A new and exciting concept has been launched in Luxembourg, a social enterprise with a cooperative structure based on a unique goal of "Actively Helping People with Their Socio-Economic Affairs & Lives both coming out of COVID-19 and beyond".

Having retired from the world of banking & IT consultancy, Clive MUNN (Acib) has now conceived MUNNFTSE International Investment Holdings (Luxembourg) Sarl — currently under formation — which goes many steps further than the previous concept of MFTSE Affairs S.A., back in 2016 which also had the aim of promoting socio economics, including via the FEM (Finance Eco Money) website now resurrected at https://munnftse.eu/. Whether before its time or not, Luxembourg was not quite ready then for such a socio-economic approach to business and finance. So now we have: My Ultimate Nature Nurturing Finance To Socio Economic life and affairs.

Clive talked with Chronicle.lu and explained:

"We know it has been hard to imagine, until today, with so many new cases & strains still surging around the world, but we also know there will be a time, soon, when, aided by vaccination, the COVID-19 pandemic will be behind us.

Just close your eyes for 5 minutes says Clive; join the “World of Learning”, Imagine What Could Be and “Never Stop Inspiring”. It is safe to assume that society will now be changed forever, given how disruptive the virus has been to virtually every part of our lives around the world. Of course, we still have a long way to go before life truly gets back to “Normal”, whatever that is.

However, all MUNNFTSE planning and management is based around an ethos that is first and for mostly emphasising the importance of sound investment for all which, we believe, must always be Diversified; Eco-Logical; Sustainable; Tax Optimal; Income Generating; New &, most importantly, Sharing & caring — our "DESTINS" (Destinies) in fact. Of course, this must be regularly reviewed, lived and massaged, at the same time as being controlled by our internal and where appropriate, out sourced, Audit, Communications, Insurance, Policy & Procedures, Compliance, KYC and Legal teams.”

Secondly, Clive who is surrounded by a larger group of like-minded professionals than before is optimistic that the vaccines will bring an end to the pandemic, at some point in the near future. We see now in the UK that, as at 11 January 2021, 2.6 million of the most vulnerable people in the UK have already been vaccinated and that a large majority in the UK will be covered by the autumn of this year (a bit faster than Brexit!!).

What the “World of Change” looks like after this terrible wake-up call, we believe entails a more determined focus on Getting Closer to Nature, aided by Embracing Fully the New Digital Revolution. Many of the digitisation trends we have seen, especially in the areas of Online Learning, Telemedicine & Health

& Well Being and, in particular, remote Co-Working, will become a more and more essential and inevitable part of our lives" he added.

Already MUNNFTSE have created a “World of Action” with a number of projects underway, mainly based on Co-Working, Living, Gardening, Leisure & Car Sharing concepts as well as property management. “Life is Work” and “Work is Life” as we say. In fact, the MUNNFTSE & FEM Group of Companies already have some 12 projects underway managed by 12 Ecological & Social Transition based Consultants. The first is indeed a Cooperative integrated community with Co-living, Working, Studying, Gardening, Leisure, Car Pooling and Sharing project in Leudelange. Plans include potential projects on Place de Paris, in Esch-sur-Alzette and two projects in Samoëns in France. It is also planned that the Head Office will be either in the Rue des Bains or Station areas of the International City of Luxembourg. We intend, at this stage, to seek help from the “Ville” and/or government sources and may even try to create a new House of Co-operatives. The operational part of the business/group is housed in MUNNFTSE Life (Luxembourg) Scop, a coopertive company which takes a form well know and established across Europe.

Our Consultants intend to continue assisting and promoting, especially start-up organisations and those who fully endorse our overall philosophy. There is a partnership page on our website where businesses can exchange their logo with ours in a co-operative, free way (Like freely available software). The idea is, of course, to increase SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) i.e. coming first or near the top in, for example, Google searches but it will also become a New Directory for Like Minded People and Businesses.

