The Arthur Guinness Fund was established in 2009 to award Ireland’s social entrepreneurs with funding for their early-stage projects. This year, ten social entrepreneurs will be sharing the prize, which gives each awardee €50,000 or €100,000 over two years, depending on their stage in development. The projects are categorized as Start-up (0-2 years) or Take-Off (2-5 years).
This year’s projects focused on employment opportunities for the disabled as well as job creation and career support.
Chosen from a record of over 400 applicants, the awardees for the Arthur Guinness Fund 2012 are:
Lucy Masterson, Hireland
Sonya Lennon, Dress for Success Ireland
Daithi de Buitleir, Raising and Giving Ireland
Kevin Empey, Worklink
Aviva Cohen, Neuro Hero
Anne Bedos, Rothar
Krystian Fikert, MyMind
Monika Sapielak, Centre for Creative Practices
Alan Browne & Shirley Agnew, Restaurant 180
Mike Feerick, Ireland Reaching Out
The social entrepreneurs were assessed based on four criteria:
1) Innovation – The project should be an innovative approach or solution, product or service, or a new application of an existing approach or technology.
2) Reach and Scale – The project must be possible to replicate in a way that allows significant reach and scale throughout Ireland.
3) Impact – The project must be able to demonstrate a significant and measurable direct social impact.
4) Sustainability – It is important that the project can become sustainable beyond the lifetime of the Arthur Guinness Fund support.
The Fund is designed to kickoff social entrepreneurial initiatives through financial and non-financial support to improve communities in Ireland. Over €6.5 million was initially invested in the Fund and 20 social entrepreneurs have been supported over the last 2 years.