SMart is a social enterprise that, originally focusing on artists and creative professionals, nowadays supports all freelancers in the development of their activities.
A large diversity of workers with different professions get the freedom to work autonomously within a safe frame. The shared enterprise mutualises the risks connected to individual entrepreneurship and allows access to employment contracts and social protection, all freelancers become, the time of their mission, an employee of the company.
Firmly anchored in the social economy, SMart mutualizes economic risks and benefits. Today, 75.000 members in Belgium and in 8 other European countries use the cooperative’s services.
The organisation manages the administrative, bookkeeping & financial aspects of projects, takes care of the debt collection, gives its members advice and guidance, and its mutual guarantee fund allows advancing of cash flow, the pre-financing of projects and the purchase of professional material via leasing mechanisms. The company also has partnerships that provide services such as professional training, creative hubs and co-working spaces - e.g. LaVallée in Brussels, Centre de Création des Tanneurs in Liège, La Grappe in Lille - to the beneficiaries.
SMart was created in Belgium in 1998 and has since developed throughout Europe. It currently has set up cooperatives in France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Hungary.
SMart is both an active player in the field of employment, and a privileged observer at the heart of labour market evolutions. From SMart's perspective, in the name of social justice, the world of work has to be reinvented.
Info
SMart is based in Belgium and has been running since Sep 1998
