At a Glance
Location: Pécsbánya, Hungary
Impact Area:
Labor Inclusion
People Supported:
Indigenous & Roma People, Small Producers & Artisans, Rural
Joined NESsT Portfolio:
2016
Overview
In the southern city of Pécs, there is a mining district – Pécsbánya – which has been gradually declining and segregating since the democratic transition in the 1990s. Today, the district is mostly inhabited by long-term unemployed, disadvantaged Roma families, who completely lack income-generating opportunities. Ezeréves Gesztenyés Szociális Szövetkezet (Thousand-Year Chestnut Social Cooperative) sells roasted chestnut at their design stalls in Pécs’s city center. In the future, they plan to grind and sell chestnut flour. The people harvesting and selling chestnut come from the local disadvantaged community.
NESsT Investment
Ezeréves Gesztenyés Szociális Szövetkezet (Thousand-Year Chestnut Social Cooperative) joined the NESsT portfolio in 2016. NESsT has invested start-up capital to help Ezeréves Gesztenyés Szociális Szövetkezet establish a chestnut production facility. The NESsT team in Hungary has also provided consulting on preparing a financial plan and identifying additional financial resources for establishing the chestnut production facility.
“With the help of NESsT we have managed to organize our ideas and dreams. Due to the business development and financial support, which we have received during the competition, we could realize our dreams in a way more professional than we could have earlier imagined! During the cooperation we acquired an entrepreneurial approach, which enabled us to support our target group in a more effective way and to find more sustainable solutions for them, which led to real improvement in their quality of life.”