The new social franchise ‘United Positive Initiatives’ was nominated in February for the Franchise Starter Award. This resulted in great PR, such as an interview with RTV Apeldoorn and many expressions of support. We finished 5th out of 19 nominees, but that doesn’t stop us!
The nomination
The Franchise Starter Award is awarded each year to the most promising starting franchise formula. The winner is determined by the expert jury and the franchisors present. Any franchise formula that meets the following conditions can be nominated:
- There are fewer than 5 franchisees affiliated; and/or
- The formula started franchising after January 1, 2022.
And we met those criteria, as we have welcomed one successful social entrepreneur in November 2024.
In the first round, 19 out of 30 submissions were accepted, after which a public vote was opened. The three formulas with the most votes could advance to the finals. Unfortunately, we ended up in fifth place, which ends this competition for us. We wish the finalists Rozey, Tres Tapasbar, and Zorgbutler much success in the next round!
Reactions and RTV Apeldoorn
We also hoped to gain some publicity through the nomination, and while ‘recruiting’ votes, we received many nice reactions:
Great initiative that combines learning and entrepreneurship for a better future! — Super cool work! Congratulations! — Fantastic that you’re participating in this! I voted, of course😃 — Wonderful to hear how UPI is making an impact! Together we can really change education. — Positive education creates opportunities for students to truly grow. — Congratulations on the nomination! — Impactful initiatives like this deserve all the support. — Great to see how social entrepreneurship really brings people together! — Why wouldn’t you vote FOR more POSITIVITY 👏
On February 11, Dr. Nicolet was able to share more about United Positive Initiatives and the nomination on Lidia Olsthoorn’s radio program at RTV Apeldoorn. If you understand Dutch, Listen to the full interview here and/or read on below about how the social franchise UPI came to be.
How the social franchise ‘United Positive Initiatives’ came to be
As you know, Future Life Research (FLR)’s mission is ‘Worldwide doubling of positive behavior, achieved by 2030’. It’s now 2025, so we have only five years left to reach this goal. The foundation for this has been laid in recent years with e-changing, digital didactics for behavioral change with matching software suitable for many target groups. An e-changing web app challenges you to look at your current behavior, discuss your beliefs, and create an action plan for development. Well-known examples of e-changing are MooierMens.app (BetterYourself.app) and Leerbaas.app (Learnlikeaboss.app). The latter became an independent company in November 2024: Leerbaas BV. This is a social enterprise focused on more positive behavior in education (primary and secondary).
It took some figuring out, but ultimately we structured the collaboration between FLR and Leerbaas BV as follows: Brands, websites, business operations, sales, marketing, and support for the target group are managed by Leerbaas BV. For the e-changing approach, the way we measure, discuss, and develop with e-changing, we have concluded a license agreement. This way, Leerbaas BV can always use Future Life Research’s scientifically founded modules. Wouter’s target group can thus be optimally served in changing and/or learning positive behavior.
This collaboration could also be described as a franchise formula where FLR is the franchisor and Leerbaas BV is the franchisee. When thinking of franchises, one quickly thinks of companies like McDonald’s that are mainly focused on financial profit. Social Franchising uses the approach of standard franchising but clearly puts social impact as the primary goal. It is still entrepreneurship, so you mainly derive your income from the ‘market’ to pursue your social goals. Our collaboration turned out to be the beginning of a social franchise. And that left us wanting more. By collaborating with multiple social entrepreneurs, we can achieve a worldwide doubling of positive behavior by 2030 faster. A good reason to officially launch a social franchise formula, and that became United Positive Initiatives.
Want to become a social entrepreneur with United Positive Initiatives?
Are you an expert and do you want to change or teach behavior to your favorite target group while being entrepreneurial? Social Franchise United Positive Initiatives has measurement, discussion, and development modules in the e-changing catalog for various types of positive behavior. Through a mix of standardization and customization, we can serve many target groups. Each entrepreneur ‘receives’ a web app for their own target group. We examine which positive behavior is central to that target group and adapt our catalog of modules accordingly. This way, the entrepreneur can offer a scientifically grounded, practical, and fun product without behavioral expertise.
If you find this interesting, please contact us or read more about United Positive Initiatives.
