Did you know that the word “company” has its roots in the Latin expression “CUM PANIS”, which means “someone whom I am sharing bread with”?!

For the past 7 years we, the team of the Bread Houses Network, inspired by this millenary tradition and universal symbol of cooperation, have been developing various innovative services, products and programs, which solve different social problems by using social entrepreneurial approaches.

Our Social Enterprise School offers Bulgarian and international trainings on social entrepreneurship.

Our mission is to offer you training and equip you with specific, practical skills how to create and develop step by step a sustainable social business model. We believe that this is the best way to achieve long-term social change.

We rely on our previous experience in the creation of:

• the first “social franchise” model in Bulgaria, which consists of social enterprises – bakeries for sour-dough bread and employs people from vulnerable groups.
• social and cultural community centers, which offer free Bread therapy for people with disabilities, traumas and other special needs.

The bread houses are the first Bulgarian social innovation that has become popular worldwide and has already spread to more than 18 countries on 5 continents.

In our trainings we apply approaches and concepts from the fields of social entrepreneurship and social change, studied by the founder of Bread Houses Network Dr. Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova during her PhD in Cultural Anthropology at Princeton University. Nadezhda has participated in trainings with world famous entrepreneurs organized by The Keller Center for Innovation as well as in seminars at Harvard University.

We have created Sofia Bread House – Nadezhko Social Bakery (www.nadezhko.com) – an innovative model of social enterprise-bakeries for authentic sourdough bread, which trains and employs people from different vulnerable groups (at-risk youth, people with disabilities and chronic diseases, long-term unemployed mothers).

At the same time, Nadezhko Social Bakery – Sofia Bread House offers regular free sessions of our unique Bread Therapy for people with disabilities and other special needs. The positive effect of the Bread Therapy has been confirmed by many psychologists. The mission of the bakery is to serve its neighborhood and city as a social and cultural community center organizing supportive community bread making events for mixed groups of different age and background every week. Our motto is “We are all from the same dough”.

Trainings based on our “social franchise” model

Since 2015 until now, we have trained several social entrepreneurs, therapists and social workers from different continents in our methods, programs and social entrepreneurship model. They have all joined Bakers Without Borders international platform.

• Albert Smith, England, born in South Africa, with a project to create Bread Houses in both countries.
• Eduardo Tavares, Brazil, with a project to open a Bread House in Brasília – the capital of Brazil.
• Molly Green, USA and New Zealand, with a project for different social entrepreneurial initiatives related to bread, including work with visually impaired people using our method “Bread in the dark”.
• Cherry Cheung, Hong Kong, an architect with ideas about alternative spaces for social enterprises.
• Sue Beveridge, Scotland, artist and therapist/counselor interested in spreading the innovative Bread Therapy in the UK.
• Antoaneta Dineva, Bulgaria and Canada, working towards emotional intelligence education initiative for children with our methods.
• Barbara Werteker, Austria, passionate baker and psychologist working with youth groups.
• Ludmila Hornakova, Slovakia, working in community art centers as a community artist, mediator and dramaturg.

Bulgarian and international trainings in social entrepreneurship

Sofia Bread House – Nadezhko Social Bakery is regularly selected as a leading Bulgarian example of innovative social enterprise. We participate with lecturers and workshops in national and international educational programs in social entrepreneurship.

• Тhe Business Institute Alternative MBA, with a special subject “Social entrepreneurship” (spring-autumn 2016, Sofia)
• Social entrepreneurship training in cooperation with Fabrica 360 (March 2016, Sofia)
• International Academy for Social Entrepreneurs Startery CEE organized by Social Impact and SAP Labs (November 2015, Sofia)
• The Social Enterprise Academy and Goethe Institute (23 November 2015, Sofia)
• Social entrepreneurship program of The University of Graz, Austria (October 2015, Gabrovo Bread House and Social Bakery)

International recognition

• Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova selected among the 12 top innovators in the field of bread internationally, The Bakers Dozen 2017
• The European Commission’s platform on Social Integration Good Practices listed the Bread Houses Network as a model for social integration.
• Bread Houses Network was analyzed as a good example of innovation in social economy in John Thackara’s bestseller How to Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today
• WeStart Project: Mapping Women’s Social Entrepreneurship in Europe
• “Bread Houses Network: Centers for Creativity, Social Entrepreneurship and Lifelong Learning”, Bread Houses Network was recognized as a good example by ENCATC (European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centers)
• The Global AGENDA 21 for Culture, Bread Houses Network have been analyzed as an example of combining a social enterprise and a community center for social inclusion after a personal visit by Catherine Cullen, President of UCLG’s Committee on Culture
• Dr. Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova was chosen Traveler on a Mission 2012 by National Geographic for the creation of Bread Houses Network: “Baking Cross-cultural Connections”  
• TEDxBG talk by Dr. Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova about the Bread Houses Network
• Media coverage by the Italian TV channel TRM of the opening of the Bread House in the city of Matera in Italy.

