Dit verhaal is een repost van stichting social impact factory. Door middel van ‘impact stories’ beschrijven ze de impact die gemaakt wordt door hun samenkomst. Wij vinden dit heel inspirerend  en delen deze verhalen daarom graag met jullie. 

“Wat is een mooiere combinatie dan koffie met een koekje!?” vraagt Judith van der Star, channelmarketeer bij Jacobs Douwe Egberts, zich stralend af. Jacobs Douwe Egberts is de eerste grote klant van een andere in Utrecht gevestigde onderneming: de Koekfabriek. Een bakkerij waar mensen met een verstandelijke beperking de koek bakken. Hierdoor hebben zij een leuke werkplek en wordt er geld verdiend door de koek te verkopen. Kristel de Krijger, projectleider bij de Koekfabriek, vertelt over het begin van de samenwerking: “Het waren echt veel weckpotten met koek, die naar locaties van Groningen tot aan Maastricht moesten worden gebracht. En wij zeiden dan: ‘Ja dat kan’. Daarna gingen we pas nadenken: Hoe gaan we dat in godsnaam doen…?”

De gevolgen van sociaal inkopen
Inmiddels heeft deze samenwerking, naar een schatting van Judith, geleid tot het afnemen van zo’n 35.000 koekjes door Jacobs Douwe Egberts. Volgens Kristel komt het neer op het sponsoren van 1 nieuwe bakkerij. Bovendien veroorzaakt een grote opdracht een sneeuwbaleffect: “We vervoeren die net afgebakken koek naar een enorm grote sociale werkplaats met exact dezelfde doelgroep, die alle koek gaat inpakken. Dus daar zet je ook weer mensen aan het werk. En de zakjes moeten worden bestickerd. Die worden ook weer geprint en afgedrukt door mensen met een afstand tot de arbeidsmarkt. Dus wat Jacobs Douwe Egberts doet, sociaal inkopen, doen wij ook. Met zo’n grote opdracht help je heel veel mensen aan het werk.”

Een samenwerking met positieve effecten
Naast de afname van koek biedt deze samenwerking een podium voor nieuw publiek. Ook geeft deze samenwerking vertrouwen naar andere mogelijke grote opdrachtgevers. En voor Jacobs Douwe Egberts? Voor Jacobs Douwe Egberts voelt het gewoon goed om iets voor elkaar te kunnen betekenen. “De reacties van klanten zijn zó leuk. Het verhaal erachter maakt het heel bijzonder”. De koekjes worden meegenomen naar beurzen en evenementen, ze krijgen een plek in inspiratietours voor klanten en ze zijn onderdeel van het kerstpakket voor het personeel. Ook speelt het horecateam van Jacobs Douwe Egberts een bemiddelende rol bij de lokale horecaondernemer en de koekfabriek. Zo kan Jacobs Douwe Egberts laten zien dat zij veel partners hebben in de regio en veel duurzame en sociale  initiatieven steunen.

Social Impact Factory als katalysator
Een meer logische samenwerking valt nauwelijks te bedenken. Toch is de Social Impact Factory van betekenis geweest bij deze samenwerking. “Zij zijn daarin eigenlijk de katalysator geweest. En ik vind het leuk dat zij dus ook zien: jullie zijn koffie, zij zijn koekjes. Moeten jullie niet eens met elkaar wat gaan doen? Dat is natuurlijk heel slim om op die manier mensen met elkaar in verbinding te brengen.”

Een veelbelovende toekomst
Beide partijen zijn enthousiast over de samenwerking en kijken welke mogelijkheden er nog meer voor de samenwerking zijn. Twee partijen die elkaar mooi aanvullen en samen de capaciteit hebben om grote impact te realiseren. “Een match made in heaven: koffie met een koekje erbij”, volgens Judith. Dit wordt beaamd door Kristel: “Wij zijn Utrecht, zij zijn Utrecht. Zij zijn koffie, wij zijn koek.” In het bijzonder boterkoek, want die vinden Judith en Kristel het lekkerst!

Geschreven door Mileen van Ling (stagiair Impact Stories).

In the beginning of June, I spent three amazing days meeting incredible people at the Social Enterprise Days, in Utrecht. One of the people I met is Alicia Schalkwijk, a lawyer from Ashton Cloak, and she was there with an interest in what is new around the world. Now, I usually think lawyers are too lost in their own bubble to see what is going on around them, luckily I am very wrong! Alicia gave me a lot of insights that I had to share them with all the entrepreneurs at the Seats2meet ecosystem. She so kindly agreed to give me an interview on what entrepreneurs should be aware of new legislations and some other interesting trends on lawmaking.

