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Case Studies

Social Finance Foundation works through Social Lending Organisations (SLOs) which interface directly with borrowers. Below we have provided you with a flavour of their clients and the projects they have supported. For more information, please Contact Us.

HomeCall Optical Care Ltd

HomeCall Optical Care is a business that was formed and is being run by siblings Patrick & Teresa Flanagan.  The business was created to provide the highest level of eye care to patients, within their community. They provide the service particularly to the elderly or disabled who are usually unable to access their high street optometrist. Clinical Director, Patrick, is a qualified Optometrist and Teresa, in her role as Managing Director, brings extensive knowledge of the eye care sector, along with experience in business and accounting (previously an Audit Senior with Ernst & Young).  They are delighted to have recently won the County & City Enterprise Boards Dublin City Category Enterprise Award for 2009. They are based in the Terenure Enterprise Centre (Dublin) and currently employ 7 full time staff.

Café Rhapsody/Gourmet Empire

Café Rhapsody is based in Bawnogue Enterprise Park in Clondalkin and is run by Alexi and Svetlana Nicolenco. This husband and wife team are naturalised Irish Citizens of Moldavian extraction. They are well-educated with a background in catering. Their objective was “to enable them to leave welfare support and grow a reputable and successful business”. The business originally started as a specialist manufacturer of high quality cakes to the wholesale trade and also to order to the corporate and personal markets, and has developed into a full service café and outsource catering service. Svetlana is the head chef.

They were originally located in Blanchardstown and moved to a new premises in Bawnogue Enterprise Park to expand the business. In accordance with demand, they now provide breakfast and lunch menus. They currently employ 5 people (4 full-time/1 part-time)and are looking at the possibility of developing an upstairs function room in the near future.

www.caferhapsodyireland.com

Lituanica

After emigrating to Ireland from Lithuania with his wife and two children, Arunas Adomitas
recognized the growing demand for eastern European goods and created a specialist food store called Lituanica. This ethnic food store exemplifies Ballymun’s regeneration and is a great example of First Step Microfinance enabling a small business to support a local community. It will help eastern European families ease into Irish society by providing some of the comforts from their home country.

www.lituanica.ie

Vantastic

Vantastic provides a membership based fully accessible door-to-door transport service for people with disabilities in the Dublin area. The fleet has grown over the years and now
comprises 18 fully accessible vehicles. There are 21 professionally trained drivers on the staff. Fares are 20% cheaper than the equivalent taxi rate. Vantastic plans to grow the number of member trips over the 4 year period to 2010 by 175%.

The Vantastic service increases opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in employment, education and training. It enables their integration into mainstream social and cultural activities and removes the total dependency on family and friends. It provides employment for up to thirty people and all of this is enabled by social finance provided by Clann Credo/Social Finance Foundation.

www.vantastic.ie

Millennium Family Resource Centre, Ltd. (MFRC) is located in Glengoole, near Thurles, Co. Tipperary. This project is situated in a disadvantaged rural community which includes eleven villages and one small town. Services provided by the Centre include counselling, advocacy, pre-school and after-school services, skill training programmes, family education programmes and eldercare services. Due to the expansion of services, the property required refurbishment and the building of a new wing. Finance has been secured for 75% of the capital cost from a number of different sources, and the loan finance from Clann Credo/Social Finance Foundation is being used to complete the remaining 25% of the funding.

www.mfrc.ie