Andreas Heinecke

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (August 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (August 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Andreas Heinecke" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Andreas Heinecke is a social entrepreneur and the creator of Dialogue in the Dark. He is the first Ashoka fellow for Western Europe^[1] and a Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Global Fellow.^[2] He is also the founder of Dialogue Social Enterprise, and an honorary professor and Chair of Social Business at the EBS University of Business and Law, Wiesbaden, Germany.^[3]

Early life and background[edit]

Heinecke was born in Baden-Baden (Germany) on December 24, 1955. He studied History and Literature at Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg from 1977 to 1982 and was awarded a PhD in Philosophy by Goethe University Frankfurt in 1989.^{[citation needed]}

The members of his mother's family were victims of the Holocaust, while his father's side included both passive and active supporters of the Nazi regime. It wasn't until he turned 13 years old that he learned about the murder of his Jewish relatives and the fact that his mother had lost much of her family during World War II.

Career[edit]

Heinecke started his career as a journalist and documentarian at Südwestfunk, a German public broadcaster in the 1980's. He was asked to organize training for a 28-year-old journalist who had lost his eyesight in a car accident.

After the work training was successfully finished, Heinecke switched jobs and began working with the Stiftung Blindenanstalt Frankfurt (Foundation for the Blind). This gave him a platform to train other blind people to work with radio stations. He started several initiatives to reduce the exclusion blind people face in the world. The first electronic newspaper in Germany and digital reference books or databases with job announcements were realized under his leadership.^{[citation needed]} In his work, he shifted his focus from serving blind people to breaking down the barriers between those who were blind and those who were not. Ensuring that a blind person had a full life meant finding a way to make sighted people not fear and shun them. The idea for Dialogue in the Dark and subsequent programs grew, and he left the Foundation in 1995 to become more entrepreneurial.

Together with his wife, Orna Cohen, Dialogue in Silence and Dialogue with Time were created. Heinecke is a social entrepreneur and founded several social enterprises such as Consens GmbH (1999), DialogMuseum GmbH (2004), Schattensprache GmbH (2006) and Dialogue Social Enterprise (2009).

Social entrepreneurship[edit]

Dialogue in the Dark was launched in Frankfurt in 1988. Since then, numerous Dialogue in the Dark exhibitions and business workshops have evolved worldwide and are established independently through a social franchise system. More than 7 million visitors and participants have taken part.^{[citation needed]} In 1997, Dialogue in Silence was created as a complimentary experience in total silence where participants discover a repertoire of non-verbal expressions with the help of hearing-impaired guides and trainers.

In 2009, Heinecke founded Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH to establish an umbrella for current and future projects, the latest one being Dialogue with Time, created together with his wife Orna Cohen and opened in Israel in August 2012. The exhibition guides are seniors of 70 years old and up, allowing visitors to enter in a dialogue of generations and experience aging.

Social entrepreneurship education[edit]

Heinecke took a Professorship at the Danone Chair of Social Business at the European Business School in Wiesbaden, Germany in 2011.^{[citation needed]} He is working towards integrating "Dialogue in the Dark" in business school education for imparting social literacy. As described in a concept paper by Heinecke "our objective is to not only rethink business education: it is also to redesign business behavior. It is also to change the understanding towards people who are marginalized by society, specifically those with disabilities. Dialogue Social Enterprise focuses on the potential rather than deficit, ability rather than disability and is a real-time example of an inclusive world. It is our endeavor to leverage this model to help other key stakeholders in society to bring inclusivity in their thinking and bring about a transformation of business behavior."

Awards[edit]

• In 1998, Stevie Wonder Vision Award in New York^[4]
• In 2004, Best Practice in Universal Design in Tokyo^[5]
• In 2005, First Ashoka Fellow in Western Europe^[6]
• In 2006, Deutscher Unternehmerpreis (Category Sustainable Entrepreneurship)^[7]
• In 2007, Outstanding Global Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation, Geneva^[2]
• In 2008, Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Social Entrepreneurship^[8]
• In 2009, Global Award Winner for the best Innovative and out-of-comfort-zone event by the YPO^[9]
• In 2009, Dragon Award for the category “Business with Conscience”, Dalian^[10]
• In 2011, Deutscher Gründerpreis in Berlin^[11]

Selected publications[edit]

• Heinecke, Andreas (1990): Das Ostjudentum im Werk von José Orabuena. Frankfurt am Main: Lang (Europäische Hochschulschriften Reihe 1, 1182)^[12]
• Heinecke, Andreas (2007): Public-Private-Partnership, öffentlicher Dienst und soziales Unternehmertum. Chancen und Risiken. In: Achleitner, Ann-Kristin (Ed.): Finanzierung von Sozialunternehmern. Konzepte zur finanziellen Unterstützung von Social Entrepreneurs. Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel (Handelsblatt-Bücher), pp. 160–167^[13]
• Heinecke, Andreas (2008): Jenseits der Dinge. Zur Gegenständlichkeit des Immateriellen. In: Deutsche Arbeitsschutzausstellung; Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (Ed.): Szenografie in Ausstellungen und Museen. Essen: Klartext, pp. 18–27^[14]
• Heinecke, Andreas (2009): Dialogue in the Dark. In: Earl Steele, Philip; Obem, Anna; Starzyńska, Dorota (Ed./Ashoka Publication): Creating Change. Innovations in the World of Disability. Warschau, Friends of Integration Association, pp. 46–51,^[15]
• Heinecke, Andreas (2009): Dialog im Dunkeln – Ausstellungen als soziale Unternehmen. In: Rousseau, Manuela und Reifurth, Katharina: Fundraising- Management, Methoden und Instrumente. KMM Hamburg. Institut für Kultur- und Medienmanagement p. 252-262^[16]
• Co-author and led by Heinecke (2011): The Social Investment Manual A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs^[17]
• Co-author and led by Heinecke (2012): Governance of Social Enterprises A guidebook to corporate governance of social enterprises^[18]
• Heinecke, A., (2012), Why Can You Not Do Good and Earn Well? Social Entrepreneurs Caught in a Moral Conflict, in Corporate Governance in the New Normal, SID Conference Paper^[19]
• Heinecke, A. & Mayer, J. (2012), Strategies for Scaling in Social Entrepreneurship, in: Social Entrepreneurship and Social Business, Volkmann C., Tokarski K.O., Ernst, K. (Editors), 191-209^[20]

References[edit]