Okay, first we need to admit that we haven’t been very good with our blog lately:-). Sorry about that. We’ve been kind of busy running & developing our Hub. We can assure you it’s been a year full of action.

Here’s a quick recap.

The year started with refurbishing our new home on Annankatu. To finance part of our refurbishment we launched crowdfunding, thus being the first enterprise in Finland to test it out.

In the middle of the refurbishment we successfully ran Onnistamo 2011, the Unconference for Social Entrepreneurship. And yes, the plans for Onnistamo 2012 are in a full swing. Check out more info and the cool video from the last year here: Onnistamo 2012 

In early May we moved into the new space (if you haven’t visited our lovely Hub yet, take a stroll to Annankatu and see what it’s like here. We think you’re going to like it.). 

Since the spring, there has been tens of events and workshops…we’ve organised around 25 Hub Breakfasts…had Lunch for Good as part of Ravintolapäivä…have hosted visitors from all over Finland (and other Hubs), including universities, third & public sector organisations, entrepreneurs’ associations…

…We’ve been to various media (such as Yle 5, Ilmarinen and Rakennuttaja magazine, Merkur Bank newsletter)…and we’ve executed a number of societally focused projects  (e.g. Renewable energy , Vyyhti) with external partners.

Most importantly, over the past eight months we’ve got more than 100 (!!) great members: entrepreneurs, companies, freelancers, academics, artists, civil servants, researchers from various backgrounds, cultures and industries. They have joined our growing community of changemakers and want to contribute to sustainable development and society through their own work.

As 2011 is coming to an end, all we can say is that it’s simply been a fabulous year to Hub Helsinki.

Dear members, collaborators and sister Hubs all around the world: we wish you a Glorious, Meaningful and Happy New Year!

Lots of Hubs,

Hub Helsinki team

Around that time, as luck would have it, we received an email from Ville Hellman, the Managing Director of SuomiCom, a leading broadband provider for Finnish SMEs. It turns out that Ville shares our passion for helping budding enterprises and offered to support the Hub by sponsoring our broadband connection to support a good cause.

The line was promptly installed for us and as of recent we managed to get our own wireless set up, so you should now be able to enjoy fast Internet at the Hub, courtesy of SuomiCom.

What changes with that? In practical terms, the mere fact of moving out from a place naturally evokes a few reflections on how much four walls can witness, and how our duty pushes us forward, forcing us to decide what to take with us and what to leave behind. Interestingly, while preparing to move, a task that was supposed to be banal ended up being slightly controversial: tagging objects, identifying whether they’d be taken to the new venue, be available for donation or thrown away. A debate rose up discussing if we could ourselves define what’s to be trashed and what could be useful for someone.

I must state that my personal experience at the Hub is totally analogous to that: personal attributes I thought could go to my trash bin were actually useful for others, and things others never considered taking with them were worth like gold to me. What I learned from that? Decision on what to stick to or not should be always taken collectively.

In the Hub’s case, some things are clearly worth taking – besides furniture in good shape and kitchenware: the ever-present entrepreneurial spirit, for instance, and the will to not only get things done, but effectively make things happen. On the other hand, it’s important to leave at the old address not only ripped sofas, but also the mindset of doing things “prototypically” and thinking of the Hub space as an improvised solution for this something-else-that’s-coming-in-the-near-future. Future is now, and it’s time to bring about concrete change for Finland.

What about you? As part of the grown-up Hub community, what will you bring along to new address along with your laptop? And what habits and mindsets would you consider it’s now time to abandon?

By the way, Hub will officially open its new doors on May, 2nd 2011.Until then, the place is open for visits from 9am to 5pm at our new address:
Annankatu 31-33 C | Helsinki.

Here’s what Oliver from Founder2be had to say on the partnership:

“Partnering with Hub Helsinki makes perfect sense. You can take the first step towards innovation and entrepreneurship at Founder2be.com from the comfort of your home. In order to turn ideas into reality and launch successful initiatives or startups, you need to get together in the real world. And what better place to do so in downtown Helsinki than in the Hub?”