Awards

• Economic Innovative Trailblazers of the Decade Award by the Women Economic Forum 2016
• Intercultural Innovation Award by UNAOC and BMW Group 2016
• Bulgarian finalist for 2015 in the global initiative of CHIVAS – THE VENTURE WIN THE RIGHT WAY
• National award for social innovation 2015 by the Bulgarian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy

Publications and reports

• An interview of the world famous baker and writer Peter Reinhart with Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova and Stefan Grigorov on www.fornobravo.com, December 2016
• “Tastes of Danube” International Conference, Workshop on Social Entrepreneurship Employing Food led by Dr. Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova, July 2016
• А report about the Bread Houses in the Brazilian online edition on world-wide social innovations  “Dive in social”: Bread Houses Network: food connects people, May 2016
• Bread Houses Network is given as an example of social innovation created in Bulgaria and exported to the world. The model is discussed in relation to the future perspectives for Bulgaria’s development as a leader in the field of social innovations “Destination number one”, written by Georgi Kamov,
• Capital (Newspaper): Замесено с любов – вестник Капитал (Kneaded with love), December 2013
• Capital (Newspaper): „Bread Houses спечели българския конкурс за социални бизнес идеи“) (Bread Houses won Bulgarian contest for social business ideas)
• Bulgaria OnAir TV: „Социалният бизнес – мисия възможна!” (Social business – mission possible!)
• Capital (Newspaper): „Дал бизнес добро” (Good examples of social enterprises)
• Bulgaria OnAir TV: „На гости в Хлебна къща – Фурна “НадЕжко” (A Visit to Sofia Bread House – Nadezhko Social Bakery)

Better than high-tech – we offer high-TOUCH solutions!

Get trained now ONLINE through our NEW platform www.breadtherapy.net 

You can see our training program HERE.

In our trainings we apply our own practical experience in starting and managing social enterprises as well as foreign good practices we have acquired through our international work.

Through our team building method Breadbuilding (see video here), experienced and recommended by some of the biggest companies in Bulgaria, we have created various inspiring “high–TOUCH”  role-playing games. Our methods are based on metaphors about bread kneading and drawing in flour, which stimulate innovative thinking and creativity,  as well as critical and strategical thinking. We combine creative simulations that help to design innovative products and services with practical workshops for their application and promotion. 

Our mission is to share the lessons we have learned while creating our successful social enterprise model Sofia Bread House –Nadezhko Social Bakery (www.nadezhko.com) with other starting social enterprises and with existing business projects that aim to be socially responsible and to improve the social environment.

Our social enterprise brand “NadEzkho” sends the message to avoid pricking others, be above anger and rivalry. We translate the wordplay to different languages used by the organizations we cooperate with:

English: “HedgeHope” (hopping with hope over any hedge/difficulty)

German: “SchutzIgel” (similar to SchutzEngel – guardian angel)

Italian: “SorRiccio” (sorriso – smile; riccio –hedgehog)

And similar in other latin languages:

Portuguese: “SorOuriço” (sorriso –smile; ouriço – hedgehog);

French: SourHérisson (sourire –smile; hérisson – hedgehog).

That is why the spirit, purpose and results of our training and mentorship can be synthesized in our aspiration to help all people and organizations to become “hedgehopes” and change the world by being amiable but also wise, patient and persevering, the qualities typical for a hedgehog as you’ll find out from The Hedgehog business concept applicable worldwide.

Better than hedgeFUND – we create a hedgeHOPE!

The HedgeHOPE and the Hedgehog Concepts

In his bestseller on business strategies Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t the author James C. Collins presents the so called Hedgehog Concept. Collins compares the successful entrepreneurs with the hedgehog and those who fail to achieve their goals with the fox. Referring to world famous fables and fairy tales the author points out the differences between the two types and teaches us how to make the transition from good companies to unique and “great” companies. In our trainings we are going to apply this concept to practice in order to create a successful business plan and an innovative strategy for your enterprise.

Inspired by the concept of James Collins and using our specific experience in starting a social enterprise model and not a standard business, we have developed our complementary HedgeHOPE concept which will be introduced in our trainings and mentorship programs. The HedgeHOPE concept will help you to analyze thoroughly your idea, to correct and improve it where it is necessary. You’ll also be able to develop your project further through workshops designed by us using the fourth new sphere we have added to Collins’ model.

Our educational game Bakers Without Borders is the first board game on social entrepreneurship in the world. It’s suitable for all ages and mixed groups, including people with disabilities. The game is available in English and German, and soon in Bulgarian. You can order it directly from the website:

 www.thegame.bakerswithoutborders.net

The next video shows the real play of the game Bakers Without Borders with its three sub-games: Playing Theater of Crumbs, Build a Bread House, Become Baker Without Borders. It presents the Kitchen Music method as well. The video is made in Sofia Bread House with a mixed group of 12 people.

Here we present different social entrepreneurial projects developed by the team of Bread Houses Network and by other people and organizations we cooperate with, or by people who themselves proactively have decided to share their good ideas and intentions with us. We hope through this platform the shared ideas will find supporters, potential partners and investors.

“Bread in the dark” project by the Bread Houses Network. Find out more here 

Our mission is to create space and opportunities for networking between social enterprises from all over the world.

Our networking instrument is the interactive platform www.hedgehope.net, through which we hope to contribute to the development of a vital network for mutual assistance among “hedgehopes” – people and organizations who have participated in our trainings and who base their business model on cooperation and love,  and not on “pricking” and aggressive competition and empty materialism. The purpose of the platform is to present the profiles of different social enterprises from Bulgaria and abroad who have participated in our trainings and/or mentorship program; who we have been working with; who are still in development or are already functioning and serve as good examples.

If you want to become part of our “hedgehopes” network, please send us information about your enterprise at: office@socialenterpriseschool.eu.

Visit our others specialized world platforms:

• for social enterprises –bakeries Bakeries Without Borders
• for socially-oriented bakers Bakers Without Borders, who develop local initiatives for social change and whom we call “ChangeBakers” instead of “changemakers”.

Social Enterprise School (SES)

E-mail: office@socialenterpriseschool.eu

Phone: +359 884 048 093