Could you give a short intro about yourself? 

I am Alicia Schalkwijk (31), a lawyer and founder of Ashton Cloak Legal Advice. We specialize in advising Start-ups and Grown-up companies. I have studied at Utrecht University and I myself am specialized in Intellectual Property and Health Law. I still live in Utrecht and our office is located here as well. In my spare time, I like to play tennis, meet with friends and being involved in a local political party.

A lot of innovation and disruption is happening. For you, what is the main challenge for lawmakers amidst this period of fast-paced changes?

New (digital) products and new fast-changing ways of (online) services and work environment, also ask for a different approach at legal level. Both in regards to the type of legal services and the way in which the Start-ups and Grown-ups of this time have other questions, wishes and needs.

Ashton Cloak Legal Advice goes along with these changes by providing flexible services, sustainability, and cutting-edge rates. We are experienced in these new markets. And in ‘new’ legal jurisdictions like, Privacy law, Media and Internet law, ICT law, Health law and Intellectual property law, besides our traditional legal jurisdictions as employment law and corporate law.

What are the new regulations that entrepreneurs should have their attention on when it comes to owning a company? 

Two important changes are new laws concerning Privacy law and Employment law. As of May 2018, the same privacy rules apply throughout Europe. Each Member State may also choose to introduce stricter rules. Also, new laws about employment have entered into force. Complying with these new rules is essential, as explained in the next paragraphs.

It is estimated that by 2035 half of the working population will be freelancers. With that in mind, I already see a lot of changes in regulations. What do freelancers and/or people who want to become freelancers should know? 

A freelancer is not regarded by law as an employee but as a contractor. Labor law is therefore not applicable, such as employment protection. And there are few legal requirements to fall back on. Therefore, it is important to let a good agreement between the freelancer and commissioning company draft by a lawyer. How to handle additional work for example. Who owns Intellectual Property rights? Who is liable in case of default? Furthermore, you do not want your relationship being considered as a ‘labour agreement’ afterwards. Which means that you could have to pay extra taxes or lose your right to self-employed rebates.

We also see tons of new technologies as blockchain. Are there already any talks about it in the legislation area? Does the same go for crypto currencies as Bitcoin and Ether?

LegalTech is on the rise. However, the Netherlands is still behind compared to, for example, the U.S. They have a legal artificially intelligent system called Ross, which can create legal documents.

After all, your business is unique. You do not provide products and/or services under the same conditions as your competitor. Therefore, you will need terms and conditions that are tailored to your business and provide the right protection.

These systems do not yet get to know your business as a real-life lawyer does, who can ask you the specific questions that will lead to custom work a computer is not yet able to do. A lawyer can explain how and when to use a contract. And can explain consequences if you should choose between options.

Also in resolving disputes LegalTech is on the rise. Until these systems will become self-learning and can create completely new contracts or statements, lawyers are still needed. If so, lawyers will get more time to explore complex issues where they can strive their creativity and expertise.

Next year the new privacy laws will start to be enforced. What does that mean for users?

The person whose personal data is processed gets stronger rights and more rights under the new privacy legislation.

For example, data like your telephone number, e-mail address and even Wi-Fi data, the information on your OV-chip card and video footage can be considered as personal data.

When a company processes your personal information, you have in principle the right for example to let your personal data be changed or deleted. The right to Data-portability is also introduced. Users are entitled to receive their personal information stored at companies, to store these themselves for personal (re)use or to pass this information to (an) other organization(s). 

And what does it means for companies that work with user’s data?

To comply with the new rules, it is important that entrepreneurs and companies make timely changes.

For example, companies need to keep a record keeping insight into how personal data is processed. This task is assigned to the processor and the processing manager. The requirements for the Processor Agreement, to be concluded between the Processor and the Processing Manager, are greatly expanded. For example, there are requirements regarding the duration, type and purpose of data processing.

Further requirements are also laid down for inter alia security measures. And Privacy by Design and Privacy by Default is mandatory for companies that want to process personal data.

Do you work with particular personal data, as health data? Then there are additional requirements regarding the handling of personal data. And do not forget that an App for the smartphone, cloud services etc. also needs to fulfill all privacy requirements.

It is expected that the new rules will be strictly enforced. Penalties may be imposed up to a maximum of € 200,000 or 4% of the worldwide annual turnover.

Among others things a good Privacy Statement, Cookie Statement and Processor Agreement, made by a lawyer, will ensure that your business is well organized and high fines can be prevented.

Is there anything else you think that entrepreneurs and freelancers should know about the upcoming legislations?

