Startarium 4GOOD: Program offers EUR 30,000 funding to social entrepreneurs, NGOs

Startarium, the entrepreneurial education platform initiated by Impact Hub Bucharest and ING in 2016, has launched Startarium 4GOOD, a program for social entrepreneurs and NGOs.

It is a business accelerator offering EUR 30,000 in funding, nine months of mentoring, consulting and training in finding and implementing the impact scaling strategy.

Startarium 4GOOD is the third program Startarium launched this year, after Startarium RE: BUILD, offering consulting and resources for businesses destabilized by the pandemic, and the first edition of Startarium FOCUS, a focused mentoring series.

The program marks the beginning of a new series dedicated to social impact, covering programs, resources and events set to take place throughout the coming year. The initiative is aimed at both social entrepreneurs and NGOs, as well as at support organizations and investors interested in impact investment. In the program, social businesses and participating NGOs will work to increase their social impact but also to ensure their sustainability and financial autonomy.

Businesses or NGOs that can already demonstrate a history of social impact with convincing results are invited to apply to the program. To advance to the pitching stage for EUR 30,000, they will propose scaling methods based on productization, through which they can amplify their impact to hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries. The productization process involves the transformation of services, processes or skills into marketable products; especially to better serve a larger market, Startarium explained in a release.

In March 2022, after two months of training, ten participants in the program will be chosen to give their pitches for funding. A maximum of three will win financing of EUR 30,000 in total. The winners will continue the program, where they will use the funding to develop, test and implement their proposed solution. In autumn 2022, they will once again have the opportunity to present their solution, transformed, in front of the public and independent investors.

Registration runs until December 5, and participation is free.

(Illustration courtesy of Startarium)