What are the biggest challenges for rural social enterprises and what are their top tips for success? Below you can read Best Practice Examples and learn more about how some social enterprises run their businesses, what kind of support has been important to them and in which areas they feel they need more support. 

Sweden

Made in Medelpad

Made in Medelpad’s social mission is to empower local rural artisans by providing a platform to sell their crafts, fostering sustainable entrepreneurship, and promoting Medelpad’s cultural heritage.

Edsele Interest Association

Edsele Interest Association’s mission is to promote and develop the local business, culture, and environment through inclusive leadership, local cooperation, and innovation.

FSMH Fjällsjö

RSMH Fjällsjö is a co-operative that promotes social and mental health by creating jobs and including people in the local community.

Norway

Djupvik central station

Djupvik central station’s social mission is to establish a meeting place for the local community, with activities and a social sustainable population, to achieve synergies between the different organizations and businesses and to help people in all ways so they want to live and stay in Djupvik.

Eikra Activity Ltd

Eikra Activity is a social enterprise that provides training and employment-oriented programs aimed at people with reduced work capacity and those at risk of prolonged social exclusion, especially youth and non-native speakers.

Hysnes Neighbourhood central

The mission of Hysnes Neighbourhood central is to establish a meeting place for the local community with activities and contribute to a social sustainable population. Its is also to achieve synergies between the different organizations as well as to facilitate organizations.

Maurtuva Growth Farm

Maurtuva Growth Farm is a social entrepreneur that primarily works in the field of dementia, but also offers an alternative learning arena for school students. Our partners are the public sector and we work with the municipalities’ health and care units and schools. Our vision is to contribute to dignified and recognized lives for our participants at the farm.

Iceland

Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft

The museum is a cultural and educational institution which main aim is to collect information and support research about history of witchcraft and folklore in Iceland and share this information with the exhibition, publishing, lectures and through cooperations with other institutes.

Netagerðin creative workshops

Netagerðin’s mission is to provide a collaborative space where artists and designers can gather to share ideas, develop their projects, and bring their visions to fruition. It strives to be a cultural and artistic center in the community, promoting creativity and teamwork.

Skrida publishing house and print workshop

One of Skrida publishing house and print workshop’s social mission is to enrich the conversation and interest in literature in the countryside, and to be an open space for everyone who wants to create and are interested in arts and bookmaking. Another social missions is to make bookmaking sustainable, by making all the books in the hometown instead of printing it somewhere else, and to recycle and reuse all paper leftovers for something new.

Ireland

MacDara Co-operative

The mission of MacDara Co-operative is to develop economic, social and cultural conditions in Carraroe, Ireland. Take a look at the film below to learn more about them through an interview with Séan Ó Domhnaill.

The Aran Islands Co-op Recycling Project (Athchursail Árann)

The main objective of The Aran Islands Co-op Recycling Project (Athchursail Árann) is to provide a waste management and recycling service to the community of the three Aran Islands.

Comharchumann Forbartha Ionad Deirbhile

The social mission of Comharchumann Forbartha Ionad Deirbhile is to inspire people to visit the area and to showcase it. It is also to provide employment to local people so that they may tell the story to locals and visitors alike.

Finland

Tarjoomo osuuskunta (The Provider Cooperative)

The purpose of Tarjoomo is to support the well-being of elderly people living at home. It was founded as a consequence of an EU funded project, which examined solutions on mismatch of demand and supply of elderly services.

Omakylä Vuolenkoski Oy (Own Village Vuolenkoski Ltd.)

The mission of Omakylä Vuolenkoski is to foster community and develop the village by supporting local services and local entrepreneurship, as well as strengthening the share capital of the village’s limited company.