In Ukraine, social enterprise is “a key instrument in building resilience”. At Impact Europe’s Impact Week event, Olena Kalibaba, CEO of the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund, reminded the audience that more impact investment was needed from external sources as the country continued to resist the Russian invasion.
Social enterprises are providing rehabilitation and work integration programmes for people injured in the war, supporting displaced people, as well as continuing to fulfil many of the roles they carried out before the conflict.
I’m writing this from the Basque city of Bilbao, in northern Spain, where Impact Week is concluding today. More than 1,000 delegates have been exchanging experiences about the work that they do and we heard about activities across the continent, and further afield. As ever, it’s the stories told by social entrepreneurs themselves which are the most affecting.