Euclid Network is proud to welcome its first member from Luxembourg. EN interviewed Daniel Tesch (ULESS’s General Manager), to learn more about their organisation, members, social enterprise/social entrepreneurship support, social impact label, vision for the future, and their motivation to join the Network.
Union Luxembourgeoise de L’Économie Sociale et Solidaire (ULESS) is a Luxembourgish organisation founded in 2013 by Nicolas Schmit – the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights – in partnership with the Ministry of Social and Solidarity Economy in Luxembourg. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, ULESS was created with the purpose of using the social economy to address unemployment in Luxembourg – explained Tesh. He highlighted how ULESS brought together all the existing players in Luxembourg representing the social economy to become a federal body to represent and defend the interest of Luxembourgish social entrepreneurs as well as communicate and promote their activities and the principles ULESS stands for. Policy and advocacy work promoting the Sociéte d’Impact Societal (SIS, Social Impact Companies in English) legal status and supporting the national ecosystem with incubation and capacity building activities were also important objectives of ULESS. The organisation supports not only its members but 2057 social impact certified companies in order to, together, promote the social economy in Luxembourg. Today, ULESS is also part of GECES, CEEP, and ENSIE – he added.
According to the Tesch, to give more visibility to SIS and to support them in promoting their activities in favor of a Social and Solidarity Economy, ULESS – in partnership with the Ministry of Solidarity Economy – created the “IMPACT Luxembourg – SOCIÉTÉ D’IMPACT SOCIÉTAL” label. He explained that this label is essential to properly position and distinguish goods and services created by social entrepreneurs and highlight the added-value they create. This label allows foreign and national consumers to make informed decisions regarding the products they are acquiring and the positive impact they can create.
For the second semester of 2023 ULESS will be focusing on dissemination and marketing activities to further promote social entrepreneurship and the social economy. In the next five years, his hope that ULESS’s goals and ambitions would be realized, and the organisation’s existence would no longer be necessary. Daniel Tesch expressed that ULESS has observed the strengthening of the community of SIS and other impact businesses in Luxembourg. In the future, Tesch alluded to the need for a different organization – other than ULESS – to unite, represent and promote social entrepreneurship, social innovation and social businesses in the future in Luxembourg.
Tesch underlined EN’s energy and sense of community as a primary reason to join our organisation, something he would like to replicate in Luxembourg. He reinforced how the diversity, size and impact of our members made ULESS want to join this incredible group of impact-driven organisations.
If you want to get to know ULESS don’t hesitate to visit their website or contact Daniel Tesch. ULESS is eager to engage and get to know the Network.
