MESCLADIS vs VITAMIMOS. What does a social entrepreneur do?
MESCLADIS is a solidarity economy initiative which aims to promote social cohesion within immigrants and locals as well as providing job opportunities to minorities in risk of exclusion by using multicultural gastronomy as a tool for social change.
VITAMIMOS is an initiative which aims to prevent and promote a healthier life in terms of diet and life style for children by organizing family and school oriented workshops.
After a deep debate we choose Mescladis as a better example of Social Entrepreneurship initiative because of the following points:
– “Benefit Leaks”: talking about benefits we considered that Mescladis doesn’t have “benefit leaks” because there is a social distribution of the profits. Whats does it mean? It means that most of the benefits (more than 50%) that are gained are invested in the social change process.
– “Retroalimentación”: By asking ourselves if Social impact is the ultimate goal or it is just part of the process we reached the conclusion that Mescladis is making possible a social cycle in which a contributor can also turn in to a beneficiary and viceversa. Hence, the initiative becomes sustainable itself.
– “Mushroom Effect“: In our perspective, being creative doesn’t mean to be innovative as long as your are not fulfilling a social need due to an excess of initiatives tackling the same issue. Despite already existing initiatives covering this need (social cohesion) Mescladis found a creative way of dealing with this issue.
For further information about such initiatives visit the following links:
Filipa & Ana