top of page

Andrew Funk, Founder and President of Homeless Entrepreneur

Writer's picture: Roger BlikkbergetRoger Blikkberget

Andrew Funk on the streets of Barcelona
Andrew Funk - Homeless Entrepreneur

We took a trip to the vibrant city of Barcelona to sit down with the incredible Andrew Funk, the driving force behind Homeless Entrepreneur. In our exclusive interview for NIEC Magazine, Andrew shared his inspiring journey and the impactful work he and his organization are doing to empower the homeless community.


1. Background and Motivation - Mr. Funk, could you share with us what inspired you to start Homeless Entrepreneur (#HE)?


I experienced homelessness first-hand, and once I was able to empower myself out of homelessness, I wanted to help others.


2. Organization's Mission - What is the core mission of Homeless Entrepreneur, and how do you measure its success?


Homeless Entrepreneur’s mission is to promote economic empowerment and poverty reduction via work and active citizenship thanks to both public and private civic partnerships, so people living in social exclusion can improve their quality of life.


A simple way to measure our success is the size of a beneficiaries smile and how long it lasts. Another way to measure success is when a Homeless Entrepreneur gets a steady job and is able to pay for housing by him or herself.


3. Program Structure - Can you describe the holistic program that Homeless Entrepreneur offers to individuals experiencing homelessness?


Homeless Entrepreneur’s HELP Program is fully in line with corporate commitment to foster human potential and support personal and professional development. This program reflects our belief in the importance of providing a structured path to stability and autonomy, values ​​that are fundamental in our mission of empowering people made of potential out of homelessness.

HELP’s methodology, which offers comprehensive support in critical areas such as education, financial management, health, legal advice and professional development, aligns with corporate approaches to provide exceptional services that respond to the specific needs of each individual or entity. The program is customized, which takes the unique circumstances of each participant into consideration, reflects our values that respect diversity and promote inclusion.

Furthermore, HELP's goal of going beyond basic employment and housing seeks to encourage the necessary confidence and skills to maintain long-term growth, which is aligned with the corporate world’s vision of empowering people so that they can contribute sustainably to their communities and economies. Corporations understand that long-term success is based on creating a solid foundation with continuous support, which is embodied and actively promoted within the HELP Program.


4. Economic Empowerment - How does #HE foster economic empowerment and what are the key strategies you use to help participants become self-sufficient?

HE fosters economic empowerment through strategic partnerships with public and private entities as well as interns, pro bono support and volunteers. We have designed programs and projects that promote self-sufficient behavior, which rewards our beneficiaries for what they do well and how they advance instead of subsidizing defined or perceived disabilities and limitations.


5. Inclusivity and Participation - In what ways is Homeless Entrepreneur inclusive, and how do you ensure that those who are willing and able to participate can do so?


We are inclusive in the sense that we are constantly including our beneficiaries and support network by design. Giving a voice to all of our stakeholders empowers everyone involved and highlights the real dynamics of our daily work. The only filter that truly exists when it comes to ensuring who is willing and able to participate is the individual. We accompany our beneficiaries as far as they’d like us to.


Helping people with water in Barcelona during the heat of the summer
Heat Aid Campaign BCN 2024 together with fritz-kola

6. Technology and Social Networks - How are social networks and technology leveraged to help Homeless Entrepreneurs reintegrate as active citizens?

Social media and technology speed up the process of ending homelessness. Social media teaches our beneficiaries how to interact with society and helps build their support network, which ultimately leads to increased revenue streams and housing opportunities. When used correctly, technology breaks down barriers and optimizes their effort becoming an active, working citizen again.


7. Blockchain Integration - Could you elaborate on the role of blockchain technology in your job creation platform and how it enhances credibility and traceability?


Blockchain provides complete transparency for the processes so all parties included are able to understand the reality of our work, so we can keep improving as we learn how to be more efficient with our support network. Traceability leads to credibility and credibility leads to constructive criticism that allows us to lower the cost of ending homelessness while increasing our reach and scope of empowering people made of potential out of homelessness.


