7 December 2020
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
MyMind, jumpAgrade and Mobility Mojo to receive €50,000 each to scale their solutions to social problems
MyMind, a social enterprise providing affordable and accessible counselling, with an office in The Lough, Cork (previously on Dyke Parade in the City Centre), was one of three organisations announced today as Scale Partners of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI). SEI’s Scale Partnerships support social entrepreneurs who have proven their model and who have the potential to transform Ireland’s approach to the social problem they are trying to solve. MyMind, along with social entrepreneur-led organisations jumpAgrade and Mobility Mojo, will receive an equal share of €150,000 in direct funding to grow their services and impact. These three social entrepreneur-led organisations are tackling the social issues of mental health, inequality in education supports, and lack of access to suitable travel accommodation for people with mobility impairments.
Pictured in Krystian Fikert, founder and CEO of MyMind. MyMind’s vision is an Ireland where everyone has easy and timely access to affordable mental health services. Photo: Mark Stedman
Founded by social entrepreneur Krystian Fikert, MyMind’s vision is an Ireland where everyone has easy and timely access to affordable mental health services. MyMind estimates that there are over 200,000 people in Ireland who need counselling and psychotherapy and who are not able to access it. The organisation currently provides counselling and psychotherapy services in 15 different language through an accessible blended delivery model (online and in person) and will have delivered 34,000 appointments by the end of 2020. With support from SEI, MyMind aims to significantly grow its reach and impact in the coming years.
SEI’s programmes are designed around critical moments of a social entrepreneur’s journey. Since its foundation in 2004, it has supported more than 375 social entrepreneurs. Alumni include FoodCloud, Pieta House, AsIAm, CyberSafeIreland, the Irish Men’s Sheds Association and Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance.
In May of this year, SEI invited members of its alumni community to apply to its Scale Partnerships programme. My Mind, jumpAgrade and Mobility Mojo were chosen after a comprehensive review process that involved a series of workshops and interviews before a final pitch to a panel made up of representatives from the SEI team, SEI board and wider SEI community.
In addition to the direct funding, MyMind, jumpAgrade and Mobility will also receive support to raise a further €200,000 and bespoke non-financial supports from SEI over the course of the two-year programme.
Co-founded by social entrepreneurs David Neville and Pádraic Hogan, jumpAgrade’s vision is that every young person is enabled to fulfil their potential, regardless of their location, ability or socio-economic background. jumpAgrade’s research-backed technology platform provides online tuition and personalised feedback with a focus on helping students to progress onto third level or skilled work. jumpAgrade has undergone a period of rapid growth in 2020 with a 500% increase in users since the first covid-19 lockdown. jumpAgrade is aiming to provide 20,000 young people with personalised tuition over the next five years, with support from SEI.
Co-founded by social entrepreneurs Stephen Cluskey and Noelle Daly, Mobility Mojo works with hotels to help them deliver an inclusive and welcoming experience for guests with accessibility needs. According to the WHO, over one billion people globally live with some form of disability and an estimated half of these don’t travel as a result. Mobility Mojo has built a toolkit that enables a hotel manager anywhere in the world to collect accurate data about the accessible features in their premises. The hotel then integrates and displays all their accessible features on their website in a standardised way. Mobility Mojo has already signed up Ireland’s biggest hotel groups and with the support of SEI, is poised to scale both nationally and internationally in 2021.
Commenting, Sara Dennedy, Director of Impact with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, said:
“We are so proud to be supporting three new Scale Partners – MyMind, jumpAgrade and Mobility Mojo. Through Scale Partnerships we partner with, invest in and support social entrepreneurs to significantly grow their impact and create transformative change for a social problem in Ireland. At SEI our mission is to support social entrepreneurs on every step of their journey. Over the coming two years, we’ll work closely with Krystian, David, Pádraic, Noelle and Stephen to ensure they can powerfully lead the change they are driving.”
Pictured in Krystian Fikert, founder and CEO of MyMind. Photo: Mark Stedman
Krystian Fikert, founder of MyMind, said:
“We are thrilled to be selected for the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Scale Partnerships programme. This is an amazing opportunity for MyMind. SEI has been on the journey with us for over 10 years. Our first Award from SEI was back in 2009 so we know just how valuable both the financial and non-financial supports are in growing our reach and impact, and we look forward to working together over the coming years.”
SEI is a privately funded not-for-profit organisation. Scale Partnerships are funded by SEI’s community of corporate supporters, foundations and individual funders.
For more information on SEI’s programmes, see socialentrepreneurs.ie
