Call for Coaching and Mentoring Services for Social Economy SMEs on Greening Agrifood

GRAINS – Greening Agrifood in Social Economy, is a project funded by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency.

The GRAINS project aims at building the capacity of social economy SMEs in agrifood by providing trainings, access to tailor-made services and financial support on sustainable practices and on how to reduce their environmental footprint, namely:

• Supporting the transition towards sustainable and environmentally friendly practices and production processes;
• Promoting the adoption of sustainable technologies and innovations;
• Building the capacity and competitiveness of social economy SMEs through knowledge transfer and skills development about sustainable practices;
• Fostering transnational cooperation, best practice sharing, and promoting sustainable practices through awareness-raising efforts.

Objectives of the Call

• The primary objective of the present Call for Interest is to identify 30 Social Economy SMEs in agrifood to receive coaching and mentoring services related to improving the capacity of their transition to a green business model by improving efficiency.
• The coaching and mentoring activities include a range of initiatives finalised to support entrepreneurial performances of the agri-food SMEs in social economy in various stages of development.
  • Networking and Funding Opportunities: Providing coaching on networking strategies and accessing financial resources to enhance their sustainable competitiveness.
  • Social Entrepreneurship Coaching: Supporting the management of SME agrifood in social economy in developing their leadership development, career advancement strategies, performance improvement, and entrepreneurship skills.
  • Incubation for Startups and Scaling up: Offering support to early-stage startups through an incubation program, which may include mentoring, funding opportunities, and business development guidance and marketing strategy.
  • Go-to-Digital Market: Assisting businesses in transitioning to digital markets through coaching sessions aimed at developing digital marketing strategies, online presence enhancement, and leveraging digital skills for business growth.
  • The services are provided free of charge for the successful beneficiaries. The services may be provided in English or in one of the following languages: German, Romanian, Italian or Ukrainian.
• Further objectives:
  • Modernising the way of working through the use of digitalisation and technology.
  • Improve the organisational/legal structure and the business plan, including all stakeholder in the process.
  • Encouraging cross-sectoral cooperation and knowledge transfer between social economy SMEs, start-ups, traditional enterprises, consultancies, business support centers, and incubators to increase the adoption of green skills and the development of more sustainable products and services.
  • Promoting sustainable innovation processes by social economy SMEs to increase their competitiveness and creating new market opportunities.
  • Encouraging further investment by social economy SMEs in sustainable alternatives, capacity building, and knowledge transfer.

Duration

• The project runs between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2025.

Eligibility Criteria

To be considered as beneficiary, the applicant needs to fulfil the following requirements:

• Must be registered in the European Union or in Ukraine,
• Qualifies as a Social Economy SME
• Performs their productive activities within the agri-food sector.

For more information, visit European Union.