SEI have recently entered into a partnership with one of Ireland’s leading market research companies, Behaviour and Attitudes. The first wave of this research project gauged the public’s interest in two of our social entrepreneurs, both of whom took part in the Impact Programme 2021/22.
The survey took place during the summer of 2022 and included a controlled sample of 1,000 people to reflect the population of Ireland.
B&A Case Study – Positive Carbon
The first case study we are sharing featured Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s alumna Positive Carbon.
Positive Carbon works with hospitality businesses to reduce their impact on the environment using its fully automated food waste monitoring technology.
Aisling Kirwan and Mark Kirwan are founders of Positive Carbon and are 2021-2022 SEI Impact Awardees. Impact awardees are selected as high-potential social entrepreneurs and given support via funding, mentoring and access to a network of support to help them develop their organization.
B&A Findings – Positive Carbon
When shown the details of Positive Carbon and the work of Aisling and Mark, three out of four respondents thought the initiative was interesting.
The research showed that people found it interesting due to its environmental benefits and minimization of food waste. For this initiative, women shared slightly higher interest than men asked.
43% of the participants responded that this initiative would be useful to themselves (about 1.7 million people). 79% responded that this initiative would be useful to businesses and organisations, which is about 4 in 5 people.
The study found that 4 in 5 people (3.2 million people) found Positive Carbon’s solution useful overall!
B&A Case Study – Mother Tongues
SEI Impact Awardee Mother Tongues featured for B&A’s second case study during this period.
Mother Tongues creates and delivers training and informative resources in the areas of multiculturalism and bilingualism. Mother Tongues provides support and resources for children, parents and teachers, as well as courses and programmes, and the annual Mother Tongues festival.
Dr Francesca La Morgia is the founder of Mother Tongues and is a 2021-2022 SEI Impact Awardee. In 2018 she founded Mother Tongues, the first social enterprise in Ireland to employ a creative arts-based approach to empowering parents and children to embrace their mother tongue.
B&A Findings – Mother Tongues
Responding to a video explaining the work of Francesca and her team at Mother Tongues, 69% of 976 respondents find it interesting. A great concept, benefit to children, and culture are the key factors in why people find the “Mother Tongues enterprising” initiative appealing.
Three-quarters of the population (2.9m people) view this concept as useful for any other of the cohorts listed. More than half of the population view the ‘Mother Tongues enterprise initiative’ as useful for businesses or organizations, a further third view it as useful for a family member, while over a quarter of the population would view it as useful for themselves.
The personal relevance of the concept is greater for non-nationals – almost 4 in 10 would find it personally useful.
Watch this space!
These were some fantastic statistics which came out of the survey. Commenting on the research, B&A wrote ”it is also important to note the level of interest and usefulness scores are extremely strong compared to other commercial initiatives that B&A have researched.”
SEI would like to thank Behaviors & Attitudes for their great work. Positive Carbon is just one of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s alumni which will be featured in B&A’s research.
Over the next few months, we will be sharing more summaries of B&A’s findings. Keep up to date on SEI’s social media accounts or sign up for our newsletter to stay in touch.
Visit www.banda.ie to learn more about B&A. You can also read Positive Carbon’s Case Study to find out more about Aisling and Mark’s organisation.
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