MISSION

“Call-and-Code” is founded to provide job opportunities for unemployed from vulnerable groups.

Supported by professionals from an almost 20-year-old successful business structure the employees could find a way to self-organize as a self-sustaining business entity following the principles of social entrepreneurship.

Vision

Social entrepreneurship is an essential form of business that contributes to overcoming a number of social and economic problems in society.

It is difficult for a social enterprises to sustain. Therefore it is most beneficial to found a social enterprise within a successful company so that it can benefit and receive support in case of need.

”Call-and-code” is the fourth social enterprise in which Market LINKS is involved, following the views of the management team of the latter to support the development of the social economy in Bulgaria.

Activities

The field of activities of the enterprise is applying modern technologies in the field of information gathering and data processing, namely:

  • Logical check, coding and code framing of open-ended questions;
  • Recruitment of market and social surveys participants;
  • Telephone interviewing for small-scale projects.

Objectives

The project proposal has two general objectives, aligned with the objectives of the HRD OP and the priorities of the HRD OP 2014-2020 Priority Axis 2 “Poverty Reduction and Promotion of Social Inclusion” to fight poverty and provide more and of better quality employment:

1.By creating a new social enterprise to create conditions for employment and integration of disadvantaged people in the labor market, thus generating social value and return in the form of human resource utilization and its transformation into capital for the Bulgarian and the European economy.

2.By applying the organizational principles of a successful business company to create a new source of sustainable business and employment, which will help the development of the social economy in Bulgaria and the fight against poverty and social exclusion.

Harnessing the organizational experience and potential of a successful business structure, namely market research and consulting agency’s Market LINKS, provides better opportunities to the new social enterprise to be sustainable.

1.Provision of financial, human and material resources for the functioning of this social enterprise that will integrate a new workforce – vulnerable for the labor market people – mainly unemployed persons over 54 years of age;

2.Creating a supportive working environment for persons from the target groups for the acquisition of professional skills up to date with the new age of information technology, to develop skills allowing them to successfully cope with work responsibilities and acquire team work skills;

3.Training the team to work independently and to provide projects from various contractors, thus creating conditions for sustainable business;

4.Developing marketing activities to promote the products and ideas of the social economy through participation and organization of dedicated events and media presence.

The target group of the social enterprise are 8 inactive unemployed persons:

6 of them are disadvantaged in the context of the labor market.

  • permanently unemployed 4 women over the age of 54 and
  • two unemployed young people

2 are long-term unemployed women over 40 years.

The 8 employees will stay up to 4 weeks after the end of the project.

3 people – from the eligible target groups in disadvantaged position will work for a minimum of 6 months after the end of the project.

Social business by performing the following activities:

1.Creation of 8 new jobs for inactive and unemployed persons for 12 months, 6 jobs for people in non-competitive position in the labor market;

2.Appointment of a permanent manager of the social enterprise;

3.Appointment of applied specialists to support psycho-social motivation and
labor integration of the target groups: 1 social or occupational psychologist – part-time job for 10 months; 2 mentors for 6 months, 4 hours a day;

4.Purchase of specialized software / license for telephone and direct personal interviews – CATI;

5.Purchase of computers and tablets necessary for conducting interviews through an electronic platform;

6.Development of marketing via web-site, SEO and internet advertising, direct mail marketing;

7.Promoting the products and ideas of the social economy via media publications;

8.Using and maintaining of 2 premises – fixed costs and sanitary materials and consumables.

Structure

  Social enterprise “Call-and-code” is established within the structure of the business company Market LINKS.

  The enterprise is founded to provide job opportunities for unemployed from vulnerable groups. Supported by professionals from an almost 17-year-old successful business structure the employees could find a way to self-organize as a self-sustaining business entity following the principles of social entrepreneurship.

The name of the social enterprise

The name of the social enterprise makes associations with the two main actions that underlie the main activities: “call” in English means call over the phone and “code” – means coding (creating a code keys to transform verbatims into data).

Market LINKS has reached the level of business and organizational development to outsource such kind of activities to a social enterprise as they are too small for the scale of the company and not as profitable. However, such activities can be a major source of revenue for a group of people fighting for their survival. With a little help from competent marketers and managers, these activities can become quite sufficient later on for a fully self-sustaining and sustainable business.

