Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has awarded five organisations €20,000 each to develop their community impact, together with nine months of tailored support for their activities.

The five were selected from more than 110 applications from across the country, for innovative solutions aimed at addressing issues such as food waste, inequalities for multilingual families, a lack of supports for people with dyslexia, the need for increased grief education, and the exclusion and isolation caused by inaccessible games controllers.

This year’s five winners are:

ByoWave — Brandon Blacoe and Eibhlin O’Riordan: modular, accessible, and customisable video game controllers for people with disabilities, enabling everyone to build their own way to play.

Mother Tongues — Dr Francesca La Morgia: training and informative resources in the areas of multiculturalism and bilingualism.

In Association with

Peer Educational Technologies — Graham Brocklebank: cloud-based assistive technology solution for people with dyslexia that addresses accessibility, and reading and spelling needs.

Positive Carbon — Aisling and Mark Kirwan: works with hospitality businesses to reduce their impact on the environment through its fully automated food waste monitoring technology.

Shapes of Grief — Liz Gleeson: comprehensive grief education and resources for individuals, mental health professionals and healthcare workers.

Chief executive Tim Griffiths said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has proven that innovation and resilience are two of our strongest assets. The role of social entrepreneurship and the individuals whose insight, inspiration and tenacity to create the solutions to our social problems, has never been in greater demand.  

“As we continue to live through these extraordinary and challenging times, it is truly heartening to see so many people stepping up and sharing their ideas to tackle social problems. I’d like to thank everyone who applied to the SEI this year and extend my congratulations to our five incredible Impact Awardees who are already making such a difference across Ireland.”

The five chosen will join the not-for-profit organisation’s Impact programme, in addition to their €20,000 in unrestricted funding. It’s a nine-month accelerator programme that supports high-potential social entrepreneurs with mentoring and access to a network of support. The five will receive training in areas such as fundraising, governance, leadership, and storytelling.

Photo (l-r) : Brandon Blacoe, Eibhlin O’Riordan, Graham Brocklebank, Tim Griffiths, Liz Gleeson, Dr Francesca La Morgia, Mark Kirwan and Aisling Kirwan (Pic: Julien Behal)