Students Experienced Social Enterprises First-Hand

During November 2025, students of the courses 3PO301 Social Entrepreneurship and 3PO550 Social Innovation had the opportunity to visit two social enterprise cafés in Prague. The first was Kavárna Stará škola in Smíchov, operated by the organization Elpida, which supports seniors in living an active and fulfilling life. In addition to the café, Elpida runs projects such as “Granny’s Socks” and the Senior Helpline.

The second visit took place at Café Therapy on Školská Street, managed by Sananim z. ú. This social enterprise focuses on helping individuals after addiction treatment or after serving a sentence reintegrate into the open labor market.

Both cafés offered students a chance to see their daily operations up close. The managers were open and welcoming, sharing both their successes and the challenges they face. Some students showed great interest in the cafés’ operations and even offered real help and collaboration.

These excursions were made possible thanks to the cooperation and support of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Department of Social Entrepreneurship. Special thanks go to Jitka Hradilková and Alona Zaušycyn from MPSV for organizing the visits.

Benefits for students:

• Seeing the space and operations in real life
• Honest and open answers to their questions
• Discussions focused on the success of working with target groups and seniors’ engagement

An “aha moment” for many was the openness of the responses. Students even offered to help bake Christmas cookies at Café Therapy, which is still looking for additional assistance with catering and deliveries.