By our member Patrizia Bussi, Ensie.

In the framework of the European Social Economy events “The digital road to Mannheim’, the European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (ENSIE) announced the winner of the 2020 ‘WISE Manager Award’.

The main objective of the Award has been to underline the innovativeness and resilience of Work Integration Social Enterprises striving for more inclusive and integrated forms of employment at the European level in times of the COVID-19 crisis. A jury of experts from the European Parliament, the European Commission and working in the social economy sector evaluated applications according to several factors as innovation and adaptability, the impact on workers and the transferability of the WISE practices.

The winning participants are the managers of the following:  

PACE Social Enterprise from Ireland that provides people that have experienced prison or probation with job opportunities by making and selling street planters and benches for local government and other costumers and institutions;

Humana Nova which is a Croatian WISE working in the production and sales of textile products made from recycled fabrics employing people with disabilities and other disadvantaged people;

Milieuwerk from The Netherlands acts as an intermediary between vulnerable people and big corporates by providing them with suitable workplaces.

This has been a short but very exciting award ceremony with a brilliant moderator, Chris Gordon from ISEN, the participation of Sylvie Guillaume, a French member of the European Parliament, Ann Branch, chief of the unit in the DG Employment of the European Commission, together with Corine van de Burgt, ENSIE’s President.

All these convinced and engaged people are the big motivation for our daily work which consists of finding more support and promotion for all WISEs and their workers!

Finally, this Award is organized in collaboration with RREUSE, Social Firms Europe and the CEC, and also granted in the framework of the “European Social Economy Award” in collaboration with Social Economy Europe and REVES. A common award ceremony is planned to be organised at the next year’s Social Economy Summit in Mannheim and we will wait for all of you, together, to celebrate WISEs and their managers!


You will find all the information here: http://www.ensie.org/wise-manager-award