Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Ideas Academy 2024

Participants on the Ideas Academy will be supported to clearly articulate, refine and progress your solution, to build skills and accelerate learning in core areas of importance to social entrepreneurs, and to move from idea to action.

They have 30 places available on the 2024 programme. The programme will be delivered remotely in 2024 with an in-person launch, mid-programme event and graduation. The Ideas Academy 2024 is kindly supported by Bank of America (Corporate Partner).

Together will a small community of fellow innovators, participants on the Ideas Academy will receive:

• Training & Support
  • Over several core learning days, you will be supported to deepen your understanding of the problem you’ve identified, refine your solution, and develop an action plan to pilot your idea post-programme.
• Peer Support & Networking Opportunities
  • They know that that it can be lonely being a social entrepreneur. On the Ideas Academy you will receive peer support and access to networking opportunities to help build your confidence and network, and gain insight into the social entrepreneur journey.
• Funding Available
  • Each project selected for the Ideas Academy programme will also receive a €500 bursary.
  • At the end of the programme all participants will have the opportunity to apply to pitch for a portion of €25,000 seed funding to further pilot their idea.

Ideas Academy Programme Structure

• The Ideas Academy 2024 will cover four core modules over twelve weeks and will be delivered online through a mix of large and small group sessions.
• The estimated time commitment required is 3-6 hours per week (core programme elements, group sessions and individual work) for the duration of the programme.
• They are aware that many people applying to them will be working and/or will have other commitments so they are providing an additional option: the first two modules of the programme can be accessed either:
  • By joining live online workshops where you engage with the facilitator and other participants on the programme at a specific time and date – these are held on either Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays during work hours (9am-5.30pm) and the duration is 3 hours.
  • By engaging in self-directed learning i.e. by watching pre-recorded content and completing assignments in your own time.

What they expect from you?

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland invests significant time and resources to provide a range of opportunities to everyone who participates in the Ideas Academy programme. Everything they do is to help you develop your solution. They really want you to succeed! In return they expect:

• Full participation and attendance on core programme support elements, in order to successfully complete the programme and avail of other opportunities.
• Open-minded, professional, and collaborative engagement.
• Willingness to participate in group events and share knowledge.
• During the programme you will be expected to complete a number of surveys, primarily the pre-programme, post-module and post-programme surveys.

What are they looking for?

• Social entrepreneurs are society’s problem solvers. They are people with courage, insight and ambition to put forward a solution to a social or environmental problem, and act on it. Broader than social enterprise, they see social entrepreneurs as people who are driving new approaches to solving social problems, regardless of the business model being used. Social entrepreneurs are mission driven rather than profit driven.
• Throughout the application process, they aim to understand your story, delving into your understanding of the social or environmental issue, the evolution of your solution, plans for growth, why now is the right time for you to apply to the Ideas Academy at Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, and your longterm vision for an Ireland where the problem you are tackling has been solved or significantly changed in some way.

Eligibility Criteria

• You must have identified a social or environmental problem and have an effective solution to solve it.
• You, and your solution partner (if applying as a partnership), must be aged 18 years or over at the time of applying for the programme.
• You must be the person/people leading on this idea/solution – the main driver(s) and decision maker(s).
• The primary focus of the impact of your solution must be in Ireland.
• You must be available to commit to full attendance for all of the core learning sessions on the Ideas Academy.

For more information, visit Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.