Enabling Entrepreneurship

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DreamBox Hong Kong, China

DreamBox encourages people to design and build their own products and provides and a shop where they can be sold.

It is also possible to recycle used items — old toys, for instance — for sale in DreamBox’s shop.

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Rede de Centrais de Serviços Central of Services Network Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This network of self-employed workers offers professional services in construction, sewing, catering, maintenance, and general household work. 

A central operator channels service orders to associates who negotiate the jobs with clients and serve as liaisons with the workers.

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BiciCentro Bologna, Italy

BiciCentro collects broken bicycles from the train station parking lot, fixes and sells them to students.

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Pollus & Jowanel Arts & Crafts Association Votuporanga , Brazil

This association teaches craft techniques to children and elderly residents of the town of Votuporanga.

They re-use discarded industrial materials donated by the local furniture companies Pollus and Jowanel.

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Talking Beads Women Collective Pretoria, South Africa

Talking Beads is a collective of poor women whose goal is to empower themselves and their communities by running Their own business selling artisanal craftworks.

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The House of Youth Tehran, Iran

The House of Youth provides support to art students and housewives to develop and sell their own products to gain financial independence.

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Työ & Toiminta Employment and Environmental Activism Helsinki, Finland

The main goal of Työ & Toiminta is to provide work for unemployed, immigrant, and disabled people.

The organization, which runs a second-hand store, also aims to promote sustainability by increasing the life cycle of consumer goods and finding new ways of recycling.

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La Boutique Pédagogique Training Shop Paris, France

La Boutique Pédagogique offers professional sales courses and opportunities for students to put theory into practice at its on- site shop.

The organization’s aim is To enable young people and adults who are unemployed or have limited education to find fulfillment through their work.

The shop only sells fair trade products.

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Vila das Canoas Community Based Tourism Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Vila das Canoas residents offer tourists lodging in their houses, in order to show visitors another image of the shantytown while generating income inside the community.

This practice also facilitates the exchange of cultural knowledge, particularly via foreign languages.

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Hababusch Hostel Weimar, Germany

Hababusch Hostel is a non-profit facility created by students who wanted to restore and live in an old building in Weimar.

Students aim to facilitate cultural exchanges by offering cheap accommodations to other students and travelers.

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Creative Education Eindhoven, The Netherlands

The aim of this initiative is to bring schools and artists together for educational purposes.

An organization, BISK, mediates between schools and artists, who are invited to workshops to develop students’ creative and artistic skills.

Guided by artists, students create artworks from garbage, discovering the potential of everyday materials and finding and creating new meanings out of discarded objects.

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Horta Comunitária Community Vegetable Garden Boa Esperança, Brazil

This community garden initiative offers work to the unemployed and helps integrate residents into the neighborhood.

This project was created as a strategy to fight hunger and to increase civic participation in suburban districts.