Goodwill as business
Businesses can learn from social companies that do not operate their business for the sake of profit.
Brian Sørensen knows for sure why he is the manager of Proremus: He wants to help people. The Århus-based company produces graphic design, accounting solutions and CSR solutions and has been established in order to create jobs for people suffering from mental illness who would otherwise have been outside the labour market – forgotten and abandoned by the system.
Brian Sørensen and Proremus are so-called social entrepreneurs, and the company is an expression of a rising trend that was in focus at the 2010 Entrepreneur Day held last week.
New companies are increasingly launched to solve a social problem while at the same time being financially sustainable and able to invest any surplus in “the cause” or even give it away.
Calculations show that for each mentally sick person that Proremus can move over from disability pension to a flexible job, the local council saves more than DKK 100,000 annually. It is an obvious idea to let social companies increasingly be part of the solution to the future challenges of the welfare state, according to Professor Torben Bager, the University of Southern Denmark.