportunity to visit.

Toma is a 36 year old activist from Batumi, Georgia. He has been working for the protection of the rights of people with disabilities for 8 years already. He founded an organization that mostly employs people with disabilities. He is one of the founders and the author of the idea of ​​the social enterprise cafe “Free Space”. Currently he has handed over the management to a friend, he himself is a head of a non-governmental organization. Although he remains himself in the cafe as a decision-maker. 

The organization was newly founded when a friend introduced the German Embassy Grant Competition for Social Entrepreneurship. Toma decided to start working on this project together. The reason is simple – there was no adapted space where people with disabilities could be invited to various events in Batumi, a few years ago. 

Aleksandr from Borisov, Belarus, found himself in a wheelchair in 2003 but has not lost faith in his own abilities.

At the beginning of 2010, he launched his first social project, “Without Limits”, aimed at adapting and integrating people with disabilities into society. During the project, he learned the profession of a website developer, which later became a source of income. He assembled a team of people with disabilities who have achieved success and recognition in society. They share their knowledge and skills, which help disabled people to believe in themselves and integrate into society. There are already 35 people involved in the project. The project has 4 awards, became a finalist of the 8th Social Weekend 2016, in May of the following year the project took 1st place in the CIS competition “World of Equal Opportunities” among 490 participants, in 2019 it became a winner and winner of the same festival in the “Road to Life” category. Last May, the project became a non-profit organization.

Aleksandr lives in Belarus. Since a motorbike accident in 2000 he has been in a wheelchair. Once he started converting his and his friends’ cars to manual operation. Within two years, he realized that this was a good niche for opening a business, especially since the flow of customers kept increasing. Aleksandr contacted the employment office, registered as unemployed, and found out from the officials that he could open his own business and receive a subsidy from the state, which was about one thousand dollars in equivalent. So he opened a private company in 2011. The enterprise produces walking simulators, active wheelchairs, and wheelchairs for various kinds of sports.

Olga (Belarus), 48 years old, started losing her eyesight after 7 years. The final loss of vision came at the age of 30, after the birth of her second child. 

With this type of disability, such as vision loss, it was not possible to find a job in the normal labor market. Olga has been involved in social entrepreneurship for the past 6 years. Because she realized how important it is for people with disabilities. Olga says, “There are a lot of people with disabilities who have incredible potential, but employers are afraid to hire them. That’s why I take these people to work, because they have the will to work harder, better than people without disabilities. Today there are 11 people with disabilities working in my business.”

Andrej (Russia) is 34 years old, co-founder of “Crazy Travel”.

The project was launched in 2018 by three co-founders – two athletes and one person with a disability. The project deals with extreme and mountain tourism on Elbrus and other peaks in Russia and the CIS. One of the company’s activities is inclusive extreme tourism. In terms of inclusive teams the project works and has extensive experience in organizing ascents for people with all types of disabilities – hearing, sight, locomotor system, including people in wheelchairs. The exception is a disability related to the cardiovascular system.

Roman Aranin is a Russian inventor and CEO of Observer, a company that produces and repairs rehabilitation equipment for persons with disabilities (PWD). Head of Kaliningrad public organisation of PWD “Kovcheg”. In 2014 he became one of the winners of the Russian competition “Social Entrepreneur”.

After the accident Aranin needed a wheelchair. One of his friends, engineer Boris Yefimov, helped him to design the “Passer-by” in 2010, the first wheelchair that Roman was able to use without assistance. Together with the engineer Boris Efimov, he developed a model for a wheelchair. The first such wheelchair was manufactured in a Taiwanese factory. Roman later went into business based on this design. He created Russia’s first enterprise producing special equipment for PWD: before that, almost all electric wheelchairs, not to mention more sophisticated products, were imported.