They say that “Together is Better” and we believe that, in this way, we can really move now to change things for everyone, bringing an end to the pure version of financial capitalism which disgusts so many of us, at all ages. Finance (sharing resources), Business, Journalism and everything only for Good with only ethical projects and articles designed to help and serve one and other in order to eliminate greed, the terrible enemy of the poor and underprivileged. Providing beautiful services and accommodation at a fair price, not an ever ballooning unsustainable bubble like the current stock exchange or property markets. 

So www.MUNNFTSE.eu and their team, look forward to meeting and exchanging ideas with you. At their site you can choose to join and blog or participate in their community at different levels. Alternatively perhaps you would like to participate in their exciting new cooperative by buying a share at only €10. This would, of course, not only enable you to share your ideas with the community but also to benefit from future group dividends and all the other benefits associated with humanitarian co-operatives”.

The MUNNFTSE & FEM Group of Companies also support ALN the Association Luxembourg-Nepal Asbl charity which helps to reduce poverty in Nepal. https://aln-luxembourg-nepal.org/

As we have seen in the previous two parts of this copy, social franchising can considerably contribute to reducing poverty by providing employment to vast amounts people and spreading socioeconomic awareness. Thus, if you want to make a huge positive impact upon the society, opening a social enterprise would be a good idea and starting a social franchise or becoming a franchisee of an already existing one might be even better and more importantly, much easier to implement. The following paragraphs will give you an opportunity to meet some of our favourite companies which have already embarked on the journey. If you find one you really like, you could perhaps ask them for feedback on your big idea to change the world, or you might even find one which you can strongly relate to and contact them about a franchise opportunity with them or perhaps even for volunteering and helping their cause in that way. We are certain that any social enterprise would be excited to get a helping hand, as that would enable them to help even more people, which is the main goal majority of them have. The information on opportunities and examples of social franchises we will provide, will differ on case by case basis, as the amount of information we could access on each one of them differs significantly. Despite that, we hope you will find the information you are looking for or at least interesting.

First of all, we would like to mention The Trussell Trust, which is a company with the aim of eliminating hunger from the United Kingdom (UK). As we all know, UK is one of the most affluent countries in the world, however, data shows that nearly thirteen million hungry people live there and the number is increasing each day due to several reasons, spanning from unexpected expenses which need to be urgently handled to delays of receiving benefits. If the data for UK is so striking, you can only imagine, how high the numbers are in less affluent countries, especially in the developing ones. The Trussell Trusts’ network of 400 food bank franchisees, has decided to tackle this big issue by providing people in need with a minimum of three-day emergency food support packages. In this way, their support has reached over 1.000.000 house British households in 2015 and the beginning of 2016. If you decide to become their franchisee, they will provide you with full training and operating manual, ongoing support, a content management system template for your future franchisee website, branding artwork, national and regional conferences, etc. Your initial contribution to become their franchisee will sum up to 1500 pounds the first year and 360 each consecutive, which doesn’t seem overly high for a noble cause they are after. If you wish to help them with eliminating hunger in UK, visit their webpage and get in contact with them, but even more importantly, if you wish to spread their amazing cause abroad, you should probably get in contact with them as well, as we are certain they would be delighted in helping you on your journey with their valuable experience. You can find more information on The Trussell Trust on their webpage https://www.trusselltrust.org/ .

The second company we want to introduce is “Care And Share Associates” abbreviated to CASA, which is another company operating in the UK. Their three core values are “people before profit”, “actions speak louder than words” and “commitment to local communities”. What the company actually does is overseeing a large group of adult social care providers, by empowering them through giving them an opportunity of owning their own company and enabling them to bring high quality care and support to people who really need it. The things CASA will help you with when building your social franchise are writing a business plan, registration at the “Care Quality Commission”, “Criminal Record Bureau” checks, securing the funding to start the company, marketing and contracting, and much more. Just as importantly, they offer you an inclusion in their franchise network, which is famous for the mutual support of the members, as well as cross-fertilization of members’ knowledge on improving the world. If you want to know more about CASA and how to help the elderly in your community, we encourage you to contact them, but first visit their website, where you’ll be able to learn more about the company and its cause. You can reach them on the following webpage http://www.casaltd.com/ .