EXPECTED OUTCOME

Social aspect

The main objective of the enterprise is to achieve measurable, positive social impact by generating social value and return in the form of transformation of human resources into capital, useful for the economy and the nation by creating new workforce and / or improving its quality and capacity by:

  • Integration of disadvantaged people in the labor market.
  • The production methods and organization of the work processes of the Social enterprise embody its social purpose – to create working environment that integrates representatives of vulnerable groups in a sparing and enriching way and a social environment that compensates for their intellectual and psycho-emotional drawbacks, to support them and develop them. An important emphasis is placed on the attractiveness and meaningfulness of the working process.
  • Management of the financial result in favor of the development of the participants in the social enterprise and others – at least 60% of the profit of the social enterprise will be re-invested.
  • Ensuring transparency and collectivity in the management of the social enterprise – it will include the employees themselves, mentors, experts and consultants who support the enterprise, as well as clients.

The Social enterprise will strictly apply the Charter of Fundamental Rights and follow the values ​​and principles that are important to people of today: environmental behavior and sustainable development – in terms of the environment and the raw materials used; the democratic values ​​adopted by the EU; lifelong learning.

Business aspect

The enterprise is managed on the model of business enterprises and aims to achieve financial self sufficiency, sustainability and a positive financial result.

  • The activities are planned and organized just like any business activity: there is a permanent organization of work with a distribution of functions, discipline and compliance with deadlines.
  • Cost-effective and efficient solutions are sought, albeit not at the expense of exploiting workers and neglecting social goals and values.
  • The decisions are based on professionally gathered and analyzed information by conducting market and consumer surveys.
  • The services provided by the Social enterprise have high added value – they are intellectual and marketable.

Execution

The provided under OPRD funding allowed:

– hiring of 8 unemployed inactive persons, 6 of which are from the target groups in a non-competitive vulnerable position on the labor market;

– utilization of the experience and potential of unemployed people over the age of 54 and other vulnerable groups

– creating a supportive environment for working and social integration of the target group by providing mentors and implementing a lifelong learning approach – in order to acquire organizational, managerial and technological skills and develop positive self-esteem;

– providing all necessary resources, including equipment and software in order to guarantee the working, marketing and social activities during the whole 12-months of the project and for the functioning of the enterprise thereafter.

Activities, approaches and tools to reach the expected outcomes of the social enterprise.

The employment of the target groups will be ensured through three activities related to the processes of gathering and processing of information that are ancillary to the research and analytical work performed by Market LINKS:

1.Logical check and coding of open-ended research questions – this is an activity that requires qualities such as good literacy and understanding of the language and meanings embedded in certain words and expressions, observation, correctness and precision, as well as analytical skills, as respondents’ opinions should be grouped into logical categories.

2.Recruitment of market and social surveys participants – this activity is very important and necessary for a research job, but is often too specific and crucial so it needs to be performed in a professional manner.

3.Execution of small-scale projects for expert telephone interviews – frequently small scale projects of 5 to 10 expert interviews are commissioned. They are considered too small for the scale of Market LINKS but very appropriate for a small structure.

Main Approach

“Call-and-code” customers will be research agencies from Bulgaria and abroad. Based on our observations, there is definitely a tendency for outsourcing such activities to smaller structures and to markets with a lower living and payment standards.

It is important to start with a small scale enterprise because:

  • It is innovative and experimental;
  • Organic growth through the gradual growth from small to large – in order to find the right approaches and provide space for those involved in the processes to reflect on what is happening and to participate consciously in them;
  • Awakening an entrepreneurial mindset to take responsibility for the self-sustaining of an organizational structure is a relatively slow process and in small teams must be developed by all participants in it.

Office

Market LINKS will provide an office space for the social enterprise for free (in the beginning) – part of the office of the company that can be separated and office equipment, which we consider unnecessary to purchase at this early stage of starting a small business with similar activity.

Thus, our company responds to the call of the EU, the UN and all environmental organizations to utilize already available resources.

The social enterprise will only pay a proportionate share of the fixed costs for electricity, heating, water, telephone services and office supplies.

Contacts

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE „CALL&CODE“

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