The Western Balkans Region, March – The second phase of the RISE Journey, the Incubation Phase, has started together with 12 selected teams of young social entrepreneurs from Western Balkans region. In the next 4 months they will receive financial support in the form of grant and additional professional support for the establishing of their social entrepreneurial ideas.

The incubation phase was launched with impact management training, provided by Smart Kolektiv provided the teams with training on Impact Management. The aim of training was to introduce these young change makers with the basics of social impact management, tools available for its measurement and Theory of Change methodology. Through group discussion, practical exercises and theoretical part, 12 selected teams became more confident in managing and measuring positive social impact of their business ideas!

RISE (Regional Incubator for Social Entrepreneurs) is a support program that aims to enrich the Western Balkans social entrepreneurship ecosystem and enable young people to develop innovative business solutions for variety of ecological and social challenges their communities are facing. The selected entrepreneurs are young people from the region, 18 to 35 years old, motivated to learn about social entrepreneurship and be involved in a regional intercultural program.

The RISE project is developed and supervised by a consortium consisting of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), GROUPE SOS Pulse, the South East European Youth Network (SEEYN), the Institut Français and the Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ), and implemented by six local incubators – Smart Kolektiv (Serbia), IPC Tehnopolis (Montenegro), ARNO (Northern Macedonia), Balkan Green Foundation (Kosovo), Nešto više (BIH) and Yunus Social Business (Albania). RISE is co-financed by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO). More about the RISE program>> website