Interview

Participating as a Social Entrepreneur

Reflecting on setting out directions for a future business transfer, exchanging ideas with fellow participants, deepening knowledge, and learning to distinguish between yourself as a person, your business, and your role as an entrepreneur—these are just a few key takeaways Otto Reuchlin of Peer Accountants gained from the Social Entrepreneurship Program. What does he bring to the table? His knowledge and years of hands-on experience as a social entrepreneur.
Peer Accountants is a social enterprise that offers permanent jobs to individuals who need a bit of extra support. “Highly educated talents who aren't fully self-reliant in certain areas,” Otto explains. “Such as people on the autism spectrum. Precisely those individuals who are somewhat more vulnerable in certain aspects benefit greatly from a permanent job. Some team members have been working here for nine years already.”

Separating Person, Entrepreneur and Organisation

“I am now about halfway through the program. I can already say that I’m applying many of the lessons learned directly to my business. An important insight gained through conversations with my coach, Ralph van Dam from Achmea, was making the distinction between myself as a person, my role as an entrepreneur, and my company. Before starting the program, these three things were heavily intertwined. It’s a trap many social entrepreneurs fall into without even realizing it. It isn't always healthy when the company consumes your identity.”
“Separating those three elements and keeping them distinct has been a genuine learning process for me, but also an eye-opener. It provides clarity and direction. Now I approach my business with greater calm and composure.”

Why Experienced Social Entrepreneurs Benefit Too

“My experience as a person and as a social entrepreneur is what I bring to the group. When I was asked to participate, my initial thought was: 'I’m not a starting entrepreneur; does this really offer any added value for me?' But nothing could be further from the truth. Every cohort features a mix of young ventures, entrepreneurs scaling rapidly, and a few entrepreneurs considering future business succession.”

What You Learn in the Program: Strategy and Leadership

“What I find strong about the program is that it addresses many diverse topics, all highly relevant to social entrepreneurs: making strategic choices, measuring impact, exploring funding opportunities, and developing leadership. There were modules covering subjects I was already quite familiar with, but it’s still great to get a refresher and add deeper context to that knowledge. On top of that, I notice I can occasionally contribute ideas to help the social entrepreneurs in my cohort. Through Peer Accountants, we work for social enterprises, so I’ve seen the inner workings of many businesses. I can use that insight to help others in my group move forward—and in return, I gain a wealth of knowledge from them.”

Impact in Practice: How Peer Accountants Applies SROI

“Our clients, like us, are social enterprises. But we also serve international NGOs and companies with SROI requirements. SROI—Social Return on Investment—means that a company must dedicate a specific percentage of revenue from a government contract toward employing people who face barriers to the labor market. Because we directly employ these individuals, 100% of our invoices qualify toward that SROI target.”

“We primarily work for mid-sized companies, offering them a full suite of accounting services in partnership with a larger audit firm that handles high-level advisory and official audits.”