SDG: 8
Success in life is not measured by how much money you make.. Success is how many people you touched with your life
Erkki Kubber has been leading Changemakers Academy for three seasons. He has a bachelor in Public administration and have done direct selling in US for more than 9 months of his life. This experience has helped him to develop the Changemakers Academy, as well as through the help of his teammates. Changemakers Academy is now the biggest social entrepreneurship program in Estonia, and it was nominated for the Act of the Year by the Estonian Education & Science Ministry. Additionally, it was also nominated for the Inspirer of the Year by the Estonian Civil Society.
Project
The mission of the organisation is to help young people to reach their full potential. Youngsters are required to perform challenging tasks & reflect on their experiences. It is a two-month competition where youngsters (ages of 14-19) are divided into teams and partnered with a social enterprise (SE). The goal is to come up with marketing solutions for their SE. All participants receive workshops about teamwork and marketing. Additionally, they receive a personal mentor who creates a comfortable yet productive environment for the entire team.
Impact story
Examples of “small” solutions: selling products of their social enterprise at a fair or in a mall, or creating an advertisement video for the enterprise, or translating their services into Russian & English to reach up to two times more people in Tallinn. “Crazy” ideas: interviewing the Estonian president Kersti Kaljulaid for the support of reusing products and creating a photography exhibition of pictures taken by people with visual impairments. Marketing value: The participants of the 2nd season of Changemakers Academy created marketing value of a total of 87 000€ (calculations based on fees of marketing agencies, advertising fees of newspapers & news shows).