Social Economy Support Centre in Białystok

Pro­gramme: European Funds for Pod­laskie 2021-2027, fin­anced by the European Social Fund Plus, Pri­or­ity VIII Funds for edu­ca­tion and social in­clu­sion, Meas­ure 8.3 In­creas­ing social and vo­ca­tional activ­ity.

Grant agree­ment number: FEDP.08.03-IZ.00-0009/23

Project objective

Set­ting up a social en­ter­prise - an accounting practice that combines advanced fin­an­cial and ac­count­ing ser­vices for energy cooperatives and non-gov­ern­mental or­gan­isa­tions with the social mis­sion of cre­at­ing stable jobs for for­eign­ers, refugees and other people who find it hard to get work.

Why this project is needed

The pro­ject re­sponds to three gaps we have iden­ti­fied in the Podlaskie region: a grow­ing number of energy co­oper­at­ives that struggle to find an accountant who understands energy cooperatives; more than 2,000 non-gov­ern­mental or­gan­isa­tions, 30% of which run EU pro­jects re­quir­ing pre­cise grant ac­count­ing; and for­eign­ers and refugees in Białystok, 40% of whom give up the busi­ness they have star­ted within the first year be­cause of tax and lan­guage bar­ri­ers.

Scope of activities

• ✓Q1 2026 - pre­par­a­tion: re­gis­ter­ing the social en­ter­prise in the KRS, fit­ting out the office premises in Białystok, buying equip­ment and ac­count­ing soft­ware (enova365, AI auto­ma­tion tools).
• ✓Q2 2026 - op­er­a­tional launch: em­ploy­ing 5 people from groups who find it hard to get work (in­clud­ing for­eign­ers on full-time and part-time con­tracts), 40 hours of vo­ca­tional train­ing (renewable energy accounting, busi­ness lan­guage, legal com­pli­ance), win­ning the first pilot cli­ents among energy co­oper­at­ives and NGOs.
• ✓Q3-Q4 2026 - scal­ing up: launch­ing the full offer, a series of edu­ca­tional we­binars, starter pack­ages for for­eign­ers set­ting up their own busi­ness, auto­mat­ing some routine ac­count­ing pro­cesses.

Beneficiaries

• ✓For­eign­ers and refugees (mainly from Ukraine and Be­larus) en­ter­ing the Polish labour market
• ✓Long-term un­em­ployed people and un­em­ployed people over 50
• ✓Energy co­oper­at­ives and renewable energy communities in the Podlaskie region
• ✓Non-gov­ern­mental or­gan­isa­tions and social enterprises

Results

In 2026 we are cre­at­ing 5 new jobs for people who find it hard to get work. Over 3 years we plan to create more than 10 jobs in total for people returning to work. The model as­sumes serving 25 busi­ness cli­ents and train­ing 25 par­ti­cipants in the very first year of op­er­a­tion, with the pro­spect of grow­ing to 50 cli­ents in the third year.