A few days ago, SpainNAB had the pleasure of participating in one of the training and accompaniment sessions within the ENZIMA Programme, an initiative driven by Fundación Daniel & Nina Carasso, which supports restaurant projects committed to a transition towards more sustainable, healthy and positively impactful models.
This space for work and reflection brings together people with very diverse projects — both in form and degree of maturity — but sharing a common concern: how to build solid, coherent initiatives with genuine capacity for transformation.
Many forms of project, one starting point
One of the central themes of the session was recognising that there is no single correct form of project. Projects can be born as start-ups, associations, cooperatives, hybrid initiatives or even as innovative lines within existing organisations. Each responds to different contexts, resources and objectives.
However, beyond these differences, we worked on a key idea: placing impact at the centre from the outset. When a project is designed taking into account its social, environmental and economic contribution, it gains strategic clarity and coherence, regardless of its structure or size.
Designing from impact to minimise risks and generate value
Throughout the session we explored how to integrate impact as part of project design — not as an accessory or subsequent element. This approach makes it possible to anticipate risks, better identify the needs of the environment and make decisions more aligned with the reality of the food system and the people one seeks to serve.
Furthermore, working from impact generates internal value (better focus, clearer priorities, a long-term perspective) and also external value, by facilitating dialogue with other ecosystem actors and a systemic perspective: financiers, strategic allies, public administrations and clients who are increasingly sensitive to these approaches.
Impact as a bridge to financing
Another key point of the session was addressing impact as a bridge to impact financing. Defining a clear intentionality, having adequate indicators and building a coherent narrative allows projects to connect with financial instruments that seek to combine economic returns with measurable social and environmental returns.
More than a route to ‘securing resources’, impact financing is presented as an opportunity for alignment, collaboration and accompaniment: financing projects that know where they are going, why they exist and what change they wish to generate — in order to build and scale it together.
The ENZIMA programme offers a particularly valuable framework for this type of process, combining training, accompaniment and community, and helping projects advance with greater solidity on their path towards more sustainable restaurant models.
SpainNAB is deeply grateful for the active participation of the attendees and the quality of the conversations shared. We come away with the certainty that thinking and building from impact is not only possible, but necessary. Because when impact guides decisions, projects do not merely grow: they become engines of change capable of transforming the restaurant sector and the food system as a whole.
