PRIME MOVERS: where personal development and social impact meet

Support a social business of your choice and in exchange receive targeted training that can help you become a social entrepreneur in the future. Want to develop new skills? Meet new people? Make the world a better place? Then you’ve come to the right place!

Sophie Eberhard, who volunteers with PRIME MOVERS, tells us what it’s all about and how to apply. ATTENTION: Application deadline is approaching, hurry up and apply by March 12th.

What does PRIME MOVERS stand for?

PRIME MOVERS stands for personal & professional development and for social impact. The student organization offers a leadership program for young people who are passionate about social and environmental issues. Apart from our president and founder Okan, the team behind PRIME MOVERS is made up entirely of students. 

My personal biggest motivation for applying for the Leadership Program was a strong drive and desire to channel my occasional world-weariness and concerns about the climate crisis and global injustice into meaningful and purposeful work. I joined the Human Resources team because I could identify most strongly with this position in view of my specialization in “Human Resources Management” at WU as well as my psychology studies, and I see it as particularly valuable for my professional future. Depending on personal preference and professional specialization, you can also apply for different roles in the areas of social innovation, social education and social business, which are assigned to the individual startups.

So how does it work exactly?

As part of the one-year PRIME MOVERS Program, participants receive weekly workshops on a wide range of topics, such as “Time Management and Productivity,” “Growth Hacking” and “Graphic Design and Adobe Illustrator”. In addition, participants volunteer 5 to 10 hours a week in one of the organization’s three social startups or in the human resources team, where they can directly apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills. The startups address social and environmental issues at various levels, with a focus on waste and food waste, gender equality, and responsible digitalization:

kindby is an online store that rents out sustainable baby clothing and accessories. kindby buys clothing and accessories brand new from responsible producers. On the platform, customers can rent a box with 20 pieces of clothing. Because parents go through sizes and types of clothing pretty easily, they get a large price advantage, while providing their baby with the best quality available. Deliveries are done CO2 neutral or CO2 free.

ONE DAY is a community and an annual conference about systems change, focusing on waste, gender equality and responsible digitalisation. This year the conference takes place on 5th and 6th of March and addresses the road to systems change. Tickets are still available and you can get 50% off your ticket under the following link. 

Mission Liftoff helps teachers facilitate workshops on social issues in their classrooms, by providing them with engaging lesson plans on sustainability, gender equality and digitalisation through an online platform. The lesson plans are first created and tested in classrooms across Vienna by the Mission Liftoff team and then uploaded to the platform after many rounds of feedback as lesson plans for teachers to use. The lesson plans come with short videos about the background of the social issue, designed for teachers who are not experts on the subject.

How is your work going during Corona?

Because of Corona, we operate completely digitally at the moment, which works amazingly well. Despite the physical distance, an immense team spirit has developed between all members and friendships evolve naturally during collaboration. At the regular internal team events, in addition to updates on the highlights and progress of each team, there is a lot of laughter, games and lively discussions about life’s questions. Moreover, it became clear from the beginning that the common drive and many shared interests allowed our team to grow together very quickly. Today, part of the group meets regularly online to do yoga or meditate together, for game nights and self-organised events. Moreover, numerous hiking trips in and around Vienna are already scheduled for post-lockdown times. For work and communication we use Slack, ClickUp and Zoom, which makes us all professionals in using these services by now. 

Would you like to expand your team?

We are looking for motivated and committed young people who are passionate about social and environmental change and are still studying for at least two semesters. Basically, the organisation is made up of a colourful bunch of students from all disciplines who want to make the world a better place. On the website, you can find out in a few seconds whether you are eligible for the Program and can then apply within a few minutes. We are already looking forward to receiving many applications for the next semester. The deadline to apply is 12 March. All necessary information about the program, the organization and the startups can be found on our website.