About Amsterdam Impact

Why Amsterdam Impact 

Amsterdam has a long history of being home to entrepreneurs who do business that creates added value for society. Impact entrepreneurship is integral to the city’s mindset, and Amsterdam wants to become a frontrunner in the wellbeing economy.

Amsterdam Impact is here to strengthen the ecosystem for all companies that simultaneously create financial and societal value. It is a collaborative effort that draws in startups, SMEs, large companies, investors, civil servants, network organisations, universities and research institutes.

How Amsterdam Impact can help you

We are for 

• civil servants, network organisations and knowledge institutions who want to join Amsterdam’s impact entrepreneurship ecosystem and contribute to a wellbeing economy,

• SMEs and profit-driven companies that to transition to impact-driven business models, 

• impact startups and scaleups looking for opportunities to grow their businesses and impact,

• companies and other organisations that want to buy social and support impact entrepreneurship through procurement,

• investors who want to connect to their peers and exchange experiences, insights and business cases relevant to their portfolios.

Amsterdam Impact 2019-2022

The 2019-2022 programme is a follow-up to the successful Social Entrepreneurship 2015-2018 programme. Social entrepreneurship in Amsterdam was a young but promising movement when we launched our initiative. Since 2015, the number of social enterprises in Amsterdam and their access to the market and capital has grown significantly. See the results of our first programme. 

The 2019-2022 programme builds on this solid foundation and focuses on strengthening the ecosystem for all companies that tackle societal challenges through entrepreneurship. In addition, we pay special attention to enterprises that improve the quality of life in Amsterdam’s neighbourhoods. Here’s a two-page summary of the programme, which includes the six pillars below.

Amsterdam Impact's focus areas

1. Transition: we aim to turn Amsterdam into a global centre of expertise on the role of local governments in the transition to an economy focused on creating shared value.

2. Market access: we help stimulate impact companies' continuity and revenue growth so that more societal value is created by solving societal challenges through entrepreneurship. For example, the Buy Social series with Social Enterprise NL connects impact enterprises to potential buyers.

3. Capital: we help ensure sufficient capital is available to impact companies at each stage of the business life cycle by encouraging close collaboration and knowledge exchange between diverse financiers. Our capital-related initiatives include Co-Financing our Future, a peer-to-peer network for impact investors.

4. Internationalisation: we strengthen Amsterdam's position as a hotspot for growing and scaling impact companies and deepen the collaboration with international governments and ecosystems – municipal, regional or national.

5: Impact entrepreneurship in the neighbourhood: we support entrepreneurial initiatives that contribute to Amsterdam'seconomic growth and liveability by focusing on social cohesion, labour participation, and sustainability.

6: Ecosystem connections: we strengthen connections between the diverse players of Amsterdam's impact entrepreneurship ecosystem by helping them to know who's who, share expertise, and do business with each other. 

Meet the team

Our team is your guide to Amsterdam’s impact entrepreneurship ecosystem. Visit this page to find each team member’s contact information and learn about our roles.