The slides explain the story of the Le Mat brand and social franchising development. It will be shown at Ljubljana University the 28th of March 2013 by Renate Goergen

1. LE MAT – Special Places, Special People, Special Values
A SOCIAL BRAND to mainstream SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP in TOURISM
by Renate Goergen – President and brand manager LE MAT EUROPE

3. Social co-operatives were developed in Italy by social entrepreneurs
since the 80ties as a result of the closing process of Psychiatric
Hospitals, the battling against prisons and for inclusion of people
with disabilities or other problems….than social entrepreneurs came
up all over Europe…
They work in the general interest of the communities for a more
sustainable and inclusive development….they create not only jobs in
many economic sectors and social and democratic capacities for
members and workers and specially for people with lower social
opportunities…

4. Social entrepreneurs are
individuals with innovative
solutions to society’s most
pressing social problems. They are
ambitious and persistent, tackling
major social issues and offering
new ideas for wide-scale change.
Rather than leaving societal needs
to the government or business
sectors, social entrepreneurs find
what is not working and solve the
problem by changing the system,
spreading the solution, and
persuading entire societies to take
new leaps….ASHOKA

5. The Le Mat SPECIAL people set up social co-operatives
because they are social entrepreneurs, love collective owned
and community shared businesses, like a more sustainable
and inclusive development, want to do a work they like and
have an equal salary, want to be independent and take their
own decisions…
Brussels, the 26° of June 2012

6. HOW DID IT START?
SOME OF US SOME YEAR AGO HAD A NEW IDEA!
We wanted to do a job where we could meet new and
interesting people

7. We wanted social entrepreneurship to become more
touchable, visible,shareable, traceable,
open to everybody, we wanted to attract new people,
have new friends and clients and show our abilities
And so we decided to search a Hotel and we found a
small and old one owned by a local bank…

9. IT WAS A HARD BUT EXITING WORK!!!!!!
We discovered to be good
in welcoming and including people from abroad
We discovered that Travellers like
SPECIAL PLACES, SPECIAL PEOPLE, SPECIAL VALUES
We discovered to be able to tell our stories about social
entrepreneurship, active citizenship, empowerment, recovery
We learned to be a SPECIAL PLACE and
an INNOVATIVE TOURISTIC PRODUCT!!!!!

10. Le Mat's social entrepreneurs like tourism to be something more than
spending free time and consuming new adventures, more than a specialized
industry.
We like tourism as an opportunity to restore communities and landscapes…
a tourism able to open minds towards those who are different from us, a
tourism where you meet people and where you can listen to the thousands
of stories and cultures of a local community and where the local community
is curious to meet, to exchange and to welcome who comes from
abroad, discovering unknown methods, thoughts and actions…

11. LOGO vs
We decided that ACCOGLIENZA and
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM had to be our
job, our business model!
We developed our competences, the
organization, the marketing
concepts…
We knew to be UNIQUE but we had to
stabilize our product, the services…
We wanted travellers to come back,
to guarantee always the same
BELLUNO, 10 febbraio 2012
quality… 11

12. We developed MANUALS, METHODOLOGIES, WE DISTILLED
our daily practice….
AND ANOTHER IDEA CAME UP!!!!!!
OUR BUSINESS MODEL FUNCTIONS!
MAYBE IT IS REPEATABLE, IMITABLE???????
COULDN’T there be a
HOTEL CHAIN of Social Entrepreneurs
WORLDWIDE?????

13. In 2000 the European Programme EQUAL gave us the chance
to try to realize this big project. We organized an Italian
European partnership and presented:“Albergo in via dei matti
numero 0”, in English
LE MAT – decent work through social economy
From 2001 to 2005 we worked to develop a BRAND,
to write the Manuals, to experiment replication in Italy and
maybe in another European country and we learned about
franchising developing SOCIAL FRANCHISING

14. FRANCHISING – SOMETHING NEW FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS!
“If somebody uses resources merely “to reinvent the wheel”, it is rightly considered
as a waste. Yet, the systematic replication of projects in the non-profit sector still
remains the exception to the rule. This is understandable - many players in the so-
called third sector rightly see themselves as “social change agents” – as an outlet for
innovation. They prefer to focus their energies on the development of new
approaches. Imitating those of others is considered as “not sexy”. The result is one
pilot project after the other. Many prototypes, but few replications.
The potential gains offered by the scaling up of successful prototypes into other
places, have largely been neglected. There are, nevertheless, those exceptions to the
rule that show the following: Systematic replication with local adaptation not only
leads to greater efficiency and faster expansion. A well-organised replication process
can lead to intelligent project networks with positive qualitative effects.”
Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen

