On the Social-bnb travel platform, you can find accommodation all over the world, just like other online travel agencies.

But there is one big difference: the income is used to support local sustainable projects.

It all started with a visit to Cambodia.

There, the later Socialbnb team met the tuk-tuk driver Seng Chanty, who wanted to build a school to give the children in his village free English lessons.

However, he didn't have the money for this, and so the idea was developed within the framework of the Enactus initiative, which supports sustainable projects by students, to rent the empty rooms in Chanty's house to travelers and thus finance the construction of the school.

This goal was achieved after three months.

Fascinated by the possibility of having a visible positive influence through tourism, Nils Lohmann and Alexander Haufschild decided in 2021 to found Socialbnb GmbH in Cologne.

To begin with, the ten-strong team looked for potential accommodation.

In the meantime, more and more potential partners are seeking contact themselves.

"Various criteria are also checked here to see whether the project has had an impact on site that can be supported with our concept," explains Haufschild.

"This ensures that the projects really offer added value for the region."

money for preschool

For example, in 2019, the Doriye couple, who live in the city of Arusha in Tanzania, contacted Socialbnb.

"We listed our accommodation there to raise money for a preschool that my husband is building," says Tizia Doriye, who comes from Germany and has lived with her husband in Tanzania for a decade.

There, the two founded the NGO “Viva Tanzania”, with which they support charitable projects around their place of residence.

In the three years before the start of the corona pandemic, around 800 bookings were made via Socialbnb.

“During the pandemic, of course, it dropped sharply.

However, thanks to subsidies, including the Exist start-up grant, we were able to continue working and thus maintain the financing,” reports Haufschild.

The company plans to break even by the end of 2024.

Socialbnb now offers almost 200 accommodations in almost 30 countries, from Ecuador to Namibia to Indonesia.

The focus is on accommodation in South America and Southeast Asia;

occasionally you can also find something in Europe, including in Germany.

The proceeds are used, for example, to support projects to promote regenerative agriculture, achieve higher hygiene standards and waste disposal.

15 percent of the price goes to Socialbnb as a commission fee, 85 percent to the providers.

Everything benefits the local project, says Haufschild.

The providers do not make any profits.

The article comes from the student project "Youth and Business", which the FAZ organizes together with the Association of German Banks.