Guinness awards €1m to firms promoting social change

Guinness Ireland has announced the Arthur Guinness Fund awardees 2010 at a special awards ceremonyin Guinness Storehouse today.

€1m was distributed among ten social entrepreneurs with diverse projects from across the country, with each project receiving €100,000. In total, the Arthur Guinness Fund is investing €2.5m over the next two years.

The fund awardees will have access to additional expertise through Diageo Ireland support and Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s alumni network.

John Kennedy, Managing Director, Diageo Ireland said: "The Arthur Guinness Fund proactively seeks to identify Ireland’s leading social entrepreneurs and is designed as a springboard to enable them to take their initiatives to the next level.

"Today, we are backing people with a business head and a social heart. This is what we mean by social entrepreneurship.

The 2010 Arthur Guinness Fund Awardees are:

Anam Cara – bereavement support service focusing on the needs of parents and siblings

Camara – re-using technology to tackle global waste and education in disadvantaged areas

Clar IRD – training people on low incomes to grow their own produce and improve their diet and exercise

Fáilte Isteach – supporting older people to make a difference especially within migrant communities

Grow It Yourself – promoting and encouraging food growing skills and the sharing of knowledge

Kanchi – driving best practice in the inclusion of people with disabilities within society

Pieta House – service focused on suicide prevention and intervention in a supportive environment

ReDiscover Fashion – recycling textiles establishing a new generation of eco-conscious socially aware consumers

Speedpak WAM – a social enterprise providing employment and up-skilling for the long term unemployed

Suas – a Service Learning Programme for young Irish people to help them become the leaders of the future.