‘Profit with Purpose – Bringing Social Innovation Ideas to Life’ – 8-9 May 2019

The ‘Profit with Purpose – Bringing Social Innovation Ideas to Life’, an Enisie event organised by Malta’s partners Malta Life Science Park and Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector, was held at the Innovation Hub in Malta on 8 and 9 May. Social innovation, social enterprises and ideas in comparison between Malta and Sicily with the aim of supporting companies with high social impact to grow and create exchanges and synergies between the two countries.
The two-day “Idea generation” had the desired effect and 4 startups received a prize of €6,000 each in services to be provided by Malta Life Science Park. An experience of great interest for the four project partners, which in addition to the already appointed Maltese organizations, also includes Impact Hub Syracuse and Tree. The communities that revolve around these catalysts of social enterprises have been able to benefit from a direct way to participate in the event and will continue to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the ENISIE project such as, for example, a range of services that will be provided free of charge both in Malta and Sicily.
During the event Joseph Sammut, Chairman of Malta Life Science Park, stated that “the event has shown that many excellent ideas of social enterprise are there, ready. It was very encouraging to see dozens of entrepreneurs coming in with proposals that focus on the business aspects while maintaining the focus on their social purpose”.
The proposals received were considered so good that the jury decided to add an additional prize to the 3 planned.
Mentors and judges came both from the organizations of the partnership and from subjects active in the territories. For example, Nathan Farruggia, a philanthropist, Maltese entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in running social businesses and enterprises, or Rafael Pascual-Leone of Valletta Design Cluster, an architect from Toronto who works in the field of Human-Centred Design and who has supported the participants in improving their final pitches.