Le Mat is a brand and a social franchise system for social entrepreneurs in sustainable and inclusive tourism

2. Who and what is Le Mat?
• A brand standing for social entrepreneurs in tourism
• A assembled know how how to become and to be
social entrepreneurs in tourism
• A group of social entrepreneurs and experts working
as consultants
• A way to replicate well functioning practices
• A way to transfer experiences and to share marketing
strategies
• A growing European Network
• A SOCIAL FRANCHISING SYSTEM

3. Many years ago in Italy we started
We decided to become social entrepreneurs
• To invent some interesting work for a more
sustainable and inclusive work in our
communities
• To battle against unemployment and social
exclusion by self-help and self-employment
• To feel socially useful and EMPOWERED
And so we developed social co-operatives!!

4. After many years, a law and several
experiences…
We convinced
• that social entrepreneurs are really useful and that many other
people wanted to start a social co-operative
• that nevertheless money still went to the traditional economy
and training organizations
• that social economy was considered a kind of second or third
sector too often dependent from public money
We thought
• to help social entrepreneurs to develop, to analyse and
organize and than replicate our know how and to
become stronger on the European level by developing a
social franchise system

5. TOURISM had become our
entrepreneurial passion
Because
• Since 1985 in TRIESTE we started to manage a small
Hotel
• Travellers are curious clients and interested in our
stories about becoming more inclusive and sustainable
• It’s a work where you meet many different people and
so you don’t feel so different
• Tourism is storytelling and we have many stories to tell

6. So we developed
To teach ourselves and the franchisees how to be
successful
• We developed Manuals
• We developed training methodologies
• We developed the LE MAT MANIFESTO
• We developed blogs and social networks activities
• We developed touristic products
• We developed local sustainable and community touristic
systems
• And we developed TERESA, the Le Mat traveller, as a
innovative storytelling marketing
strategyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIBsSVp6x
wM

7. We started to work as
Social franchisors
• First step: a group of experts had to be set up able to
act as consultants and to replicate the main elements
of the good practice
• Second step: experimentation of the replication
process in Italy for start-up of new social
entrepreneurs but also to raise the quality of already
existing practices
• Third Step: the replication outside Italy. Could our
know-how be useful and transferred also in other
countries?
• Le MAT SWEDEN, LE MAT POLAND, LE MAT UK…

8. We learned that branding
is a difficult job
• All our franchisees want to reach better economic and social
results by using the Le Mat know-how and marketing/branding
strategy
• We have to strengthen the brand and we need all the franchise
network members to contribute on this
• We need to find common and shared languages, our clients
have to understand where and why Le Mat is different from
other touristic facilities…
• We have to learn to tell our stories, places, values
Our Swedish colleagues use to say: “Do not offer square solutions to all,
because some people are round. We have got bats in the belfry, drug abuse in
our baggage, criminal thoughts, disabilities, stress symptoms and 11 social
enterprises with a turnover of SEK 39 million a year”

11. LE MAT on EURONEWS/BUSINESS PLANET
http://gr.euronews.com/2014/05/30/italian-dolomites-not-just-for-profit/
Today there are more about 18 Special Places Le Mat
in Italy, 3 in Sweden, 1 in Poland!
We are waiting for GREECE!
Come in touch with us: info@lemat.it tel: +39 335 7780682