Good practice:

Impact Factory

The Impact Factory is a joint initiative of the founding partners Beisheim Stiftung, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, KfW Stiftung & Anthropia gGmbH, supported by Der Paritätische NRW & Wilo-Foundation. They have created a unique start-up "scholarship programme" offering social entrepreneurs a collaborative space for creating scalable innovation & solving complex social & ecological challenges. The start-ups are connected with the Impact Factory´s corporate partners, such as Telekom or Vodafone, functioning as “mentors”, so the start-ups can develop their ideas with a corporate partner. It also offers a network of companies, charities, universities, R&D institutions, incubators & other players from the start-up ecosystem. During the scholarship programme impact start-ups go through different stages (create-up, ramp-up, scale-up, fellow, alumni) with tailored support measures:
Ecosystem: connection with investors, funding partners, universities & innovation labs, so start-ups become a part of a larger Social & Green Economy network.
Expert checks: Top managers, entrepreneurs & lawyers give feedback & insights.
Co-working: a co-working space side by side with other impact start-ups.
Corporate collaboration: bring start-ups together with corporate partners from the very beginning to work together on concrete milestones.
Support crew: support by an experienced, motivated team of developers, graphic designers, sales professionals, etc.
No equity, no fees: no shares are given up

Annual budget 500,000 EUR:
- 300,000 EUR for staff
- 150,000 EUR for non-personnel costs (travel, administration, rent, events, etc.)
- 50,000 EUR for programme implementation (external speakers, experts, etc.)
4 FTE full-time staff, 1 working student & 2 persons with minor employment contracts

Around 110 start-ups have successfully completed the incubator- and accelerator programme; additionally, 60 so-called fellow start-ups are connected to the Impact Factory on a non-binding basis.

The approach presents a targeted support for promising start-up ideas of social enterprises through a joint initiative of different regional stakeholders, such as companies, investors, banks and foundations, with good contacts to potential investors. It resembles a "traditional" incubator but offers support tailored to the needs of social enterprise start-ups. Therefore, it presents an important element for social enterprise infrastructure and helps boost social economy on an early stage. Moreover, due to its network of corporate partners, it also raises awareness for social entrepreneurship with bigger companies and the public.