Vai Vem is the second project supported by Barbot Bernardo's free Mentorship Programme

Margarida and Pedro, Vai Vem founders.

Vai Vem, a design book publisher, was the second project supported by Barbot Bernardo's free Mentorship Programme for Social Enterprises and Not-for-profits.

This project objective was to support Vai Vem in organising its work units, which range from book publishing, education, events, and a graphic design practice.

As a social enterprise created to give a voice to emerging authors and thinkers, a niche within a niche, our main concern was organising the project around potential revenue streams.

As a result of our four-session project, we helped Margarida and Pedro define three independent units contributing to a shared vision for Vai Vem:

1. Book Publishing and Education

2. Community

3. Graphic and Editorial Design

Setting up this Vision and sketching a Mission aligned with the founder's personal and professional ambitions was fundamental to defining each area's short—and long-term objectives.

With objectives defined and already envisioning a path to the development of the project, we proceeded to define priorities considering VaiVem's limited resources (remember the small team).

With all this set on paper (or screen), it was clear that we would need combined revenue streams from public funding (National and EU), B2C sales (selling books, training), crowdfunding, and design services for private clients.

The project resulted in the visual organisation of the information in a dedicated webpage, listing our benchmarks, work units, revenue streams, setting responsibilities, and creating a road map with the next steps.

We deliver a website with the results in all our strategic design projects.

Our free mentoring programme consists of three to four work sessions with lots of homework in between. Everything is self-funded and a way of giving back to our amazing local community.

In 2024, we launched a pilot programme with three projects. For 2025, we are planning an open call for another four projects.