The third social franchise whose cause in a way relates to the one of “The Trussell Trust” and again operates in the UK is the “FoodCycle” company, which exists since 2008, meaning they have been helping people for quite some time. If you read the second part of our article, you know that this track record is quite important, especially if you are interested in becoming their franchisee. What “FoodCycle” does is help people who are at risk of hunger and social exclusion, by organising weekly communal meals, which enable those people to socialize and fill up their tummies in a warm appealing environment. For the past few years, they have been especially focused on developing and refining their franchise model in order to make it even better and help even more people help other people. They do this through several initiatives among which is support in securing the funding for your franchise. It is also worth to note that “FoodCycle” is the largest franchise group of that type in UK, meaning they probably possess vast amounts of knowledge and could give you a lot of information on working with them, success of their previous franchisees as well as information about requirements to open some other type of social franchise by yourself. You can find more information about “FoodCycle” franchise on http://foodcycle.org.uk/ .

As you can see, it would be too lengthy to go further and present more remarkable companies within a single article. Because of that we are going to refer you to a few more social franchises by listing the links to their websites. You can find “Child and Family Wellness Clinics” on http://www.cfwshops.org/ , PSI which is a global organisation devoted to improving health of people in the developing world at http://www.psi.org/ and the franchise format called “Basic Needs, Basic Rights”, which is devoted to improving international mental health, can be found on http://www.basicneeds.org/ . If you wish to explore other social franchising opportunities around the world, we suggest that you visit the “European Social Franchising Network’s” member directory through http://www.socialfranchising.coop/members-directory . Either way, we sincerely hope you are going to find a social franchise you like and perhaps start changing the world for the better by cooperating with or supporting at least one of them.

We encourage you to share this article among your social network and perhaps some of your friends will jump on the train of changing the world for the better as well. We wish you all a beautiful and cheerful day.

According to Mr. Berelowitz, the chief executive officer and the co-founder of International Center for Social Franchising (ICSF) in London, one of the important characteristics of social franchising is its’ adoption of successful practices originating in commercial franchising. Namely, the key to a successful franchise is always recording and specifying key operating processes of a business and then transferring them onto other entrepreneurs, which can then follow your established routine and succeed in running a business of their own, by using the company’s name and the know-how. In exchange, the franchisee then pays royalty fees, marketing fees and other pre-agreed upon expenses. However, social franchises define success differently than their commercial sister. Namely, rather than putting emphasis on the retained earnings or profits, they focus on the extent of positive impact their economic activity leaves on the society. Regardless, it also needs to be noted, that even social enterprises need capital in order to survive and sustain the ability to deliver the target social impact. Thus, financial resources which are at disposal must be scrutinized at all times.

Social franchise can be financed from several sources, spanning from different governmental or European initiatives, to personal finance, contributions from family and friends, or as our “entrepreneurial business models” professor always said, the triple FFF, where his third F stands for fools. Sometimes financing can be also gained through crowdfunding or more traditional ways like bank loans. According to Berelowitz, financing can be extremely important, which is especially true when the company wants to expand the capacity of its’ operation or when the franchisor needs to train many new franchisee’s, or when franchisees need to employ staff. In Berlowitz’s words, it’s sometimes even necessary that social franchises switch their business model to full business format franchising, in order to remain capable of delivering high quality and quantity of service even more rapidly. In such situations, it needs to be kept in mind that the franchise still exists with a social cause, so we can remain including it under the umbrella term social enterprise, despite a slightly higher focus on monetization.

