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/

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.

Today, it has been announced that a new solar-powered invention by the award-winning British company Desolenator can turn seawater into drinking water. While it is believed that the world is rapidly reaching global water crisis level with nearly one billion people lacking access to clean drinking water, it is hoped that this new equipment could lead the way for technological help.

The machine uses patented technology that can transform salt water and other non drinkable water sources into pure, distilled water fit for human consumption. It is capable of producing 15 liters of water per day, using no power supply other than the sun and with no moving parts or filters and is easy to maintain. After the initial purchase the machine needs no extra input of money or consumables and should be able to provide clean water for a household for a period of up to 20 years.

It is estimated that 97 percent of the world’s water is salt water and if we are able to tap into this valuable and available resource we could alleviate the global water crisis in an unprecedented way. Today 0.7 percent of the world’s water comes from desalination and existing technology is expensive, inefficient and dis-proportionally uses perhaps 0.5% of the world’s global energy supply. It is thought that the new invention is different from existing desalination and home water technologies, harnessing solar power in an elegant way, thereby maximizing the use of solar radiation through a combination of thermal, electrical and heat exchange.

The machine is still under development but there is a fully working prototype available http://desolenator.com/  .Interestingly the company has already started an Indiegogo Crowdfunding finance campaign following its success in an accelerator program and has also won a development grant.

If you like this article and want to help empower start-ups with a good socioeconomic cause try: https://www.finance-eco-money.org/fempower/finetech/item/bitwalking-share-the-belief-and-benefits-of-a-new-equal-global-economy-for-all 

Healthy Global competition is at the heart of efficient, open and resilient world economies and financial systems. When markets are highly and fairly competitive, firms compete with each other to provide industry wide products and services that are better value, higher quality or more innovative than their competitors. Highly competitive markets are marked by easy entry and unhindered exit. 

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.

We basically want to build an interactive web-site for the exchange of financial and ecological ideas and knowledge amongst the general public and different financial players in a totally transparent and non biased way. Our ultimate aim is to help society realise that finance and ecology are essential elements to business for good, reaching the poorest of the poor and eliminating extreme poverty.

We were privileged to be invited to attend a wonderful evening in Beckerich, Luxembourg on Tuesday 28 July 2015 which, together with CELL(Centre Ecological Learning Luxembourg), and Transition West, hosted the second overnight stop for the cycling team from AlterTour (www.altertour.net).

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!

The Top 6 Good-News Stories of 2015 Dec 18, 2015 From Bill Gates Notes: 1. Africa Went a Year Without Any Polio On July 24, Nigeria marked one full year without a single new case of locally acquired polio, the crippling and sometimes fatal disease. It is the last country in Africa to stop transmission of wild polio. This milestone represents a huge victory—one that some experts feared would never come.

The OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has awarded Luxembourg a “largely compliant” rating in its newly released report on compliance ratings on tax transparency.

Lausanne-based business school IMD’s second annual World Talent Report ranks Luxembourg as the leading country in the EU and third worldwide for developing, attracting and retaining talent to satisfy corporate needs.

Luxembourg for Finance will organise a financial mission to Singapore and Sydney on 20-25 February 2016. The mission is led by HE Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance and Chairman of Luxembourg for Finance.

Bill Gates was in Paris with many of the world leaders for the big announcement on energy and climate change. He found it deeply moving to be there just two weeks after the horrific attacks that took place on Friday 13 November 2015 but he was inspired by the way the French people persevered and continued with the summit despite the difficult circumstances.