8. Job Creation Platform - What types of professional skills do participants develop on your job creation platform, and how does it contribute to their personal growth?


Thanks to programs like IBM SkillsBuild and IEBS courses, which are complimented by experts who provide specific training, we are able to provide a general base of knowledge that prepares our beneficiaries for the future of work while aligning their personal capacity and goals with their professional ones. Our aim to to find a healthy balance between one’s personal and professional life.


9. Sustainable Community - How does Homeless Entrepreneur work towards creating a sustainable community, and what does organic growth look like in this context?


We create a sustainable community by uniting with other communities that believe in sustainability par excellence; benchmarking the best practices in the world; and improving our knowledge and execution of sustainability within our community. It’s a never-ending story that drives us to becoming a better organization.


10. Smart Cities - You mention that a Smart City without homelessness is a Smarter City. Can you explain this vision and how #HE contributes to it?


Homelessness reflects a failed system, which can be turned into a beacon of hope if cities truly act like smart cities. HE’s contribution to helping make smart cities even smarter is challenging how society perceives and addresses homelessness. Inspiring smart cities to include the homeless community instead of installing anti-homeless architecture is just one example of many that will lead to a more intelligent and healthier approach to ending homelessness as we know it.


Andrew Funk meeting Roger Blikkberget
Andrew Funk and Roger Blikkberget (NIEC) in Barcelona

11. Success Stories - Could you share a particularly inspiring success story of an individual who has gone through the Homeless Entrepreneur program?

Success is a term that is has a different meaning each time it’s said. Every step forward should be celebrated, and every step back should be reinforced. Be it Marco, who published his first book of poetry; Juan who flew a glider and literally went from the street to the heavens; to Maria shared her story of being empowered out of homelessness to the president of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, in the snow-covered streets of Davos during the World Economic Forum; everyone who enters our program is considered a success story because they have taking the first step of consciously improving their own life, which consequently makes society as better place at the same time.


12. Challenges and Adaptations - What have been some of the biggest challenges #HE has faced, and how have you adapted your approach in response?


The biggest challenge is creating the economic growth and stability we need as an organization to grow into the go-to model of empowering people out of homelessness. In order to overcome this challenge, we are tirelessly working on how we add value to the core business of our corporate partners as well as the true interest of our support network. The more value we add to our network, the more value we will receive.


13. Partnerships and Support - How does Homeless Entrepreneur collaborate with other organizations or entities, and what kind of support do you look for?

We collaborate with partners by uniting our communities and building a better world together. We must understand what motivates and inspires each other and provide clear results. We support each other as we learn and push each other out of our comfort zone.

Specifically, we look for pro bono and volunteer support along with market access and funding to invest in our main programs, which directly end homelessness, and our projects, which indirectly end homelessness while connecting with the core business of our partners.

In simple terms, we “take/receive” more value from our partners than we “give” when we work on our programs, and we “give” more value than we “take/receive” when we work on our projects.


14. Future Goals - Looking ahead, what are the long-term goals for Homeless Entrepreneur, and how do you plan to scale your impact?


A long-term goal is supervising the implementation of our model by public-private-civic partners to ensure that every person who is willing and able to be an active, working cities with housing is able to do so. Not just a legal right, but a tangible reality.

The first step to scale our impact is to create a €10M endowment, so we can use the interest to cover our operation costs. This economic stability will translate into greater stability for our community.


15. Getting Involved - For our readers who are moved by your cause, how can they get involved or contribute to the work of Homeless Entrepreneur?


The best way to get involved is to contact us and have an exploratory call to see how we can take a clear first step together, be it as a donor, volunteer or strategic partner.

Become a Strategic Partner: Email me at funk@homelessentrepreneur.org


We are looking forward to hear more from Andrew Funk at NIEC 2024



NIEC Logo
NIEC OSLO 2024


Comments


bottom of page