LE MAT – Special Places, Special People, Special ValuesA SOCIAL BRAND to mainstream SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP in TOURISM

by Renate Goergen – President and brand manager LE MAT EUROPE

Social co-operatives were developed in Italy by social entrepreneurs since the 80ties as a result of the closing process of Psychiatric Hospitals, the battling against prisons and for inclusion of people with disabilities or other problems….than social entrepreneurs came up all over Europe…They work in the general interest of the communities for a more sustainable and inclusive development….they create not only jobs in many economic sectors and social and democratic capacities for members and workers and specially for people with lower social opportunities…

Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps….ASHOKA

Brussels, the 26° of June 2012

The Le Mat SPECIAL people set up social co-operatives because they are social entrepreneurs, love collective owned and community shared businesses, like a more sustainable and inclusive development, want to do a work they like and have an equal salary, want to be independent and take their own decisions…

We wanted to do a job where we could meet new and interesting people

HOW DID IT START?SOME OF US SOME YEAR AGO HAD A NEW IDEA!

We wanted social entrepreneurship to become moretouchable, visible,shareable, traceable,

open to everybody, we wanted to attract new people,have new friends and clients and show our abilities

And so we decided to search a Hotel and we found a small and old one owned by a local bank…

We discovered to be good in welcoming and including people from abroad

We discovered that Travellers like SPECIAL PLACES, SPECIAL PEOPLE, SPECIAL VALUES

We discovered to be able to tell our stories about social entrepreneurship, active citizenship, empowerment, recovery

IT WAS A HARD BUT EXITING WORK!!!!!!

We learned to be a SPECIAL PLACE and an INNOVATIVE TOURISTIC PRODUCT!!!!!

Le Mat's social entrepreneurs like tourism to be something more than spending free time and consuming new adventures, more than a specialized industry. We like tourism as an opportunity to restore communities and landscapes… a tourism able to open minds towards those who are different from us, a tourism where you meet people and where you can listen to the thousands of stories and cultures of a local community and where the local community is curious to meet, to exchange and to welcome who comes from abroad, discovering unknown methods, thoughts and actions… 

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BELLUNO, 10 febbraio 2012

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We decided that ACCOGLIENZA and SUSTAINABLE TOURISM had to be our job, our business model!

We developed our competences, the organization, the marketing concepts…

We knew to be UNIQUE but we had to stabilize our product, the services…

We wanted travellers to come back, to guarantee always the same quality…

AND ANOTHER IDEA CAME UP!!!!!!

COULDN’T there be a HOTEL CHAIN of Social Entrepreneurs

WORLDWIDE?????

OUR BUSINESS MODEL FUNCTIONS!MAYBE IT IS REPEATABLE, IMITABLE???????

We developed MANUALS, METHODOLOGIES, WE DISTILLED our daily practice….

From 2001 to 2005 we worked to develop a SOCIAL BRAND, to write the Manuals, to experiment replication in Italy and maybe in another European country and we learned about

franchising developing SOCIAL FRANCHISING

In 2000 the European Programme EQUAL gave us the chance to try to realize this big project. We organized an Italian European partnership and presented:“Albergo in via dei matti numero 0”, in English

LE MAT – decent work through social economy

“If somebody uses resources merely “to reinvent the wheel”, it is rightly considered as a waste. Yet, the systematic replication of projects in the non-profit sector still remains the exception to the rule. This is understandable - many players in the so-called third sector rightly see themselves as “social change agents” – as an outlet for innovation. They prefer to focus their energies on the development of new approaches. Imitating those of others is considered as “not sexy”. The result is one pilot project after the other. Many prototypes, but few replications.The potential gains offered by the scaling up of successful prototypes into other places, have largely been neglected. There are, nevertheless, those exceptions to the rule that show the following: Systematic replication with local adaptation not only leads to greater efficiency and faster expansion. A well-organised replication process can lead to intelligent project networks with positive qualitative effects.”

Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen

FRANCHISING – SOMETHING NEW FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS!

