Fundación ONCE-InsertaEntrepreneurship Programme

Comprehensive Support to Entrepreneurs with Disabilities

Background

§ Mission of the ONCE Foundation: To contribute to the full social inclusion of people with disabilities, mainly through employment and universal accessibility.

§ Low employment rate of people with disabilities in Spain; elementary occupations with lower salaries than the rest of the population; employment precariousness and instability.

§ Low rate of entrepreneurship among people with disabilities as compared to the general population.

§ Unavailable accessible training, collaboration and financial support, crucial for success of entrepreneurship projects.

§ Entrepreneurship as viable work option for people with disabilities.

§ Programme born in 1988 (since the creation of the ONCE Foundation).

What the Programme offers

§ Registration and personal interview [Trained Facilitators; Inserta Network all over the country]

§ Detection and definition of entrepreneurship interest and profile

§ Definition of itinerary (entrepreneurship-specific training or guidance/assistance for starting-up)

§ Specific Training in Entrepreneurship skills (Workshops on Creativity, Business Project, Business Plan)

§ Support and guidance to generate and develop the entrepreneur’s idea, and to develop business plan

§ Financial support - grants for business start-up (ONCE Foundation Grant Programme) – Annual Grant Call

§ Complementary measures: post-training, financial agreements

Innovation - Going beyond start-up§ Monitoring and counselling during the first stage of the new

business.

§ Training in specific areas of business skills (marketing, finance) - strengthen and consolidate their businesses.

§ Technological Entrepreneurship Programme (EmprendeTIC):

2 Special grants for individual training in technological and digitalskills - increase survival rate of new businesses.

2 Specific training in Big Data, potential for entrepreneurship andparticipation of people with disabilities, even for those with severedisabilities.

§ Platform “Emprende 2020” - Diffusion of best-practices

§ Launch of European Award for Social Entrepreneurship and Disability

§ Specific Prize by “Emprendedores” (monthly periodical)

§ “Study on the situation of the Fundación ONCE-InsertaEntrepreneurship Programme. Evaluation Report”.

Impact of the Programme

§ Increase of the number of people with disabilities served as part of the Programme

§ Continuous increase of the number of financedentrepreneurship projects

§ Evolution of entrepreneurship initiatives among people with disabilities in the Programme.

§ Entrepreneurs with a disability become employers of people with disabilities.

§ Increase of survival rate of start-ups when the entrepreneur has participated in the whole Programme (80% of businesses survive more than 3 years)

Future Plans

§ Offering customized support by our entrepreneurshipfacilitators at our regional employment services.

§ Building a community on entrepreneurship (synergygeneration).

§ Designing permanent training to be offered on an onlineformat.

§ Developing a supported entrepreneurship programme(entrepreneurship + supported employment).

§ Strengthening and consolidating our work line for thepromotion of entrepreneurship in the technological field.

Budget and Funding

§ Average cost of the programme per year (grants notincluded): around 300,000 euros.

§ Average amount allocated to grants for entrepreneurs peryear: 750,000-800,000 euros (aprox. 100 grants awardedper year).

§ ONCE Foundation’s own funds

§ European Social Fund (since 2000):Awarded with funds under the new ESFs OperativeProgrammes for Youth Employment (ESF/YEI – 2016-2019)and Social Inclusion and Social Economy (2016-2020) tosupport entrepreneurs with disabilities to develop andconsolidate their businesses

Business ActivitiesAll types of activities in all sectors.

§ High percentage of businesses in the field of retail

§ In the last few years, outstanding evolution, more andmore diverse projects and higher level of specialization:

v Primary sector: agricultural businesses, livestock farms andorganic gardens.

v Industrial and manufacturing sectors: packing stations,recycling businesses, textile design and production,prosthesis manufacture, drink production, artisan ecologicalfood products, videogame development, online platforms, etc.

v Services sector: catering and tourism businesses, trainingworkshops, engineering consultancy, retail businesses(physical stores or online), kiosks, nurseries, health-relatedcentres, administrative management, law services, sportcentres, building maintenance, etc.

Our Entrepreneurs

§ ALTAVOZ: Cognitive accessibility consulting cooperative, created by 3 persons with an intellectual disability with the aim to achieve more autonomy for all persons. Among other services, they offer training, elaboration and validation of easy-to-read documents, evaluation of cognitive accessibility in physical environments and websites, etc. www.altavozcooperativa.org

§ THE HIGHVILLE: Started by an entrepreneur with a visual impairment, The Highville is a web/app to get brand new luxury items at affordable prices through an exciting and entertaining game. ‘Non-winners’ have the opportunity to get discount cards to buy fashion products on the e-shop. www.thehighville.comVideo-introduction in English

Any Disability, Any Idea

Media & Recognitions

§ ‘Emprendedores’ (Entrepreneurs in English), a leading Spanish monthly periodical by Hearst, holds an Annual Gala Event to recognize the most outstanding entrepreneurial projects. These Prizes include since 2013 a category for entrepreneurs with disabilities. Some of the entrepreneurs from our Programme have been awarded with the Prize (APSU in 2013, Cooperativa Altavoz in 2014, The Highville in 2015, and Ilusion+ in 2016).

§ A specific TV show on Entrepreneurhsip on the Spanish state-owned public-service television broadcaster called ‘Emprende’ (http://www.rtve.es/television/emprende/) frequently shows projects from our beneficiaries.

4 http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/emprende/emprende-18-02-16/3491754/ (last part of the show – Spanish)

4 http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/emprende/emprende-31-03-16/3547632/ (min 14’ – Spanish)

Sabina Lobatoslobato@fundaciononce.es

Thank you!