Jobs with a purpose
A website for people interested in a career in sustainability, nonprofit or social entrepreneurship.
About You
Background Information
First Name
Olena
Last Name
Breyman
Twitter URL
Facebook URL
The competition is only open to people between 18-34 years-old and resident in UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark or the Netherlands. Does this apply to you
Yes.
Country of residence of entrepreneur
The Netherlands
Tell us about your personal background. Why are you passionate about this issue? Making an idea a reality takes innovation, dedication and strong leadership. Do you have the necessary entrepreneurial skills to realize your vision?
Just recently I was looking for a new job and I wanted to change direction. I wanted to do something that felt like a contribution to a better world, however small that contribution may be. And this got me thinking along the lines of sustainability, nonprofit and social entrepreneurship.
I wished I knew more people in these sectors or occupations. I wished I knew people who had been in the same situation as me and successfully made the switch. I wished I could talk to people who are in the same situation as me right now. And since all of the above was not the case, I wished there was a place that created these opportunities for me.
This is how the idea of this website was born.
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Jobs with a purpose
Organization Website
Organization Country
Netherlands, NB, Eindhoven
Country where this project is creating social impact
Is your organization a
For‐profit
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Innovation
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
Not enough practical information on how to make the switch to the sectors of nonprofit, sustainability and social entrepreneurship (also including making the switch while staying in your current job). There are resources dedicated to those fields as such, but not to making the switch. From personal experience, I know a lot of people who wanted to make the switch but couldn't find any opportunities (didn't know where to look for jobs; couldn't find any; didn't feel qualified).
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
Jobs with a purpose is a place for people who want to work on solutions to the world’s problems. You will find stories, tips and inspiration about work that matters – be it in sustainability, nonprofit or social entrepreneurship. And of course, you will find jobs in these sectors. Basically, this website is about helping people find a job with a purpose or create their own.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
John works in supply chain management and dreams of contributing to a better world through his job. He comes across our website and starts reading stories of other people like him who have made the change towards a career in sustainability, nonprofit or social enterprise. These stories give him ideas about which direction he can go in. One day he comes across an article about how to change your job towards sustainability without quitting it. The article gives him ideas about how to incorporate elements of sustainability into his current job and which role supply chain management can play in transitioning towards sustainability. The article also gives some tips about selling the idea to his boss. This is exactly what John needed! He gets lots of ideas and starts preparing for a conversation with his manager…
Lisa is a communications professional in a big corporation, and although she enjoys the challenges in her job, she wishes she could work for a more inspiring organization. She comes across our website and also starts reading stories of people who have made the switch. She also regularly checks the job offers publishes on the site. One day, her perfect job is published – a communications manager role for a nationwide nonprofit. She applies and crosses her fingers.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
There are two kinds of organizations doing similar things:
- There are websites about finding a job you love. The closest one to our idea is Escape the city. However, they focus on all non-standard career paths away from the corporate world (any start-up, any non-profit, any organization doing something cool or unusual). We focus only on careers in sustainability, nonprofit and social entrepreneurship – careers with a social impact.
- There are job websites for careers in sustainability, nonprofit and social enterprise (different sites for each of these groups). However, these websites focus on publishing jobs and do not provide a lot of content (articles on relevant topics). Or they provide generic content about the field.
The main challenge is to communicate the difference clearly.
Select the stage that best applies to your business
Operating for less than a year
This Entry is about (Issues)
Social Impact
What is the social impact you have had to date and how you measure it?
The website has just launched; so far the only impact we can measure is page views and Facebook likes.
The plan is to measure the impact in:
- jobs posted and filled via the website
- people who change their current jobs to add elements of sustainability or social entrepreneurship (stories sent in)
Sustainability
How does your model address financial, social, and environmental sustainability?
Financial: revenue will come from payments for job ad postings. The idea is to first achieve a reasonable-sized regular audience of readers, and then sell job ads to organizations offering opportunities in sustainability, social enterprise and nonprofit.
Social & environmental: the idea of the website is also to raise awareness about opportunities existing in those fields, and I think this will be the main contribution - to get more people involved in working on solutions to today's challenges. In terms of operations, there are plans to move to green hosting and donate a portion of the profits to charity.
Awareness & learning
How do you see social entrepreneurship contributing to the improvement of developing countries?
It would be great to see social entrepreneurship become the most common way to do business in developing countries. Just like some countries have never had landline phones and jumped straight to mobile phone use, maybe they could also skip traditional entrepreneurship right to social enterprise. I think it's even more important in those countries, because the government often does not fulfill the functions it does in developed countries, and there is a gap which could be filled by social enterprises.
What aspects of your stay in Uganda as part of the competition do you think you will find most challenging and rewarding?
I think it will be a great inspiration to see how you can build a viable business in a difficult environment and overcome challenges with very little resources. Also, I think just getting to know people from a very different background will be fascinating. I think working together with them and with other people from Europe will teach me a lot about myself and give inspiration for the work.
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