Szekeres Erzsébet
Organization: Összefogás Industrial Cooperative
Year Founded: 1986
Country: Hungary
Website: www.infocentral.hu/web/osszefogas/english_index.html
Geographic Area of Impact: Hungary.
Model: Social Business
Focus: Disabilities,Education,Health,Labor Conditions and Unemployment.
Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Hungary, 2006 The Innovation Mutual Support has developed a model to tackle the complex problem of disabled adults’ segregation and integrate them to society. It first created a community where members felt loved, could interact and start work. Later the foundation began giving them training with the aim of letting them learn different vocations and prove themselves in real life. Those unable were given jobs within the community. Today, mutual support runs 22 different businesses from farming through manufacturing, construction, packaging and crafting. Those with vocational skills leave the foundation, find employment, start self-supported, independent lives and sometimes establish families. Mutual Support has formed numerous business relations and picks up outsourced operations of various kinds as well as manufactures its own artifacts. Ms. Szekeres realized that disabled are much happier when treated as equals. Due to their handicap however, she has to keep everything under perfect organization and control, otherwise chaos breaks lose. This serves as an additional benefit which allows Mutual Support to be on average 25% more efficient in handcrafted manufacturing than other, “normal” firms. This efficiency has generated high reputation, many returning customers and a great level of overall satisfaction. Mutual Support is visited almost weekly by foreign foundations trying to imitate their model. Background Disabled people, mostly due to their extreme marginalization and ignorance during the socialist era, are not catered for even in the most basic areas like public transportation, schools, workforce, office buildings and state run training and employment programs. Thirty years ago, when Ms Szekeres’ son was born, the doctor commented it with one sentence: “He would never be able to do anything in this world”. She thought otherwise. At six, she recognized what her own severely disabled son would face once grown up. Her horror and fear sparked the process of creating an environment where he would feel like everyone else. She did not want him to find no school accepting him, no place to work at and no friends to be with, what the usual case still is for people like him in today’s Hungary. Erzsebet went and looked for families in similar situations and formed a community of 22 at a dormitory. Until 1994, illegally, without permission, they lived in a so called “group home” helping Erzsebet produce ceramics. Once they became official, diversification began and by now, 800 disabled are employed in all kinds of fields all over the country. Strategy Despite being a complex structure of a cooperative and three foundations, each is responsible for different aspects of the mission. Mutual Support comes across as a normal, for profit business. It has business relations, serves business clients and takes jobs from as far as Holland and Italy. It generates about US$ 8’700’000 revenue, more than half of which is distributed among the workers as their salaries, which is comparable to those pursuing similar jobs in the more accepted parts of society. In addition to this, Mutual Support provides the workers with rentable houses and is constructing a few new block buildings to keep up with the increasing demand. The flats, individual for everyone with one nurse for three flats, are priced so that the workers can easily afford them from their salaries. In case it is needed, even parents or old and helpless relatives may move into larger but still affordable apartments together with the worker to give him or her even more emotional support. Mutual support, in spite of their high revenues, is still 50% financed by the government, under a law supporting disabled employment. An emergency strategy has been developed for the scenario, should the grants cease. Mutual Support would still remain sustainable and become fully self-sufficient though the paid salaries would go into providing free accommodation and food for all members. The Entrepreneur Ms Szekeres, a ceramist by profession, left a successful organization to begin her venture. She acquired all the knowledge needed through trial and error, only to help her son and other disabled. Later she received a diploma in social assistance and worked for the European Union for three years on an initiative to solve the segregation and struggle of the disabled, while she toured other EU countries for further insights and ideas. Now she is the head of Mutual Support, she knows every employee of hers, including their names, life-stories, disabilities and problems and often refers them as “my children”. She is planning to remain the head of Mutual Support as long as she can before retiring to the home she has created for the members.
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