Founder2be shares our ethos in that there’s no shortage of good ideas and the people are the key. Why not check out their website and see if you might find a match? And what better place to meet up and get started together than at Hub Helsinki?

The idea is relatively simple: instead of resorting on a bank loan that keeps the traditional way of making things happen—an entity has the idea, the other has the money—Hub Helsinki is trying out a new way of bringing its ambition to life: to inspire and support imaginative and enterprising initiatives for a better world. So why not focusing the efforts in getting the Hub community actively engaged in the project?

Here is how it works in practical terms: you can contribute with any amount starting from 10€ to be given as a loan. Interest rate is 1% and will be paid back as a lump sum after 3 years. Alternatively, you can buy a piece of Hub Helsinki for 500€ and, through this, join the current co-owners in making the decision on how to go forward, besides other benefits.

Crowdfunding also encourages creative and fun ways to be involved. We have currently two challenges going on: (1) one of our micro investors has given us a loan of 2,500€ and is willing to match whoever loan exceeds his offer up to 7,500€; and (2) as stated on our previous blog post, one of our lenders has promised 5€ for each “No” answer anyone would get by asking their connections a loan for Hub Helsinki, to a maximum of 25€ per participant.

So, are you up for the challenge? By doing that you are being a change agent in experimenting new, participatory ways of doing business. Who would be best to build the new Hub Helsinki than the Hub community itself?

For more information about how to contribute to the crowdfunding project at Hub Helsinki, check out the project page.

Want to know more about croudsourcing? Read Knowmads’ blog post on the topic or check out the Wikipedia article.

Hubin vertaisrahoituksen maaliskuun kampanjan nimi 5 x Ei!

Mitä, miten..?

- Tavoitteenasi on saada viisi (5) EI-vastausta Hubin vertaisrahoitukseen osallistumisesta lähipiiristäsi. Samalla ansaitset vähintään 25 euroa lisää Hubin lainarahastoon!

Uusi Hub

- Mikko M on luvannut lainata 5 euroa per EI-vastaus Hubin vertaislainaan ensimmäiselle 50 ihmiselle. Eli vaikkei kukaan kysymistäsi ihmisistäsi edes lähtisi mukaan lainoittamaan, niin autat Hubia jo kysymälläaskeleen lähemmäksi 50 000 euron tavoitetta!

- Kaikki keinot sallittuja! Voit kysyä kasvotusten, twitterin, facebookin, mailin ym. kautta, sinä valitset. Olennaista on se, että ihmiset tietävät mihin sanovat ei.

- Kun olet saanut 5 EI-vastausta täyteen, postaa Hubin Facebook-sivulle kertoen, että homma on suoritettu sekä lisäksi lyhyt kuvaus prosessista; mikä oli yllättävää, helppoa, vaikeaa, miten ihmiset reagoivat. Nimiä ei tarvita. (https://www.facebook.com/hubhelsinki)

- Mikko maksaa huhtikuun ensimmäisellä viikolla ensimmäisten 50 kampanjaan osallistuneiden osalta 25 euroa  lainarahastoon.

- Kampanja on voimassa maaliskuun ajan eli aikaa vain viiden Ei-vastauksen keräämiseen on. Kannattaa kuitenkin aloittaa jo tänään!

- Kun kerrot Hubista, voit hyödyntää   vertaisrahoitus ja uusi Hub Helsinki rakentuu -linkkejä.

Onnittelut, jos joku sanoo kyllä, sillä olet samantien kaksinkertaistanut tuloksesi, mutta tarvit silti vielä viisi Ei:tä.

Can you get five No answers?

Hub Helsinki launches the Aim for No! campaign. By participating you’ll have earned 25€  for our crowdfunding project.

Mikko M – one of our lenders – has promised 5€ for each No answer, so even if everybody declines, you have already helped the Hub to get closer to its 50 000€ target through your five No and 25€. The campaign applies for the first 50 people.

How?

- Get five (5) people to say No to your request to participate in the Hub’s crowdfunding.