Furthermore, Berelowitz speaks about the necessary preconditions or things to keep in mind when thinking about boarding a social franchise train, whichever side of it you are boarding. The initial and most important point is that a potential franchisee as well as franchisors pay significant attention to the chosen project, i.e., the potential franchisee needs to make sure that the idea they pursue has a proven track record in social impact as well as financial sustainability, whereas the franchisors must pay more attention to forecasting and thinking about the things that could go wrong, the knowledge they must urgently transfer to their franchisees, which knowledge should be only kept by the franchisor, etc. Furthermore, it is important that potential social franchisors pay significant attention to who they choose as franchisees. Sadly, franchisors have to sometimes also find a good balance between quality of the service they provide and the quantity they can provide at the specified quality. More specifically they need to decide when to sacrifice the quality in order to be able to deliver its’ necessary quantity. Either way, franchising and its’ social counterpart are highly recommended to companies and social enterprises which see a high potential to growth, so if you have an idea that you are certain could change the world for the better and you’re nearly certain it would succeed, you should certainly look into social franchising in more depth.

The following and the last part of the article will include a few examples of social franchises, so you can perhaps explore them a bit more and see in which way they operate and learn more about their contribution to our society.

(to be continued…)

Let us begin by sharing a few words about franchising in general. Franchising is becoming increasingly important all over the world. One part of information which attests to it is that according to a report produced by “Global Industry Analysts” in 2012, franchises all over the world will soon surpass €3.5 trillion in yearly revenues. Even more importantly, investing in franchises has been shown to contain much less risk and can be much more rewarding than starting a business from scratch, which is why franchising is starting to become increasingly interesting for social entrepreneurs and investors as well. However, since social franchising is just beginning to gain friction, there are still many hurdles and uncertainties in the way. Thus, the aim of this article is to cover some of those and bring social franchising closer to you, our reader and perhaps help you embark on the journey towards opening an “impact” franchise yourself.

Franchising Facts & Figures

First of all, let us look at a few more facts and figures related to franchising, as you will probably agree that the number €3.5 trillion is not very meaningful or informative, as we are normally not used to operating with such big numbers. First, it will make the amount slightly more comprehensive, if we compare it too United States yearly federal budget, which nearly the same (source: Wikipedia), i.e., approaching €3.5 trillion in 2015. Other than that, International Franchise Association has reported that franchise businesses create jobs faster than any other type of business and even all other types of business combined, leading by at least 2% each year since 2007 till 2015. In addition, the nominal output of franchising organisations has been increasing by at least 4% a year as well. The most popular franchising business are within the personal services sector, quick service restaurants, real estate and retail products and services. In addition, restaurant franchise businesses also employ the highest proportion of workers within the industry. Another very interesting piece of information is that according to International Franchise Associations’ research (which is admittedly slightly or even very outdated, as it originates in the year 2000), 86% of franchises which opened in the past 5 years are still operated by the same owner, and 97% of them were still in business. This information is highly significant, especially in comparison to the high drop-off rate when looking at other types of start-ups. According to Forbes report in 2015, 90% of start-ups fail within the first year of operation, meaning that opening a franchise in order to introduce yourself to the entrepreneurial waters is probably a wise choice. 

As you can see, social franchising is yet nowhere to be seen, i.e., social franchises have not gained popularity yet. However, franchising does seem to have a high impact upon the economy, thus we assume that social franchising itself will soon gain reputation as well, one of the reasons for it being the high sensitivity to socially sustainable economic activity by the generation Y, i.e., the millennials, which was reported by Nielsen in the middle of 2011.

(to be continued...)

Social entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important all over the world. The main difference between what we generally call an enterprise and a social enterprise is in that the majority of companies measure their success through earned and retained profits, whereas social enterprises measure their success in the quantity of people they have helped and the extent, to which they made this world a better place to live in for all the members of society. Social enterprises usually apply their profits either to their own growth and promotion, or to the promotion and the development of the entire community.

