On October 17, 2019, Moscow hosted a solemn awarding ceremony for the laureates of the VIII "Impulse of Kindness" Prize, which is awarded annually for contributions to the development and promotion of social entrepreneurship.
This year 10 laureates in 7 nominations were awarded the "Impulse of Good" Prize. In 2019, 332 applications from 60 regions of Russia were received for the Prize.
The most active region in terms of the number of applications filed was KhMAO - Yugra - 54 applications. Also among the leaders are Moscow (43 applications), Moscow region (25 applications), Nizhny Novgorod region (24 applications) and St. Petersburg (19 applications). In just 8 years of the "Impulse of Kindness" Prize, the organizing committee received 1,843 applications from 81 regions of Russia, and 89 laureates from 21 regions of Russia became the winners.
The 2019 Prize winners are projects that find innovative solutions to social problems and inspire others. For example, one of the laureates in the nomination “For personal contribution to the development of social entrepreneurship” was Grigory Arkadyevich Lein, who since 2006 has been developing and producing special corsets for the treatment of the spine. In 2014, he launched the full-cycle prosthetic and orthopedic center "Skoliologic.ru", which, in addition to corsets, produces orthopedic devices, prostheses and provides psychotherapeutic support for patients. The center is represented in 5 cities of Russia and Estonia.
One of the most significant events in Russian social business gathered about 700 guests, including representatives of government authorities, public organizations, experts and social entrepreneurs.
The guests of the Prize were greeted by a unique exhibition of innovative projects of social entrepreneurs. They were able to get acquainted with the latest developments in a variety of areas - from healthcare to museums. For example, one of the exhibitors was the project - the winner in the nomination "Best Startup in the Field of Social Entrepreneurship" by Regoint Science LLC. In 2018, the company brought to the market its development - a simulator for the restoration of the hand after injury or stroke. The Rejoint can be used from the first days after the injury. Through mechanical continuous movements, he activates the hand, restoring nerve connections and increasing the patient's own range of motion. This is the only device that is suitable for children.
At the beginning of the ceremony, a welcoming speech was read from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Every year this prestigious Prize is awarded to those who translate their ideas into real deeds and undertakings, strive to change their lives for the better. Its laureates take care of children and the older generation, revive folk crafts and industries, and carry out other equally significant initiatives. Such important and necessary work deserves deep respect. It is an example of a responsible attitude to pressing social problems.
I am sure that the law on social entrepreneurship, adopted this year, will help you to improve the efficiency of your work, to successfully solve the urgent problems of the social sphere.
I congratulate the laureates on the high award, I wish them creative energy and all the best,”says Vladimir Putin's address.
Also, the guests and participants of the Prize received greetings from the Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia Valentina Matvienko, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to create economic and social development from below, Muhammad Yunus, the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin.
Opening the ceremony, the founder of the Our Future Foundation Vagit Alekperovnoted that the message of the President of the Russian Federation "says everything we were striving for - to bring and raise social entrepreneurship to the level of government, to the level of the legislative framework - it happened." “I am a happy person, because, probably, I do what I love, I have a great family, and today I got a unique opportunity to support people who seek to do not only their own business, but also a business aimed at supporting people who are today in this need, - said Vagit Alekperov. “I would like to assure everyone here that the Our Future Foundation will only strengthen its programs in all regions of our great country, we will support and increase our participation every year so that people can live better.”
As the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Olga Golodets noted, addressing the founder of the Fund, “people from different regions come to this Prize, and they all preach the same principles that are laid down in your project”. “I wish success to the entire team that has formed, to each of you. This is a wonderful project that people really need,”she said.
Deputy General Director of JSC SUEK Sergei Grigoriev noted that the Our Future Foundation has always been “the standard of correct work, the standard of an honest, good approach to our business, the standard of attracting good worthy people to the Prize”.
The awarding ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky, who asked for a separate nomination for social entrepreneurs in the field of culture next year. “There are modest small private cinemas or small non-state theaters, and even bookstores are actually social entrepreneurship, try to do it in the business field,” he explained.
Once again, the contribution of the media to the coverage of social entrepreneurship was also noted, two publications at once - Lenta.ru and "Bashinform", won this nomination. As the editor-in-chief of TASS Mikhail Petrov noted, it is not always easy to make the topic of social entrepreneurship a priority, because due to the specifics of the information space, "disasters and scandals are best sold." “And this prize, this Prize is all the more valuable for our laureates today, because they had to show remarkable will, to make every effort to, in spite of everything, to promote this important positive agenda today,” he said.
This year, within the framework of the Impulse of Kindness Prize, a project was selected that received a special award, a prize in a special category “For the first issue of green bonds in Russia”. The award went to Resource Saving KhMAO LLC. As the vice-president of PJSC Bank FC Otkritie Vladimir Rykunov noted, this award “unites our future with an impulse of good”. “The impulse made by social entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs in general, combines with the impulse from today and turns into tomorrow,” Rykunov explained. “I hope there will be more and more issues of such bonds and other financial instruments in the future.”
“I am glad that the Foundation and the Prize celebrated this novel in our country. The Resource Saving KhMAO Company has shown itself as a socially oriented company, a company that thinks about tomorrow yesterday and today,”said Natalya Komarova, Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra.
The event was concluded by Natalia Zvereva, Director of the Our Future Foundation. “I congratulate everyone, a really serious milestone is the adoption of the law on social entrepreneurship. This goal has been achieved, but there is still a lot of work ahead, and even more our involvement is required, even more work. We are glad, we do all this with pleasure, we do it with love. Our entire team - the board of trustees, founder Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov, all our partners, experts, regional representatives - love what she does. We are really happy. We believe in social entrepreneurship, we believe that we will succeed,”said Natalia Zvereva.
