Impact Hub Amsterdam

One of the best things about Impact Hub is our team and culture! In October we went on a team retreat together: we collaborated on cooking challenges, brainstormed big ideas for next year, had the best catering from Stichting Kolenkitkoks and reconnected with some quintessential Dutch landscapes in Kockengen. It’s a privilege to work with such dedicated, passionate people as we push forward towards a more innovative and circular economy. Here’s to a refreshed team, ready to take on the journey ahead!

Last week, the Food Chain Accelerator cohort embarked on a regenerative journey with farmer Joost van Schie and trainer Marielle Gussenhoven at Boerderij De Eenzaamheid in Warmond. During a tour of the farm we learned all about regenerative (dairy) farming, but our biggest insights came from Joost’s entrepreneurship and how he positions himself and de Eenzaamheid from a system’s perspective. Recognizing the importance, and power of collaboration, Joost has diversified his income streams through setting up the store franchise Oogst, where you can buy local organic products from farms and other food distributors nearby. Each town sells its own local products with a self-checkout system. Each individual Oogst store thus encourages the consumer to buy more locally, more often. In the afternoon, we were joined by Marielle - an expert in marketing for impact entrepreneurship, who facilitated a workshop on branding and helped the 11 entrepreneurs in the program reflect deeply on the positioning of their brand by challenging them on their purpose, promise, and product. A big thank you to the entrepreneurs and to Joost, Marielle, and the volunteers at de Eenzaamheid for making this wonderful day happen! We are already looking forward to more exciting workshop days to come, stay tuned. Time-travelling Milkman, OJOA, Nimble Processing, Kumasi Drinks, Stichting Kolenkitkoks, Grovero, Grassa | Unlocking the full potential of Grass | Biomass, Gabanna Foodworks, Daffee I B Corp, Bemuse® | B Corp™, AlgaeforFood, Lisa Markslag

📢 New CIRCO Track | Unlock Circular Opportunities in Solar PV Inverters! The circular transition and the energy transition are directly linked to each other. Today, the solar industry in the Netherlands is witnessing major shifts. New recyclable solar panels are being designed on Dutch soil and a second-hand market is emerging. Together with CIRCO we are excited to announce a new track for those looking for opportunities in recovering and revaluing used and defective PV inverters. In this Track, you will participate in 3 days (Nov 19, Dec 10, Jan 7) of workshops - leaving you with a clear and concrete plan for your circular business, new partnership opportunities, and thorough insights into current solar energy market developments. Don’t miss this chance to lead in sustainable innovation! We’re inviting all parties involved in the production, installation, maintenance and replacement of PV inverters to apply now:  https://lnkd.in/dnAzrmpB

Gister ging de 3e Circo track van dit jaar van start, met het thema van Boer tot Bord. In samenwerking met Provincie Noord-Holland ging trainer Marien Korthorst voor ons aan de slag met 9 bedrijven; boeren, koks, etc! Op 21 november presenteren de deelnemers hun nieuwe circulaire samenwerkingen! #circulaireeconomie #mkb

Deadline incoming! | Only 4 days left (until October 27) to apply for the Green at Heart fund. Apply for €8000 to make your social company more sustainable! Discover if you meet the application criteria, and apply here: https://lnkd.in/evupgPt4 Questions? Reach out to [email protected] - We’re happy to help!

The Food Chain Accelerator is back - and stronger than ever. Meet the 11 change-makers that are challenging the food system. Today we officially kicked off the fifth edition of the Food Chain Accelerator at Impact Hub Amsterdam. For the next four months the 11 companies will join us in a series of full day training sessions filled with masterclasses, group working sessions, networking moments and much more. By covering topics such as positioning, financials, strategic partnerships and impact measurement the entrepreneurs will become partnership and investment ready before taking the stage on the demo day and pitching to a vast audience of investors, partners and stakeholders. Thank you to Joris Lohman for guiding the participants through their first masterclass on the role of innovation in the food transition! And of course, thank you to our partners: Food Hub (NL), De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, The DOEN Foundation, City of Amsterdam, and Rabobank Foundation. We can't wait to support these innovators in preparing their companies for investment, growth, and impact. Want to see who these 11 system challengers are? Meet them here: https://lnkd.in/gDHkPJbn

