SE Forum has received funding from Swedish innovation agency Vinnova to strengthen the ecosystem for social entrepreneurship in Sweden. We will together with Impact Invest Scandinavia initially focus our work on national and regional accelerators to provide support to social entrepreneurs across the country.

The funding from Vinnova is part of Sweden’s last government’s strategy to strengthen the social innovation and entrepreneurship sector and is a welcomed step in the right direction, where the focus is on the ecosystem rather than short-term initiatives working in silos.

At SE Forum, we’re particularly excited about the potential this can have on the future of social entrepreneurship in the whole country, with support organisations and incubators around Sweden receiving support at the same time.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the social innovation and entrepreneurship sector in Sweden to make a collaborative effort in developing an ecosystem that can grow and create true social impact over time. At SE Forum, we have for many years had a focus on international social entrepreneurs but are thrilled to get the opportunity to make the most of this experience by directing it towards Sweden and sharing our learnings with entrepreneurs and institutions here to make a difference both on a regional as well as a national level”.

– Thomas Kanestad, Interim Executive Director, SE Forum

We’re also very much looking forward to working with Impact Invest over the next couple of years to combine our experience running successful accelerators for social entrepreneurs – our SE Outreach Accelerator and Impact Invest’s Care of Business.

“We are very pleased that Care of Business can, by the grant from Vinnova and in collaboration with SE Forum, be extended to support social innovators nationwide. The investors in our network have passion as well as capital to invest in social enterprises, but there is often a mismatch between investment readiness and willingness to invest. Our purpose is to close this gap by supporting enterprises that have proved demand and impact to grow faster”.

– Ruth Brännvall, Founding Partner, Impact Invest Scandinavia