Contract and conditions can these days easily be gained from the Internet or from generators. After all, your business is unique. You do not provide products and / or services under exactly the same conditions as your competitor. Therefore you should need terms and conditions that are tailored to your business so they can provide the right protection. This prevents you from being exposed to conflicts with your customer or buyer, if your terms or contracts deal with something different or less than you would have needed.

About Ashton Cloak Legal Advice

Ashton Cloak Legal advice is specialized in legal advice to Start-ups and Grown-up companies. Among other legal jurisdictions, we advise about Intellectual Property law, Health and Food law, Privacy law, Media and Internet law, ICT Law, Employment law and Corporate law.

We provide flexible services, reduced rates for Start-ups, for whom we created our Legal Custom Starters Package, we are transparent and pursuing to work on a sustainable and corporate social responsibility basis.

Our motto is therefore: ‘Our quality is in the advice, not in the marble’.

Alicia C.M. Schalkwijk, LLM

Corporate Lawyer Private Law and European Law

Member of NEVOA, Professional Association for Corporate Legal Consultants
Member of the ‘Association of Farma and Law’

Article by Masha Moisseyeva

We all knowthat student years are the perfect time to network, meet new people with different opinions, absorb knowledge, and … .ultimately, in the name of education, leave your cozy yet limiting comfort zone and be open to all kinds of new experiences . You never know if a guy with a nickname Wild-Party-crasher-Martijn will transform into a successful entrepreneur within a couple of years … so better stay open! Students are known to be one of the most dynamic and progressive segments. Closely They stay in touch with the modern world, easily adopt new trends, and are full of enthusiasm and new ideas.

If we look at the biggest student city of the Netherlands – Utrecht, we can right away Feel That student life is in its DNA. Utrecht is a host to more than 70,000 students, both international and Dutch, and this number keeps growing. The city perfectly reflects the nature of its Inhabitants – it is energetic, vibrant and young. New places keep popping up around the city in a matter of months, and sometimes it’s even hard to keep track of all the new initiatives around the town.

However, Despite its overall spirit, there are a number of drawbacks That Utrecht keep from becoming the best student place you could ever imagine. There are numerous at majors That Utrecht University offers to its newcomers, How many followers are extremely diverse and multi-directional; However, each faculty remains a comfortable bubble That separates its students from the rest of the university life. A psychology student Hardly ever will interact with young IT developers who study on a different campus, and students from Utrecht University will not know anything about the events organized by Utrecht School of Arts.

By interacting only with the folks fromtheir own major and participating in Events that their Own faculty offering students stay somehow isolated from what Utrecht has to offer and Their access to the world of different life views stays limited. The city center library – a unique student hub, does not encourage communication either. You have to be silent there, and the atmosphere Creates a feeling of being alone in the crowd. While being in the library you will never even find out That a guy who Seems to have trouble concentrating next to you is from Mexico and could help you with your Spanish assignment in 5 minutes, while you as a Ph.D. Students could help him with his first year APA-style academic paper at no cost.

We know it Because we have just recently Studied at Utrecht University ourselves and felt like we did not take the most out of the student life of Utrecht can offer. That is how the idea of ​​creating a Time Space – a social space for students That would encourage collaboration, exchange of ideas and creative initiatives, came into our minds.

In the team of four, we have been working on this project for a while, figuring out how to bring it to life. About a month ago we went to one of the conferences at Utrecht School of Economics (of course, where else would we go as Economics graduates) and serendipitously with Ronald Hoff – a creator of the world most progressive co-working company Seats2Meet. And then it all came together for us – by combining already Existing Seats2Meet platform for entrepreneurs and freelancers and not yet covered student segment, we could Achieve something great!

As of September 2017, Time Space will be Launched as a pilot project in partnership with Seats2Meet and Social Impact Factory on the premises or SIF building right in the heart of Utrecht, just minutes away from the Central Station. During the period of the pilot project, we will test, explore and experiment with ways to make the Timespace the best place for students’ studying and socializing needs. The online platform or  Seats2meet.com will Become available for Timespace visitors. With That system, you can book a spot study and arrange a meeting in advance, or get to know if anybody around you could help you in your struggles study.

Meanwhile, there is no better time than summer to have fun and build connections for the upcoming year. Therefore, for everyone who stays in town, we are planning a number of events, workshops and activities in July and August to gather active and creative minds of all ages and disciplines.

Right now, we are happy to announce our first Timespace That event ever will be happening on July 17 th in SIF. It will introduce our concept, as well as give a good introduction to Utrecht insides to the newly arrived Summer School students.

To stay updated on our progress and events you can always check out our Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/timespace.utrecht/