4 inspiring inclusive entrepreneurship stories you need to know

“Our sites can be used by blind people and people with motor impairments”

Everland agency was founded in 2016.We want to help people with disabilities get a profession. Everland has a web development business, where we launched Web Ready Solutions in November. This project allows beginners to get immersed in web development at their own pace and improve their skills without stress.

There are five people in the main project team, and everyone has a disability. I have, for example, by ear. Aspiring professionals come to us through the Everland platform - it has more than 1,800 registered people with disabilities. About 10% of them can be involved in web development. Candidates do a test task, are interviewed by a psychologist. Next, we decide to cooperate with them as self-employed professionals.

"Web-ready solutions" offers small and medium businesses, startups and NGOs ready-made websites designed by professionals with disabilities. The project solves two problems. For our employees, this means integration and training, removing communication barriers, getting decent pay, and building a portfolio. For business - a quick and budgetary launch of sales or a project with a ready-made working website. We strive to ensure that our sites can be used by everyone, such as blind people and people with motor impairments.

People with disabilities find it difficult to find work for various reasons. Some people need a flexible schedule. A wheelchair user needs a comfortable place in the office, a hearing impaired person needs the ability to communicate in writing, and a blind person needs screen readers. But just like everyone else, they want to work, get decent pay, communicate with colleagues on an equal footing. Our project is trying to help them.

We came to the accelerator because we wanted to launch an MVP - a product with the minimum required functionality. It was necessary to understand the economics of the project, increase the number of cases in ready-made solutions, create a line of additional services - technical and content support, Internet marketing. To pass the selection, it was necessary to fill out a questionnaire, send a short video story about the project, and then go through an interview.

We worked both offline and online. The program gave us the points of support on which any business should be based and allowed us to structure our work. We divided the beneficiaries of the project - professionals with disabilities and clients. This helped us identify two products: professional websites for businesses and an accelerator for professionals with disabilities in the Web development direction. Web-Ready Solutions launched on November 15 thanks to Start Different. We received the first sales, made a development plan. And in general, our team began to work more harmoniously.

“Together with special children, their mothers are also excluded from society”

The Light City is kindergartens and rehabilitation centers for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), cerebral palsy, mental retardation and other diagnoses. We have been operating since 2014. Now we have three centers in St. Petersburg and 100 pupils. We are engaged in the correction and development of children, preparing them for school. Our centers are a place where children can communicate, make friends, and do important children's activities that are common to others and difficult to achieve for children with disabilities. The specialists of the center - speech therapists, defectologists, neuropsychologists and therapists - work with each child, thanks to which he has a real chance to learn and communicate with peers.

Personal experience prompted me to open the centers. My daughter has a severe form of cerebral palsy and she can hardly see. The first years I was engaged only in her treatment and rehabilitation, but at some point I decided to return to work. And then it turned out that there is no place for such children in kindergartens! I consider this unfair. Indeed, in this case, along with the children, their mothers are also excluded from society. Therefore, I decided to open my own center, where everyone will be accepted, regardless of their characteristics.

In an inclusive private business, it is difficult to raise additional funding. We work with an unprotected category of people, so we deliberately limit the rate of return. This means that we have little money for development. But technology is moving forward, new methods of helping children are emerging! This requires funds. We tried to attract donations, but people are reluctant to do this, because we take money from their parents. But someone has to pay for the rent and the work of teachers. It is also difficult with loans, because future profits will not be enough to repay. Fortunately, there were three investors who believed in our project, and we were able to open a third center.

I participated in the Start Different accelerator in 2018. Then I just returned to work after the birth of my fourth child and was looking for something that would promote the Light City, give us a new impetus and inspiration. The accelerator justified itself - we really started differently.

The training consisted of three parts: lectures and seminars from business gurus, mentoring from an expert, and networking. We improved the business model, improved the quality of work with children, moved to better premises, and began the process of digital business transformation. The volume of sales during the participation increased by 1.5 times. And the educational trip to France, which I received in 2018 as a winner, still serves as a guideline in the development of the Light City.

Over the years, we have improved a lot in the project. Since applying to the accelerator, we have quadrupled the number of pupils and 4.5 times increased revenue. We have implemented an automated learning management system for children, opened a third center and entered the Register of Practices with proven effectiveness.

“Orphanage graduates are often viewed as incapable of responsible work”

VARENIKI is a workshop for the production of frozen dumplings, dumplings, khinkali, cabbage rolls and other products, which was opened by the Good Deeds Bureau Foundation. We are located in the city of Volsk, Saratov Region, and boarding school graduates work for us. This is a simple and popular production, which is available to children with special needs.

Orphanage graduates are often viewed as incapable of responsible work. Few employers are willing to take them on a team. The hardest hit are graduates of special educational institutions. As a rule, they have physical or mental health problems. There are currently four permanent employees in the shop. In addition, there are guys who are doing internships with us.

Before the VARENIKI project, I was far from the business sphere - by education I am generally a teacher. Therefore, I had a great desire to pump skills in this area. There was not a single block of information in the “Start Different” accelerator that was not needed and not in demand. The training was so comprehensive that sometimes I had to listen to or review the recordings in order to understand everything and have time to apply.

In the accelerator, they not only gave theoretical knowledge, but encouraged them to do their homework. That is, the material learned must be put into practice. We also received advice from professionals who helped to understand the intricacies of employment contracts, finalize the marketing strategy and business model.

"We give children with autism spectrum disorders the experience of non-traumatic communication through education"

Our school has been operating since 2021. It has children with ASD and those who are engaged in standard programs. In many Russian cities, children with ASD go to special schools because they have no alternatives. For various reasons, this experience can be traumatic for both the student and his family. And he also alienates a child with ASD from normotypical children, literally putting an end to the opportunity to become a member of society. We give these guys the experience of non-traumatic socialization and prepare them for school exams so that in the future they can get a profession, have friends and family. And normotypical children learn understanding and tolerance for special peers.

A child can enter our school at the age of five in grade zero. Children with ASD study in separate classes according to an adapted program. But when the child is ready, he, along with the tutor, is present at the lessons according to the traditional program. Some of our pupils may already be in the team unaccompanied.

Our school grew out of another commercial project - a children's development center, which has been successfully operating for five years. The business is still small, and some employees have to combine administrative positions with teaching. I also teach lessons, because I love mathematics very much and I cannot deny myself this pleasure. We do not have staff turnover: people who come to us stay for a long time and work with energy, soul and heart. In addition to teachers, our team consists of six people: a methodologist, a supervisor and administrative staff.

We learned about the “Start Different” program by chance from the Internet and decided to try our hand. We wanted to communicate with like-minded people and gain new knowledge. The first classes were held offline at the Rosbank office. Then - three months of intense online work. In the final, we defended our project in front of the jury. Thanks to the training, we managed to streamline business processes, become more assertive and bold. We want to continue helping the children of Russia, so we plan to create school methods and business models so that education can be opened in any city in the country.