Involvement in Kiddify via new Social Venture unit
Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, 2014-2-19 — /EPR Retail News/ — As part of its e-commerce strategy, the Tengelmann Group is further expanding its commitment in this field by founding Tengelmann Social Ventures GmbH (TSV). As a sister company of Tengelmann Ventures GmbH and a 100% subsidiary of the Tengelmann Group, TSV has made it its goal to finance social businesses – profit-oriented models that pursue social goals – and to provide advisory support to social entrepreneurs. “The focus of this involvement is on young companies that generate a ‘social impact’, i.e. a positive impact on society. Our central theme will be: ‘Social Impact First – Financial Impact Second’,” said Karl-Erivan W. Haub, Managing Partner of the Tengelmann Group.
Tengelmann was previously involved in a social business in 2011 with Coffee Circle. “Even with Coffee Circle we found the idea of social enterprise innovative and believed it set an important precedent. Due to the continued positive development and feedback, we decided to further expand these activities,” added Haub. Coffee Circle sells fair trade Ethiopian premium coffee. For every kilogram of coffee sold, one Euro goes to development projects that the start-up company supports locally.
TSV’s second involvement is with Kiddify GmbH (www.kiddify.com) in Berlin. Kiddify is a platform encouraging children ranging from 6-14 years old to share their knowledge, creativity and talent with other children. They have the opportunity to show homemade videos via Kiddify (e.g. of playing the piano, skateboard tricks or apps they have created themselves). “In the future, children will also be to able communicate internationally via our platform, thereby enhancing their understanding for language and culture,” commented Dr Paula Jackson, founder of Kiddify GmbH. Cooperation with various organisations is also in preparation in order to provide children from developing countries with access to Kiddify. “The e-learning market is a growing and very interesting market. The founder has developed an innovative business model whereby children can learn from other children – internationally and independently of social background. The team and the idea have impressed us so much that we decided to get involved at a very early phase of the start-up,” said Christian Winter, CEO of Tengelmann Ventures GmbH.
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