Deadline of 27 October coming up | Apply for €8000 to make your social company more sustainable! 🍃 The Green at Heart funding will help you to get started on, for example: - Energy efficiency upgrades - Sustainable material pilots - Eco-friendly packaging - Legal consultations for environmental laws - Upskilling your team on sustainability practices - Building your sustainability strategy Here’s how it works: 1️⃣  Fill in our tool to identify your biggest sustainability opportunity 2️⃣  Create a short plan to implement the change 3️⃣  Apply by 27 October 4️⃣  Hear back within 3 weeks and start greening your business! Check out if you tick the application criteria and apply here: https://lnkd.in/evupgPt4 Questions? Send us an email at: [email protected]

LAUNCH 🎉 | Wat zijn we trots op de lancering van de nieuwe #FairFutureChallenge van The DOEN Foundation, die we samen organiseren! De challenge is een geweldige kans voor Nederlandse start-ups en scale-ups met een duurzaam product of dienst. 5 winnaars krijgen elk €100.000 om hun bedrijf verder te laten groeien en meer positieve impact te maken. Inschrijvingen zijn nu open – meld je vóór 3 december om 17:00 uur aan op fairfuturechallenge.nl!

We’re on a mission to place regenerative businesses models at the forefront of the economy. Why? Even though there’s no uniform definition of what regenerative entrepreneurship is, there is a clear objective - with a set of principles - that offers a different way of talking about how the economy can work for our best future, and how we can design regenerative businesses.   As part of our ambition to bring together the ecosystem players and support regenerative entrepreneurs, we sat down with a wonderful group of fellow experts and entrepreneurs to explore to discuss exactly how we can do that. For this initiative, we’re designing a new regenerative entrepreneurship acceleration program, in collaboration with experts aiming to empower pioneers navigating the complexities of innovative business models, financing, and new ownership structures. Just imagine trying to explain your approach to stakeholder value to your bookkeeper, or tell your lawyer that you want your statutes to include the voice of nature in your decision making process!   Our discussions touched on key questions: In what areas can a regenerative ecosystem drive change? What value can it bring? Here are some key takeaways: - Regeneration is about solidarity, not competition—it's how we can work together to create lasting impact. It can be challenging to convince other stakeholders in your value chain of this shift in mindset. - Regenerative entrepreneurs encounter more systematic challenges compared to other startups. Collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and recognition that the journey is ongoing are essential. We are learning by doing. But this is also an invitation to partners in the ecosystem to help tackle the bottlenecks to lighten the burden of the entrepreneurs. - Long-term financial investments, not just short-term models, are critical to sustained regenerative growth. It would be great to offer stipends or other types of funding for bootstrapping regenerative startups in their early development, to give them a bit more room to experiment, without fearing for the financial situation at the end of each month. - We must remain cautious to avoid 'dilution' or greenwashing of the concept; not everything needs to be labeled as regenerative just yet. - We might want to consider using "community" or "network" instead of "ecosystem," as the term "ecosystem" implies relationships between soil and nutrients. Together, we learned a great deal during this session from organizations like We Are Stewards, The DOEN Foundation, Wholebrands, New Economy , and Food Hub (NL) who provided valuable insights into how we can all contribute to a more regenerative future. Know someone already leading with regenerative principles? Tag them below—let’s work together to drive change! Who should we include next time? Drop their names in the comments! #regenerativebusiness #sustainability #collaboration

Heb je je al aangemeld? Volgende week (2 okt) starten we met de volgende CIRCO Track: Circulair Meubilair en Interieur. Ben je actief in de meubel en interieur branche? Dit is jouw kans om circulaire businesskansen in jouw sector te ontdekken. - Bereid je voor op de toekomst, en op nieuwe wet- en regelgeving. - Pas duurzame ontwerpstrategieën toe en (her)ontwerp je product. - Werk je eigen case uit tot een concreet plan, dat op korte termijn realiseerbaar is voor je bedrijf. Schrijf je nu in voor deze CIRCO Track hier: https://lnkd.in/dPQ7qNbq Irene Vermeulen, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, MAAK Haarlem, CIRCOLLAB MRA, Provincie Noord-Holland