• 10 educators, specially-selected by the Korean Ministry of Education, travelled to Edinburgh this week for a 3-day ‘Understanding Social Enterprise’ programme
• Delegates visited local social enterprises including Firstport, the Grassmarket Community Project, the social enterprise hub at Montgomery Street Lane and the Social Enterprise Academy
• The programme is a partnership between Kickstart Investment and the Social Enterprise Academy, supported by the Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation and Korea Development Bank Foundation

This week (14 – 16 January 2020) 10 delegates specially-selected by the Korean Ministry of Education travelled to Edinburgh for a 3-day ‘Understanding Social Enterprise’ programme, strengthening social enterprise links between Scotland and South Korea.

The practical programme is supporting specially-selected Educators from across South Korea to learn about social enterprise approaches and the well-established social enterprise ecosystem in Scotland.

The visit was arranged by Kickstart Investment in partnership with the Social Enterprise Academy, and was supported by the Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation and the Korea Development Bank Foundation.

As part of the programme, delegates visited local social enterprises in Edinburgh, taking part in social enterprise tours, learning sessions and Q&A sessions with Firstport CEO, Josiah Lockhart, Grassmarket Community Project CEO, Jonny Kinross and Social Enterprise Academy CEO, Neil McLean.

Delegates also learned about the social enterprise support ecosystem in Scotland and explored how they might use this learning in their own context in South Korea.

Taeje Park from Kickstart Investment said of the programme:

“Scotland has an attractive ecosystem for social enterprise, with the Social Enterprise Academy enabling social enterprises all over the world to learn from the Scottish context. We have many social enterprises in Korea, but this programme will allow the educators to deepen their understanding of social entrepreneurship.   

Some of the professors in this group studied in the United States, so it is a chance to compare the entrepreneurship ecosystems for them. The delegates are all entrepreneurship educators, so they will be learning methods and skills to teach social entrepreneurship to people in Korea.”

Jess Kemp, Senior Partnerships Officer at the Social Enterprise Academy said:

“We are delighted to be supporting this delegation from South Korea. It is hugely important for us to facilitate social enterprise learning between partners around the globe, and this programme will allow us to do just that. It’s also a great chance to showcase all the fantastic work being done by our partners within the Scottish Social Enterprise ecosystem.”  

To find out about social enterprise learning and development opportunities near you, please visit: https://www.socialenterprise.academy/