                Some contributions social entrepreneurship makes to society are increasing the solidarity and cohesion, encouraging cooperation between people and volunteering, inspiring people to innovatively solve problems that society faces, etc. Even more importantly, it provides an increasing amount of people with employment, many social enterprises produce food and help people who are hungry, get something on their plates, but it also boosts the economy from the socioeconomic as well as traditional economic perspectives. Social entrepreneurs operate in the fields of family safety, animal protection, environmental sustainability, promotion of health and physical activity, fair trade, social inclusion, sustainable energy sources, etc.  Thus, social entrepreneurship seems to substantially contribute to the positive changes we increasingly see in this world, and since making a social enterprise flourish is very difficult, especially with the difficulty of gaining funding, we should invest some effort into nourishing it and helping the budding social entrepreneurs thrive even more. As a member of the social entrepreneurship community, we will hopefully help our colleagues through creation of this article, which is going to contain some information on how to finance a socially focused business.

                In general, there are many options for funding a social enterprise. Some of the initiatives through which many countries are trying to promote it, are granting loans at favourable rates, grants, subventions and funds, which are specifically focused on this type of business. In addition, social enterprises are also receiving a lot of attention from the European Union, which designed a strategy for promoting social entrepreneurship all the way to the year 2020. One of the reasons it has done so is probably the fact that nearly 20% of Europeans are already walking the path of social exclusion and poverty, which is a very frightening statistic for a part of the world, which is supposed to be among the better developed ones. A few initiatives that the EU has taken on in providing financing options to social enterprises are through the European Social Fund, which is supposed to promote employment and social cohesion in the member states of the European Union, the European Agricultural Fund, which aims to support European farming community and the European microfinance initiative. Besides these institutionalized funding options, there are also quite a few private financing strategies. These include social bank, which is an umbrella term for ethical and alternative banks, the private investors, for example, companies which are already operating in the social entrepreneurship sphere or who wish to expand their operations to incorporate more socially sustainable projects and through philanthropic funding, for example, if you have a really remarkable idea, you could contact people such as Warren Buffer & Bill Gates, who would certainly be excited to help. One of such initiatives supported by Bill Gates and Microsoft, is Salman Khans’ YouTube mathematics lessons, which later developed into Khan Academy. Gates initial investment into the project was $1.5 million, however, he later poured in at least another $7.5 million. This means that if your idea is really good and you can persuade a famous philanthropist to support it, it could enable your help to reach millions of people. For an inspiration, make a note of Khan Academy, which today educates over 10 million people a month.

                Another path of obtaining financing for a social enterprise which should not be forgotten and actually resembles what Gates did with Khan academy, though we have observed that many social enterprises wish to avoid it, is getting funding through donations. Even though we realize that most social enterprises wish to contribute to the society with their hard earned money, we feel that sometimes slightly too much attention is put on that, as what is supposed to matter is helping people, not where you obtained the means to do it. A few simple ways of collecting donations can be through posting a “donate” link button to your webpage, promoting your cause and willingness to accept donations through social media, or through directly contacting companies who you feel care about society, to perhaps help you with your start. If you are sincere, persistent and honest in your efforts, we are certain that success will come your way. You could also try to gain funding through sponsorships or memberships.

                Hopefully, we have provided you with some valuable insight into obtaining funding to help change the world yourself, through your own social enterprise. If you feel there is something we forgot to mention, don’t hesitate to tell us about it within the comments section bellow and if you wish us to write another article on this topic, let us know about that as well, or any other topic you want us to touch upon of course. Enjoy your day and don’t forget to read our other articles as well. If you are into social entrepreneurship, you could perhaps start with the article on social franchising.

On Thursday 10 March 2016 Citim (Centre for Information on the Third world,55 avenue de la Liberté, L-1931 Luxembourg) launched "Need for Seed" a project to Examine Food Sovereignty, Food Security and cultivated biodiversity.

