Scaling Social Enterprises

Societal challenges

Our society has a large potential of employees who are not able to find a job in an easy way; the so-called ‘people with a distance to the labor market’. Deloitte colleagues participate in this Deloitte Impact Foundation initiative to share their knowledge and expertise, enabling social enterprises to scale up - thereby providing employment opportunities and contributing to a more inclusive society.

Edwin Jong from Deloitte's Consulting department, leads this initiative. Edwin: 'The mechanism is easy; if these organisations grow, they need more people. As they are focused on bringing people on board with a distance to the labor market we build a more inclusive society! This all in the heart of Deloitte's 2023 strategy; to put purpose at the center of our business.'

The initiative 'Scaling Social Enterprises'

Edwin: 'To help social enterprises accelerate, we are convinced that our program Scaling Social Enterprises will have a huge impact on people and society. In the slipstream of this program, we also encourage Social Buying. In the first place from our own perspective, for example by organizing events or have lunches/dinners at other venues than we usually do. Lastly, we hope our contributions will be an inspiration to others to do good: Don’t underestimate the impact you can make, just by being yourself and help others!'

Scaling HaagseZwam

The Netherlands is one of the largest consumers of coffee in the world. Annually, we import 150 million kilos of coffee to be turned into delicious espresso’s, cappuccino’s, americano’s and more. But did you know that after the preparation, only 0.2% of the coffee ground has been used? The remaining 99.8% is often labelled as “waste” and is burnt, producing CO2 emissions in the process. Though, not in The Hague! Social entrepreneur Annelies Goedbloed from HaagseZwam uses coffee ground as soil to grow mushrooms and micro-vegetables. And not only does she turn “waste” into products, she also creates job opportunities for people who have a distance to the labour market. Read more.

The Deloitte Impact Foundation

Through the Deloitte Impact Foundation, Deloitte is committed to bring a positive impact to society. We share our core competences, knowledge and network in societal initiatives to make an impact in the fields of education & employment, sustainability and endurability. Read more about the Deloitte Impact Foundation and view our other initiatives.