How did wirkt. come about?

Six years ago, Lisa-Maria, Julian and Nina founded their first social venture – MTOP. Since then, MTOP has accompanied over 400 people with a refugee and migration background on their way into the labour market. Besides MTOP, we have seen many other social challenges that have stuck with us. We wanted to become effective and MTOP was growing – LANA, the Culture School and the Learning Circle were born.

Not only have new sustainable solutions emerged, but our team has also expanded. Anna, Petra, Dorothea, Therese, Inaar, Bouchra, Anna Maria, Ramin, Maria, Leila, Lisa and Silvia contribute to creating a positive impact every day.

Together we see many social challenges and think more innovative solutions are needed. To focus and better name our growth, our new umbrella brand and shared DNA - wirkt.- is being created.

Our common wirkt. vision: forging perspectives for tomorrow’s society.

wirkt. is us, a colourful bunch of do-gooders and a portfolio of social ventures. As a legal umbrella, we are a non-profit limited liability company. All wirkt. ventures are committed to equal opportunities and work together for a better tomorrow. There are currently four Impact Ventures at wirkt. From autumn 2022, we will formalise our growth strategy and wirkt. will launch new ventures every year.

How do we do that?

  • We support our Impact Ventures in their organisational activities so that they can focus on what is important: becoming effective! Each wirkt. Venture, currently MTOP, LANA, the Culture School and the Learning Circle, is led by 2-3 Impact Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. These teams manage the projects operationally. All ventures are part of the wirkt GmbH (non-profit) and learn from and with each other. They receive support in strategy development, funding, marketing, accounting, impact measurement and network exchange.

  • In the wirkt. innovation process, new solutions for social challenges are created, piloted and sustainably anchored with all stakeholders. Each year, we are accompanied by a lead partner who leads the innovation process together with us. In 2022, this will be the MEGA Education Foundation.

  • We have already been living the first part of wirkt. for two years. Gradually, new ventures have joined us. This has enabled us to build structures that allow for further growth.
  • The second part of wirkt. will start in autumn 2022. We have already brought our lead-funding partner, the MEGA Education Foundation, on board for the first innovation process. Together we will host a participatory innovation process to create a new social venture.

We are already very excited to see how our wirkt. journey continues!