Social startups are often considered to be uninteresting in the startup scene. They neither collect the most venture capital nor earn the most money or have the most famous founders. Meanwhile, social startups account for 38 percent of the German founding landscape. And their work could be of high economic relevance, as a recent study by McKinsey and Ashoka shows. For example, the work of Discovering Hands, a company that trains visually impaired people to scan women for breast cancer screening. This could save between € 20 million and € 40 million in healthcare costs each year.
State funded social startups
The politicians of the party The Greens now wants social startups to be more state funded. It is true that in the current coalition paper of the Union and the SPD it is already clear that the government wants to promote social entrepreneurship. But apparently she does not do it well enough. In the ranking the best countries to be a social entrepreneur, Germany ranks only 34th out of 45 countries. According to one study, founders in Germany rate the promotion of social entrepreneurship only with a grade of 4.6. The will is there, but the action is not, says Green spokesman Dieter Janecek in conversation with founder scene.
The Greens now want to bring an application in which they demand that the federal government should support social entrepreneurship more targeted. Among other things, these calls the party in the paper, the founder scene is exclusive. The promotion of social entrepreneurship should be supervised by the Federal Ministry and coordinated by a specially appointed State Secretary. The hurdles in applying for public funding are to be lowered for social startups.
How they will do it
A state fund for social startups will be set up, as well as a foundation for digital social innovation with a reasonable budget. Social entrepreneurs should be able to receive interest free loans in the amount of 25,000 euros. There are nationwide counseling centers for social entrepreneurs to be established, as well as startup centers and co-working spaces.
The startup grant of employment agencies should not be made dependent solely on economic benefits, but also on the criteria of successful social startups. It will be examined if a new social form for social startups can be created.
Your paper must now bring the Greens through the Bundestag. That may take months. In a first plenary session, which according to Janecek will take place in May or June. The Bundestag will debate the proposals, and in another session, it will vote on them. If the simple majority of members of the Bundestag are in favor, the government must implement all demands from the letter.
Among other things, Janecek hopes for approval from the FDP and the Left. But even if the application does not come through. The Government to persuade him to think more about the topic of social startups, he will always. He said that the application is but mainly to drive the debate on the subject.
Also published on Medium.