InTSEnSE Project Dissemination in International Community Forum “Telšiai-2019”, Lithuania

On 4-6th of October an International Community Forum “Telšiai-2019” was held in Telšiai, Lithuania. On the second day of the forum, Innovation Office project coordinator Milda Koženiauskaitė participated as a speaker with a report “Socialinis verslumas vetoes bendruomenėse: iššūkiai ir galimybės” (eng. “Social business in local communities: challenges and opportunities”).

Firstly, it was important to explain the concept of social business and to understand how social business differs from social responsibility, non-governmental organizations, and social enterprises. This is particularly important in Lithuania as a social business and social enterprise are often confused. Indeed, a social enterprise in Lithuania is the status of a company, the main purpose of the social enterprise remains profit, while the main objective of social business is to seek a positive impact on society and to solve problems such as poverty, unemployment, climate change, and others.

M. Koženiauskaitė has also presented 4 interviews with social business entrepreneurs, which were made during the InTSEnSE project. Presented social businesses: Mindūnų bendruomenės centras (eng. Centre of Community Mindūnai), Pilnų namų bendruomenė (eng. Full House Community), Sūrūs Vėjai (eng. Salty Winds) and Pagirk / Basos Rasos (eng. Praise). Participants of the forum were informed about the possibility to  to check out the rest of the InTSEnSE videos on the project’s YouTube channel.

In addition, all the participants of the event were invited to the upcoming InTSEnSE multiplier event in Vilnius.