Andreas Heinecke

Andreas Heinecke (born 24 December 1955) is a social entrepreneur and the creator of Dialogue in the Dark. He is the first Ashoka Fellow for Western Europe and a Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Global Fellow. 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.

Social entrepreneurship

In 1988, Heinecke became deputy director of the Foundation for the Blind in Frankfurt, where he launched Dialogue in the Dark that same year. Since then, Dialogue in the Dark exhibitions and business workshops have been hosted worldwide and are established independently through a social franchise system.

Heinecke directed Dialogue in Silence in 1997, which was intended as a complementary experience to Dialogue in the Dark. Accompanied by hearing-impaired guides and trainers, participants are given noise-cancelling headphones and encouraged to explore various forms of non-verbal communication.

In 2009, Heinecke and 3 others founded Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH. Best Practice in Universal Design in Tokyo (2004) First Ashoka Fellow in Western Europe (2005) Deutscher Unternehmerpreis (Category Sustainable Entrepreneurship) (2006) Outstanding Global Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation, Geneva (2007) Global Award Winner for the best Innovative and out-of-comfort-zone event by the YPO (2009) Dragon Award for the category “Business with Conscience”, Dalian (2009) Deutscher Gründerpreis in Berlin (2011) ESSL Foundation (2012) Mariano Gago Ecsite Sustainable Success Award (2017) 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 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 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, 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 Co-author and led by Heinecke (2011): The Social Investment Manual A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs Co-author and led by Heinecke (2012): Governance of Social Enterprises A guidebook to corporate governance of social enterprises 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 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