Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg; Credit: Alexander Anyfandakis

On Tuesday 30 January 2024, Luxembourg’s Minister of Labour, Georges Mischo, welcomed the Hereditary Grand Duke as part of a visit to the Social Business Incubator (SBI), the incubator for companies with societal impact, launched at the end of 2022.

In the presence of societal impact companies, ULESS and numerous partners, the minister said he was particularly delighted with his first visit to the SBI and the growing number of companies with societal impact. He confirmed to social entrepreneurs and other players in the social and solidarity economy that “he would work alongside them to create an environment conducive to the development of social businesses”.

In his speech, the minister specified that “the year 2023 marked a pivotal year with the adoption of the United Nations resolution on 18 April 2023 giving recognition to the social economy to promote fair development at the global level, sustainable and inclusive”.

The minister also noted he was “very proud” of SBI’s success with twelve startups supported, many people interested in ministerial approval as a societal impact company and a strengthened community.

Several presentations followed on the incubator's service offering, the Impact Luxembourg label and the promising projects of three “incubates” being approved as a societal impact company. Thanks to numerous partnerships, budding social entrepreneurs benefit from complete immersion in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The minister finally looked to the future: the improvement of existing services and the development of new services, programmes and training dedicated to social entrepreneurship and social innovation are planned.

On this occasion, Minister Mischo also announced the launch of the second edition of the call for projects with a social and societal impact, “touch BASE – Be.A.Social.Entrepreneur.”

During more than 60 hours of group workshops and 20 hours of individual coaching, divided into three phases, candidates will be challenged to define, validate and launch their social enterprise.

Interested individuals can register until 15 March 2024 via the following link: https://socialbusinessincubator.lu/candidature/.