- Any means allowed! As long as people know what the request is about, you can ask them face-to-face, through twitter, fb, email… You choose.

- Once you have five No answers, post a message on Hub Helsinki’s fb page (https://www.facebook.com/hubhelsinki) with a short description on how it went, how it felt, how people reacted etc. No names needed, just a note to say you’ve completed the task. You can use the above crowdfunding and building the new Hub Helsinki links.

- We’ll collect all the posts and Mikko will give up to 50 micro loans, each worth of 25€ at the beginning of April.

- The campaign runs till the end of March, so you’ll have plenty of time for five No. Still, it’s good to start today.

If someone says Yes, great & congrats! as you’ve doubled your impact, but you still need to find five Nay sayer…

The briefing I had received was was quite broad: together with the other five facilitators, I was supposed to design and roll-out a workshop that would sensitize and call the teenagers to action.

The decision was to take profit of the international background of the facilitators and start the workshop with a line to catch students’ attention: “In the country I live…” and end the sentence with several examples of environmental disasters. Examples went from “65% of the rivers are so contaminated that can corrode metal”, to “12,000 hectares of land are unsuitable for agriculture due to industrial waste deposition”.

As I would cite my examples, the other facilitator would write them down on the blackboard, and vice-versa. Students would be mostly quite apathetic to the examples, until we would come with the question: “You know the country I live, don’t you?” and they would quickly come up with an answer: “Brazil!”, “India!”, “China!”. Our response: “These are the countries we come from, but the country we live in is Poland.”

All students would inevitably turn to the blackboard and re-check all that had been said. Their reaction was unmistakably of shock and discomfort. “Are all these examples really from Poland?” some would ask. “Yes.”, I would answer.

The tragical environmental examples we gave were mainly from the Upper Silesia region in Southwestern Poland or the Vistula river. But the most shocking facts came from the same Baltic Sea that Service for the Sea now aims at saving. The action plan at that time: many students got engaged in the Baltic Sea Project, helping set up a network of schools in order to create and develop international joint programmes for environmental education.

As if all actions had been planned by a major force, Service for the Sea now proposes a natural next step to those students’ initiative five years back: save the Baltic Sea by entrepreneurial action – enabling this next generation to step up and show their capability.

Why not helping Service for the Sea before someone has to show you that environmental catastrophes are not some other country’s problem? Service for the Sea welcomes your support either as a business partner, juror, investor, student, or university partner. Click here to know more! ]]> http://helsinki.wordpress.the-hub.net/2011/03/03/changing-the-baltic-for-better-from-schools-to-entrepreneurial-action/feed/ 0 http://helsinki.wordpress.the-hub.net/2011/01/06/the-beginning-of-2011/ http://helsinki.wordpress.the-hub.net/2011/01/06/the-beginning-of-2011/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:55:01 +0000 anneraudaskoski http://helsinki.wordpress.the-hub.net/?p=334 The first week of 2011 is not over yet, so it’s not too late to wish Happy New Year to you all!

There are two things we’d like to highlight at this stage. The first is Onnistamo2011, which Hub Helsinki is organising together with a number of partners. It is the place to be for all of those, be they individuals, entrepreneurs, communities, organisations or companies, interested in finding out about new ways of doing business. This is also called social enterprise.

You are warmly invited to bring yourself, colleagues, family and friends with you. So please pencil the date 11th – 13th Feb in your diary and buy tickets online on the Onnistamo2011′s website.  Join also our FB group and find us on Twitter: onnistamo2011. As it is an unconference, you can als be part of the programme. Do you feel like running a workshop? Contact us either through social media or emaill: team@onnistamo2011.org

The second thing we are happy to announce is our partnership with Service For The Sea. It is business idea contest to save the Baltic Sea. What this means in practice is that we’ve agreed to spread the word, organise an event together with the global launch in the spring and invite other Hubs to do the same. More info will follow, but you can already start fleshing out your ideas to do something about the most polluted sea on the Earth.

Stay tuned and enjoy the proper winter!

We wish you the most enjoyable and relaxing Season time!