15. LOGO vs
LE MAT ITALY was set up by Social Co-
operatives and Social Entrepreneurs in 2005.
WE wanted to be owners of our BRAND
LE MAT EUROPE - a cooperative based on
SWEDISH LAW - was the next step in 2008
AND the replication process towards LE
MAT SWEDEN could start!!!!
15

16. LOGO vs
16

17. LE MAT today is a sexy brand
standing for
social entrepreneurship in tourism
owned and developed by social
entrepreneurs in Europe
and can – as a social franchise system –
be replicated in a very unique way
wherever there are social entrepreneurs
who want to imitate it

18. LOGO vs
THE SOCIAL FRANCHISING PROCESS
Step by step by step by step by step by step…..

19. LE MAT ITALY IS WORKING in ITALY and there are already 19 SPECIAL
PLACES offering LE MAT ACCOMODATION and TOURISM PRODUCTS
www.lemat.it
LE MAT SWEDEN is working in SWEDEN and 3 LE MAT B&Bs are already
open www.lemat.se
LE MAT EUROPE is working in UK, BOSNIA &
HERZEGOVINA, POLAND, GERMANY, SPAIN……
Brussels, the 26° of June 2012

20. WHAT IS A SPECIAL PLACE LE MAT????
A Hotel, a Hostel, a B&B, a ship, a restaurant….a UNIQUE PLACE,
managed by UNIQUE PEOPLE and SPECIAL VALUES!
Guests feel to be in middle of social entrepreneurs, their colleagues and friends, their
local network: the feel to discover not only traditional tourist sides but a SPECIAL WAY OF
LIVE!
Travellers find a lot of information not only about the
surroundings but about relationships, the functioning
of the co-operative, the costumers etc, a good (equal)
and traceable price, no physical, psychical, sensorial
and cultural barriers…..
The beds are really good, the breakfast is excellent and very nice people give the welcome
The traveller feels included in the community, as a citizen for a while
The quality card of THAT UNIQUE LE MAT and information about
all the OTHER LE MAT are available and you can become member
of the Travellers’ Association Le Mat!

21. HOW YOU BECOME A SPECIAL PLACE LE MAT?
- You have to want it and to ask it
- You read the MANIFESTO LE MAT and we tell you about all the services
and advantages there will be in becoming a LE MAT
- You are asked to give a self description of your organization and your
plans
- We agree a visit, we analyse your project (the already existing
hotel/hostel or your needs and ideas to open one)
- We write a proposal about all the next steps you need to become a LE
MAT SPECIAL PLACE and the costs of our consultancies
- You agree and we sign the contract TOWARDS BECOMING A LE MAT
- At the end of the process you become a LE MAT SPECIAL PLACE, you pay
your yearly fee related to the services you want and need and once a
year we come and control!
If you don’t have the money to restore and/or to pay the training and
consultancy services we help you to find the money!

22. WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE….
Competences and know
how, Handbooks, a registered
BRAND, already a lot of
travellers, travel agents promoting
the LE MAT TRAVEL PRODUCTS, a
business model and business
plans, a technical staff of
consultants…..
Some really good partners in Europe,
Wonderful workers,
And many interesting stories told by
TERESA the LE MAT TRAVELLER!
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=__fSHw1jT9I&feature=player_embedded

23. WHAT WE NEED …….
SPACE and BUILDINGS:
we would like to use the ABANDONED
BUILDINGS (private or public), the property
of MAFIA and ORGANIZED CRIME, all the
COMMUNITY ASSETS in order to turn them
to value
RISK MONEY – CREDITS and START UP
CAPITAL:
ABANDONED BUILDINGS have to be
restored and we need some time in the
start-up period to teach how to become a
Le Mat and bring the guests and travellers

24. WE ARE WORKING TOWARDS:
• A SPECIAL PLACE LE MAT in EACH SOCIAL
ENTERPRISE
• A LE MAT FRANCHISE SYSTEM IN EACH
EUROPEAN COUNTRY
• A CENTRALIZED BOOKING SYSTEM
AT THE MOMENT YOU CAN TRAVEL LE MAT
ALREADY TO:

46. BECOME A LE MAT TRAVELLER!