The event facilitated a free, public, exchange of information on world-wide seed issues, primarily concerning the dangers of genetically modified food and was introduced by Jean Feyder, Ancien Ambassador for Luxembourg at WTO (World Trade Organisation), Geneva and member of the ASTM Board of Directors and author of "La Faim Tue" (Hunger Kills). ASTM stands for Action Solidaire Tiers Monde (Third World Action Solidarity).

Frank Adams, founding member of the Luxembourg SEED network and an expert on cultivated biodiversity & food quality showed slides and lead a group discussion, with several other practisioners from the cultivated biodiversity space, in Luxembourg: Steve Schwartz of Kraizschouschteschgaart and Klouschtergaart, Georges Moes of Natur & ëmwelt, as well as Estrella Catarata, director of the Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes (PNFSP). Madam Catarata is one of ASTM's partners from the Philippines and she informed the group of the current situation regarding small Filipino farmers and their efforts to save seed sovereignty in their country.

The group emphasised the importance of simple and traditional seeds as the basis for the constant struggle on food sovereignty from the north to the south of our planet. Today the standardisation of seeds especially from genetically modified plants endangers our heritage and the precious biodiversity of our food and livelihood.

With the "Need for Seed" project, CITIM, in collaboration with three local players, Network SEED Luxembourg, the private initiative Kraizschouschteschgaart, and Natur & ëmwelt, want to encourage and help us to bring the greatest possible biodiversity to our own gardens and also to help consumers and growers alike to reclaim their self-sufficiency in food production.

MFTSE Affairs S.A., aims to support this new venture and share opinions on FEM.lu

The OECD said in 1999: Any private entity conducted in the public interest, organised with an entrepreneurial strategy but whose main purpose is not the maximisation of profit but attainment of certain economic and social goals, which has the capacity of bringing innovative solutions to the problems of social exclusion and unemployment.

See our Discussion Topics on how such enterprises might be funded and financed.

Luxembourg has in the past benefited from the Fruits of National Autonomy but now it must change and harvest the higher hanging fruits relating to sophistication and competitors from abroad. There have been many conferences on this subject but this one was different because it was to concentrate on Luxembourg and to help prepare for its future in the industry:

‘Money makes the world go round’ but never get carried away with acquiring personal wealth to the exclusion of sharing and helping one and other.

An enthusiastic speech by Chris Doude van Troostwijk of Luxembourg School of Religion & Society: "Ideas awake philosophers from a Kant perspective he declared". (Immanuel Kant argued that moral principles were simply products of reason. Kant believed that the incorporation of consequences into moral deliberation was a deep mistake, since it denies the necessity of practical maxims in governing the working of the will. According to Kant, reason requires that we confirm our actions to the categorical imperative which is an absolute duty).

Stephen Platt was a guest speaker at a The Institute For Global Financial Integrity in Luxembourg recently. He spoke about the role the international financial services industry has played in facilitating and laundering criminal funds and property.

Of course it is possible if senior financiers and governments have the will and can come together. We must keep up the momentum for change following the financial crisis. Otherwise the recent resurgence of largely unchanged financial institutions, particularly in the US, will continue.

We at MFTSE Affairs S.A. aim to present at the next European Investment Bank's  Investor's Fair next year, in 2016. After all we are not only a social enterprise but we want to promote social enterprise and start-up companies as part of our remit. 

This was a wonderful opportunity to discover new, budding, enterprises with a socio-economic conscience looking for 'femPower' (see www.finance-eco-money.org ) Tools, Mentoring & Guidance on Investment, finance, ‘FineTech’ etc. 

The force of "Finance for Good and a Socio Economic Conscience Changing the World". At MFTSE Affairs S.A. our World of Change, World of Learning and World of Action aims to help bring this to the general public and the masses. Watch this space and join us going forward into 2016!