Hackathon of innovative ideas in the field of Social and Green Entrepreneurship

Between the 17th and 18th of September, within the IHUB Chisinau, took place the Hackathon of innovative ideas in the field of Social and Green Entrepreneurship for young people from all over the country.

The event organized by EcoVisio as part of the "Social Entrepreneurship for young men and women" project, offered participants the opportunity to learn more about the concepts of "Social and Green Entrepreneurship" and "Design Thinking", applying the knowledge gained in practice. During two days of activities, they created and developed 6 business ideas that could solve several social and ecological problems.

The hackathon is a concept developed over the years in the IT industry, which has proven its effectiveness, thus gaining a special place in educational and social activities. Within it, several people participate in the development of an idea (in our case it is about the concept of a social and green business). So, within 2 days, the participants get theoretical training, as well as received continuous mentoring from the stage of conceiving the idea, until the final presentation of the project, being helped by the facilitators present with them throughout the event.

The schedule was based on the concept of Design Thinking. The stages the Hackathon participants went through:

• Discovering the group of participants and experiences;
• Introduction to the concepts of Social Entrepreneurship, Impact business, - Principles and Objectives of Sustainable Development;
• Knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals, their connection with community life and social entrepreneurship;
• Identification of objectives and challenging areas, which can serve as a basis for launching the responsible business;
• Creation of teams, development of concepts and business ideas/projects;
• Prototyping ideas;
• Pitching ideas and celebrating!

For more effective assimilation of the concepts and ideas presented during the activities, young people had the opportunity to interact with the mentors in the following directions:

• Idrisova Aina, the field of social entrepreneurship;
• Iscenco Alexandr, green entrepreneurship;
• Ternavschi Vladimir, management and business ideas;
• Covriga Irina, mentor in the direction of start-up and acceleration;

During the Hackathon, the following ideas were conceived and developed in the accelerated form:

PetCafe – a new vision of shelters for stray dogs;

Studem Café (La Costea) – a place created by young people and for young people;

Чистая Вода – a social enterprise that will solve food and water problems in the countryside;

SafeGuard – an innovative application for ensuring the individual security of people;

MagicSchool – a new perspective on  an art school for children;

Solar System – an innovative idea that will create equal opportunities for renewable energy.

In order to motivate the participants to continue their activity in the projects regarding "Social and Green Entrepreneurship", the partners of the event offered a series of gifts to all those involved in the project.

We sincerely thank for the support provided by:

• Tromigou - the most attractive eco&pet friendly brand of souvenirs
• Floral Soul - the place where you can find any plant you like
• Dulce Plai - the sweetest locally produced honey

This event was carried out by EcoVisio within the project "Social Entrepreneurship for young people" in partnership with iHUB Moldova, implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova within the 2022 Grants Program.