Growing impact entrepreneurship in Madeira

The challenge

Madeira is an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Isolated from the rest of Europe, yet deeply rooted in its Portuguese culture, the island faces many social and economic challenges, making it a unique testing ground for entrepreneurs who wish to start impact-related businesses and projects.

But starting a business brings financial challenges, and there was no association or initiative helping social entrepreneurs to ideate and implement projects.

Our solution

We designed and delivered the Madeira Impact Collective Ideator Programme – a hands-on Impact Entrepreneurship programme combining training, stakeholder engagement, and community-building to support local and international changemakers developing projects rooted in the realities of Madeira.

This aimed to bridge the gap between ideas and implementation by embedding participants within a collaborative local ecosystem and creating opportunities for exchange with stakeholders from across the island.

It included:

• A co-design session with local stakeholders to identify key social, environmental, and economic challenge areas relevant to Madeira, alongside a recruitment and selection process for 13 local and international participants.
• A public kick-off event where hosts shared examples of social and environmental initiatives from different parts of the world, as well as regional ecosystem insights and data collected from local actors across Madeira.
• Collaborative exchanges between participants and stakeholders from different sectors and areas of expertise, helping identify and further define the key challenges to be explored throughout the programme.
• A structured five-week training phase covering topics such as Theory of Change, Internal Development Goals (IDGs), and business planning, combining conceptual frameworks with practical application to support participants in developing their pilot projects.
• Social and cultural activities were designed to strengthen trust, collaboration, and cross-cultural exchange between local and international participants, while also creating opportunities to engage with local impact projects and community associations.
• Open monthly capacity-building sessions following the initial training phase, with topics selected by participants in response to their evolving needs and project challenges.
• A final showcase session where five participants presented their pilot projects and received feedback and input from local stakeholders to refine their approaches and explore next steps for implementation.

The result

• Five pilot projects focusing on agricultural cooperation, healthy food systems, regenerative tourism, textile waste upcycling, and men’s mental health were presented during the programme’s closing event.
• Two participants established collaborations with a local stakeholder to further develop their initiatives on the island.
• Strengthened connections between Madeiran impact entrepreneurs, local organisations, and ecosystem supporters, creating new opportunities for collaboration and continued exchange beyond the programme.

Testimonials

“The programme was a great networking opportunity for us. From the people we met, we are now actively working with at least 2 institutions.”

“The most striking aspect was the strong sense of community felt among participants, as well as the multidisciplinary knowledge that enriched the whole experience.”

“When starting the programme I had a big vision of creating a health centre – a mix of community garden, retreat centre and living together, focused on health, wellbeing and regeneration. The programme helped me to reflect on which parts are more important or easier to start with. And also to reflect on my intention and motivation behind these dreams.”

Our team

• Nadia Laabs
• Sandra Gouveia
• Emily Dunne
• Maya Bahoshy
• Liv Comberti
• António Teixeira
• Visa Viren