Movimento 55+, Tallers Guinardó, Asociación Coloria World and Convives con Espasticidad were the winners of this edition and will receive financial assistance and pro-bono prizes from the programme’s partners
The eighth edition of the B-Value social transformation programme, promoted by the Banco Sabadell Foundation and Fundación Ship2B and co-promoted by Fundación Juan Entrecanales de Azcárate, alongside all the programme’s partners, has ended with the awards ceremony in which four of the finalist social entities were honoured during the Demo Day.
The Movimento 55+ project, a platform for inactive people over the age of 55 that offers services to the community, promoting purpose and wellbeing, and founded and led by Elena Parras, which was recently recognised as Ashoka Fellow 2024, received 50,000 euros in prize money, provided by Fundación Juan Entrecanales de Azcárate and the Banco Sabadell Foundation, as well as a communications campaign, courtesy of the agency After.
The organisation Tallers Guinardó, whose mission is to promote the employability of people with intellectual disabilities by manufacturing educational games, received a total of 20,000 euros, furnished by Sabadell Seguros, which will be specifically aimed at a project that offers socio-occupational opportunities to vulnerable groups. It will also receive strategic consulting from PwC.
Meanwhile, Asociación Coloria World, which promotes self-knowledge, creativity and emotional intelligence among children, using as a key resource stories with no ending, received 10,000 euros from Fundació Joaquim Molins Figueras and strategic and corporate networking consulting services from Fundación Hazloposible. Finally, Convives con Espasticidad, a project founded and led by Claudia Tecglen (recognised with the Princess of Girona Award for 2022) that seeks to prevent suicide among people with disabilities by creating support networks and acting early, received 5,000 euros, furnished by the Banco Sabadell Foundation. It will also receive consulting from Salto con Red focused on boosting team leadership.
The Demo Day, held at Banco Sabadell’s corporate centre in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona), with more than 100 attendees, including key representatives of the third sector and from the field of philanthropy, as well as leaders from the academic, business and social innovation sectors, started with the welcome speech from the organisations that support the programme.
Guillermo Ricarte, General Manager at Fundación Ship2B, pointed out that “the goal of B-Value is to support non-profit social entities in a much more strategic way”. While, Sonia Mulero, General Manager of the Banco Sabadell Foundation, added: “the purpose of this programme is to fundamentally promote the development of its leaders, who, in the long term, will drive social transformation and achieve stronger and more sustainable entities”. Finally, Inés Entrecanales, member of the Board of Trustees of Fundación Juan Entrecanales de Azcárate, said: “B-Value is a unique programme that provides great value during the months it takes place, covering the most relevant goals of social entities. The projects that undergo its entire itinerary end up showing great progress”.
Banco Sabadell’s Director of Corporate Culture, Emili Pascual, also took to the stage to recognise the work of the 40 professional mentors from the Bank, who participate as volunteers in the programme to help entities enhance their value propositions. “More than 300 professionals from the Bank have participated as mentors in the programme, throughout its eight editions, supplementing with their experience the extraordinary energy that moves these entities. It is a priceless experience and an opportunity to generate real social impact”, he said.
Commitment to promote the social leaders of the future
Since its launch in 2017, the B-Value social transformation programme has supported 284 social entities in their journey to more innovative and economically self-sustainable models. Thanks to a holistic approach that combines training, mentoring and strategic support, the programme has achieved a significant impact on the third sector. A study carried out by the promoters shows that 80% of the finalist projects continues to operate today. Furthermore, after one year of being part, the projects accelerated by B-Value have multiplied, on average, their revenues by 3 times and the number of beneficiaries served by 4.4.
This year, in line with previous editions, the finalists of the eighth edition include entrepreneurs with a proven track record in the social sector, such as leaders recognised with the Princess of Girona Award and Ashoka and Acumen fellows, like Eukene Arana, Acumen Fellow 2023 and lead of the ZAIN project, and Alejandro Rodríguez, Acumen Fellow 2024 and leader of Celera.
Among the magnificent projects of this edition that have not been recognised are ZAIN, which aims to prevent and detect violence in children’s sport, providing resources, awareness and support to sports organisations – an entity expert in social inclusion and the creation of opportunities for vulnerable groups. The work of Mamás en Acción has been recognised nationally and internationally for its impact on the health and emotional recovery of the accompanied children. Celera is a training programme for young leaders capable of generating social change through self-knowledge and empowerment of their skills. Baby Despensa is a project from Fundación Meridional. It is a food bank that specialises in babies and combats child poverty and food waste in Spain. ONG Enriquezarte is an experience that combines volunteering, training and personal development to generate greater social impact on its community, and Nexe Fundació is a project that seeks to improve the autonomy of children with multiple disabilities and to provide support to their families.
Each edition of the programme benefits from the work and commitment of more than 160 professionals who collaborate with the entities through in-person and online training, as well as specialised mentoring, which allows social entrepreneurs to strengthen their business model and increase their impact.
The organising entities are already working on the ninth edition of the programme, which will open its call for applications in January 2025, with a view to continuing to support new leaders committed to social change.
