Albergo in via dei matti n. 0 Le Mat

1. Albergo in via dei matti n. 0 Le Mat step by step towards a network and a brand of social co-operative hoteliers Renate Goergen Associazione Le Mat

2. Before starting: • - Research on the development of social co-operatives type B) in Italy - which are the weaknesses and how can they strengthen. • Research on particular successful and sustainable experiences and the support models for the development of the entrepreneurial culture of disadvantaged people and the empowerment and inclusion of people with disabilities • Research on the appropriate replication methodology and the market conditions

3. Some of the identified problems before starting: • The discrimination of people with a history of disability and social exclusion • Rare examples of good practice of social co-operatives type B) in qualified jobs and branches • Lack of leading positions inside the co-ops of people with disabilities • Economic weakness of social co-ops

4. The Actor • A Equal DP able to develop a sustainable model and trademark, an entrepreneurial culture of the social co-ops and the development of an entrepreneurial network organization, from the bottom up: • 25 partner from 13 Italian Regions • 15 social co-ops type B) • The Italian federation of the Associations of people with disabilities • Experts of enterprise and cooperative development • Experts in the Hotel business • Banks and Development Funds

5. What is a social co-op type B) - an entrepreneurial workers enterprise, a workers-owned enterprise, a group of persons who get together to create opportunities for good employment in which even persons normally the subject of discrimination and exclusion from the labour market can build up for themselves opportunities for employment and success; and what does it manage - two production schedules: 1) the formation of a product o service to be sold on the market 2) the inclusion of people with disabilities or social exclusion by constructing an entrepreneurial group capable of managing the enterprise and creating paid job opportunities and chances of a career for everyone.

6. Some quality criteria • a social enterprise is governed democratically and is a fully transparent organisation: quite everyone knows the budget and the outturn, since everyone takes part in the construction of the budget and everyone is responsible for attaining the results set out therein; • a social co-op has a collective nature: the group of entrepreneur members and the group of workers are substantially the same; • a social enterprise is composed of entrepreneurs who know that the vocational and economic growth of each person and the enterprise as a whole depends on the wish to improve oneself; • limiting the size of the co-ops the active participation of everyone can be favored and support a broad entrepreneurial project;

7. Some more quality criteria • work and training must go hand in hand, and both vocational and managerial training must be continuous and personalized; • quality must be a keyword: quality in terms of the product/service offered, and quality in the organisation of the work done and its environment; • cultural transformation is required to ensure that the fight against discrimination and social exclusion is waged as a practical feature of a person's daily life; • The enterprise has to be economically sustainable.

8. “Albergo in via dei matti” – step by step • First step: • Identification of the product/service and of an interesting practice of type b social co-operative • Second step: • Identification and highlighting the causes of the good practice’s success concerning the entrepreneurial sustainability and the participation at the governance of workers-owners • Third step: • Developing a model easily replicable

9. Forth step: • Developing tools to replicate the good practice identified • Fifth step: • Experimentation by searching and setting up hotels, training the entrepreneurial groups and setting up the social franchisor • Sixth step: • Dissemination and Mainstreaming

10. From Hotel Tritone in Trieste managed since 15 years by “Il posto delle fragole”, a small social co-operative, it is a case of entrepreneurial success which facilitated the empowerment of the workers – owners.

11. Hotel Tritone (2003) Bedrooms: 16 Turnover: € 286,401 Occupancy rate: 77% Average room rate; Euro 63.79 REV/PAR*: Euro 49.04 Worker members: 6 Trainees: 1 * Revenue per available room: total revenue divided by the number of rooms available.

12. To Associazione Le Mat a franchising process from the bottom up The office in Rome

13. Associazione Le Mat • The Social Franchisor • It has developed, together with all the partners, people with disabilities, experts and social co-ops, the hotel model and the quality standards – see the manuals. • It has experimented, together with the social co-op partners, the social franchising program which can be applied to all the future affiliates to replicate the model.

14. The Social Franchising Program • an example • definition of the idea • looking for a hotel • entrepreneurial group training course • on-the-spot training • elaboration of the business plan and of the building project • the vocational training course for hoteliers

15. management consultancy • the marketing plan • the placement in employment program • checking and quality updating visits. • A specific program is elaborated in keeping with each aspirant's initial situation. • Each new affiliate will create its own personalised manual (with the assistance of all the entrepreneur workers and with Le Mat as its tutor).

16. Who are the potential affiliates all over Europe? • a workers-owned cooperative or social enterprise wishing to open a hotel; • a group of unemployed or precariously employed persons who wish to be masters of their future by starting an enterprise; • a social enterprise running a scarcely profitable hostel and intending to do better in the hotel sector;

17. a local authority wishing to salvage an abandoned edifice and create local jobs by supporting a social enterprise; • an association of disabled persons seeking to promote good-level employment opportunities for its members; • a bank, a firm, a development agency wishing to invest in a profitable entrepreneurial sector; • a hotelier wishing to upgrade his hotel; • a group of friends wishing to be pleasurably useful;

18. Development issues: • Developing, marketing and funding the growing process of the Le Mat social franchising network/system during the next three years; • rising the small social entrepreneur’s access to investments by contracting special conditions to access credit for Le Mat’s affiliates; • developing together with banks and the European co-operative system a Le Mat hotels investment fund.

19. Associazione Le Mat via Gino Capponi, 176/178 - 00179 Roma tel +39 06 78 34 96 75 fax +39 06 78 14 03 07 info@lemat.it www.lemat.it www.viadeimatti.coop www.lemat.org WE ARE SEARCHING FOR EUROPEAN PARTNERS