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Rethinking innovation in social finance
Ireland will demonstrate its commitment to making social finance ever more accessible to social enterprises of all shapes and sizes as it prepares to launch a report highlighting the findings of a research project funded by the EU Commission through the EaSI Technical Assistance Programme . The support measure also facilitated informative interactions with 13 other research projects across Europe.
Led by Rethink Ireland, this research consortium included Community Finance Ireland and Dublin City University, with support from the Irish Social Enterprise Network.
Starting with an argument that the existing suite of financial products available to the Irish social enterprise sector do not adequately meet the needs of all, the research group were tasked with exploring what other options are open to our colleagues in the sector across Europe. Might any of these facilities be replicated in Ireland? How difficult might it be to roll them out? If they were, would there be a demand among the market place? These and many other questions formed the basis of the research project.
Among the research findings, the consortium are scheduled to launch the piloting of a radical new financial product in 2023. A mix of repayable and non-repayable loans, together with crucial non-financial support, the product is primarily targeting first time borrowers from the social enterprise and community space.
The new and innovative product (a first in Europe) will aim to introduce those with no security, little by way of trading record, but delivering respectable levels of social impact, to loan finance via a responsible, supportive approach.