FY23 was a year defined by polycrisis; our world experienced multiple, interconnected economic, environmental and humanitarian crises affecting people around the globe. As we emerge post-pandemic into a more complex global landscape, we need solutions that empower more people to live a better everyday life and to do so within the boundaries of the planet.
It’s in this incredibly challenging context that IKEA Social Entrepreneurship seeks to contribute to creating positive social impact so people with the greatest needs have a greater chance at living a better everyday life within a more inclusive and sustainable society. We believe social entrepreneurs can play an important role, offering innovative approaches to complex crises by focusing on the human experience, well-being and inclusion.
So, we remain committed to the work we started over a decade ago, expanding our support for social entrepreneurs and deepening our social business partnerships to create positive social impact both inside and outside the IKEA value chain.
Empowering and strengthening social entrepreneurs
Over FY23, we supported 95 social enterprises across 23 countries both through co-created accelerator programmes and direct investment. Through our five accelerator programmes, we supported 80 enterprises that have a lasting positive impact on people, society and the planet.We disbursed our first funds for social enterprises in the waste sector in India through the Take-a-stake fund with Yunus Social Business in India and made nine investments through the NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative in Poland and Romania.
To extend our support for social enterprises in our Mexico Accelerator Programme, we launched a new fund together with VIWALA to provide loans to high-potential social enterprises graduating from the programme.
Collaborating for a fair and equal world
Today’s social and environmental challenges are increasingly interconnected, and no one solution or organisation can fully tackle them alone. Recognising the collective efforts of the ‘social and solidarity economy’ is a meaningful way to promote collaboration, generate funding and consolidate action.In FY23, we partnered with 12 social businesses in IKEA production to create home furnishing and food products, creating 11,200 social business jobs and income opportunities and offering IKEA customers socially impactful, beautifully handcrafted products throughout the year.
We also launched our second global social business collection, MÄVINN, with 20 unique products from seven social business partners, generating commercial opportunities, jobs and incomes for our partners, the people they employ and their communities. In FY23, we welcomed a new social business partner, Karupannya, an existing supplier, now formally recognised for its long-term commitment to social impact in rural areas of Bangladesh.
Developing leadership and continuing the IKEA spirit of entrepreneurship
With “togetherness”, “caring for people and planet” and “lead by example” among the IKEA company values, co-worker engagement with social entrepreneurs remains an integral component of our programmes. In FY23, over 160 IKEA co-workers participated enthusiastically in our initiatives, sharing their business knowledge and insights as thought partners, mentors, coaches and group training facilitators for social entrepreneurs.
We launched three new initiatives to engage co-workers further in social entrepreneurship, including leadership development in the Mexico Accelerator Programme with Social Enterprise Academy and Future of Business training with Ashoka.
Our Dela III programme welcomed the young, talented IKEA co-workers from the IKEA ‘Next Generation’ leaders programme to the scoping and experimentation phase of the programme. Together with thought partners, the young leaders partnered with social entrepreneurs to plan, test or even start implementing elements of their impact strategy. The experience provides mutual business knowledge and broadens perspective, with young leaders’ leadership capabilities tested on live business cases.
“As part of the IKEA Next Generation leaders programme, I'm deeply inspired by the commitment of IKEA Social Entrepreneurship to create positive social impact globally. I'm thrilled to be part of this journey, filled with learnings and growth. Together, we're not just imagining positive change – we're actively contributing to it.”
- Pelin Ayhan Uçkan, Product Requirement Engineer, IKEA of Sweden AB
We’re excited to share our 5th Annual Review, where you can read more about our methods, initiatives and impact — for social entrepreneurs, IKEA customers, co-workers, and our global community.
By sharing a review of our work, we hope to shine a light on social entrepreneurship as a tool to combat inequality and drive social change.
Read the full review here.