Aiming to empower Greek society through the support of social entrepreneurship initiatives, LEROY MERLIN and Ashoka join forces and present the “DIY for Social Impact” program.

Applications are open to existing social enterprises or anyone over 18 years old with an innovative idea for the renovation of homes and buildings, the accessibility of public and private spaces, the recycling of construction materials and tools, the strengthening of technical professions and the promotion of the DIY culture to young and old alike.

For their part, LEROY MERLIN and Ashoka offer hours of training, mentoring and personalised support, enlisting their executives, business consultants and experts in the relevant fields.

The launch of the “DIY for Social Impact” programme was announced on Thursday 22 March by Lydia Papandreou, Ashoka’s Development Manager in Greece, and Olivier Arduin, General Manager LEROY MERLIN Greece and Cyprus. As they stressed in their presentations, Ashoka’s long experience in supporting social entrepreneurship worldwide, combined with the expertise of LEROY MERLIN, create a very solid basis for both the implementation of innovative ideas in the areas of the programme and the promotion of social entrepreneurship in Greece.

A typical example of Ashoka’s action is Enalia, the first professional fishing school ever created in our country. It was an idea of Lefteris Arapakis, which was supported through an Ashoka project and as he said in the presentation of “DIY for Social Impact”, the rate of job proposals among the first students of the school is 100%.

Applications for participation in the program are accepted until the 5th of June at socialdiy.gr!

The 8 areas of the “DIY for Social Impact” project:

1. Renovation and restoration of housing damaged by age or natural disasters
2. Promoting accessibility of private and public spaces for all
3. Renovation of buildings in order to create a greater offer of social tourism options
4. Strengthening the circular economy and recycling (especially in the construction materials and tools sectors)
5. Promoting and facilitating entry into technical occupations & skills
6. Promoting entrepreneurship outside urban centres through the development of technical and DIY activities
7. Creation of innovative (micro)financing methods for initiatives related to the technical professions / DIY sector
8. Promoting DIY culture for young and old