On Saturday, January 22nd, at Bairro dos Lóios, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (the organization behind Casa do Impacto), promoted the project pilot IMAGINE, in partnership with DiVERGE, a startup whose platform creates customized sneakers.

DiVERGE joined Casa do Impacto community in 2020 by entering the acceleration program, Rise for Impact, where the project worked on its value proposition and cemented it. In addition, it was one of the selected projects for financial support at the +Testing axis of the 1st edition of the +PLUS Fund(Casa do Impacto’s investment program) in 2021.

Through “IMAGINE”, the startup works with young people at risk of social exclusion to transform them into designers and entrepreneurs, enabling them to create their own sneaker business. In this practical training course, the young participants also reinforce their creativity, resilience and confidence, working on soft skills accompanying them for life.

The startup, now joining forces with SCML, presented the project and the pilot dynamic to the main stakeholders of this partnership, the young crowd of participants! This pilot is, above all, the coolest entrepreneurship training program, where 15 young people previously identified by SCML, with age between 16 and 21, will receive training in design, branding, market segmentation, marketing, and product, for 7 to 8 sessions.

By the first quarter of this year, participants will have conceived and created their sneakers and launched the model on DiVERGE website. The collection will then be promoted and sold through the brand’s e-commerce channels.

At Casa do Impacto, we are already looking forward to seeing the collection!

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