ImpactCity and DOEN Foundation extend partnership
16 September 2022
ImpactCity and DOEN Foundation have already had a successful partnership for many years and this partnership was recently extended for another year! For more than 30 years, DOEN Foundation has been investing in the early stage of innovative companies that make the world more sustainable and social.
Irene Samwel, account manager & manager of partnerships ImpactCity: “DOEN Foundation and ImpactCity are a good match: both promote entrepreneurship and innovations for a better world. ImpactCity creates an optimal ecosystem that facilitates entrepreneurs to start and scale up their businesses. DOEN Foundation supports sustainable and social startups through grants, loans and by investing.”
Partnership
With the common focus on bringing impact entrepreneurs forward, DOEN and ImpactCity have been working together for several years. Two years ago, it was decided to formalise the cooperation in a partnership in order to benefit from all opportunities for collaboration.
The cooperation demonstrates its value concretely as DOEN has funded entrepreneurs who were introduced to them by ImpactCity. Together, they are discussing what else they can do to take impact entrepreneurs further.
The Hague Innovators Challenge
Mirjam Niessen, Impact Investment Principal at DOEN Participations, is again on the jury of this year’s The Hague Innovators Challenge, ImpactCity’s annual competition for startups with the most innovative idea for solving social issues. The winner will be announced during ImpactFest, on 15 November 2022.
ImpactFest
DOEN is also playing an active role at ImpactFest. Director Carol Gribnau will participate in a panel discussion on the role of new business models in Dutch agriculture. And as every year, DOEN organises a meetup. This year, in collaboration with We Are Stewards and New Optimist, DOEN offers a deep-dive into the topic of steward-ownership. How do you grow a business while protecting its mission? Steward-ownership is an innovative way to shape a company’s ownership and allow it to grow while remaining mission-driven – now and in the future. Xander Slager has transformed fashion brand New Optimist into steward-ownership. Xander will share his experiences and Gijsbert Koren of We Are Stewards will explain how this model works.