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LE MAT EUROPE - a cooperative based on SWEDISH LAW - was the next step in 2008

LE MAT ITALY was set up by Social Co-operatives and Social Entrepreneurs in 2005.WE wanted to be owners of our BRAND

AND the replication process towards LE MAT SWEDEN could start!!!!

IT WASN’T AND ISN’T EASY: STANDARDIZING THE UNIQUENESS OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS,

UNDERSTANDING FRANCHISING AND BRANDING, BUT

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LE MAT today is a sexy brand standing for

social entrepreneurship in tourism owned and developed by social

entrepreneurs in Europe and can – as a social franchise system –

be replicated in a very unique waywherever there are social entrepreneurs

who want to imitate it

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THE SOCIAL FRANCHISING PROCESSStep by step by step by step by step by step…..

Brussels, the 26° of June 2012

LE MAT ITALY IS WORKING in ITALY and there are already 19 SPECIAL PLACES offering LE MAT ACCOMODATION and TOURISM PRODUCTS

www.lemat.it

LE MAT SWEDEN is working in SWEDEN and 3 LE MAT B&Bs are already open www.lemat.se

LE MAT EUROPE is working in UK, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, POLAND, GERMANY, SPAIN……

WHAT IS A SPECIAL PLACE LE MAT????

Guests feel to be in middle of social entrepreneurs, their colleagues and friends, their local network: the feel to discover not only traditional tourist sides but a SPECIAL WAY OF LIVE!

Travellers find a lot of information not only about the surroundings but about relationships, the functioning of the co-operative, the costumers etc, a good (equal) and traceable price, no physical, psychical, sensorial and cultural barriers…..

The beds are really good, the breakfast is excellent and very nice people give the welcome

A Hotel, a Hostel, a B&B, a ship, a restaurant….a UNIQUE PLACE, managed by UNIQUE PEOPLE and SPECIAL VALUES!

The traveller feels included in the community, as a citizen for a while

The quality card of THAT UNIQUE LE MAT and information about all the OTHER LE MAT are available and you can become member of the Travellers’ Association Le Mat!

HOW YOU BECOME A SPECIAL PLACE LE MAT?- You have to want it and to ask it- You read the MANIFESTO LE MAT and we tell you about all the services

and advantages there will be in becoming a LE MAT- You are asked to give a self description of your organization and your

plans- We agree a visit, we analyse your project (the already existing

hotel/hostel or your needs and ideas to open one)- We write a proposal about all the next steps you need to become a LE

MAT SPECIAL PLACE and the costs of our consultancies- You agree and we sign the contract TOWARDS BECOMING A LE MAT- At the end of the process you become a LE MAT SPECIAL PLACE, you pay

your yearly fee related to the services you want and need and once a year we come and control!

If you don’t have the money to restore and/or to pay the training and consultancy services we help you to find the money!

WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE….

Some really good partners in Europe,Wonderful workers,And many interesting stories told by TERESA the LE MAT TRAVELLER!http://www.youtube.com/watchv=__fSHw1jT9I&feature=player_embedded

Competences and know how, Handbooks, a registered BRAND, already a lot of travellers, travel agents promoting the LE MAT TRAVEL PRODUCTS, a business model and business plans, a technical staff of consultants…..

WHAT WE NEED …….SPACE and BUILDINGS: we would like to use the ABANDONED BUILDINGS (private or public), the property of MAFIA and ORGANIZED CRIME, all the COMMUNITY ASSETS in order to turn them to value

RISK MONEY – CREDITS and START UP CAPITAL:ABANDONED BUILDINGS have to be restored and we need some time in the start-up period to teach how to become a Le Mat and bring the guests and travellers

WE ARE WORKING TOWARDS:• A SPECIAL PLACE LE MAT in EACH SOCIAL

ENTERPRISE• A LE MAT FRANCHISE SYSTEM IN EACH

EUROPEAN COUNTRY• A CENTRALIZED BOOKING SYSTEM

AT THE MOMENT YOU CAN TRAVEL LE MAT ALREADY TO:

BECOME A LE MAT TRAVELLER!