Thought Leadership

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For so many of us, the pandemic was a chance to revisit our passions, ambitions and dreams for the future.  For me, it was also a chance to try starting my own enterprise – a social impact venture in the education sector.  Here are three things all early-stage social entrepreneurs should know. Uncertainty actually brings opportunity As entrepreneurs (and as humans!), we’re often not a fan of uncertainty.  We want to be sure about things, with our next steps planned out and a set of predictable consequences.  Life, of course, is never this simple – but the last year or so has delivered much more uncertainty than normal.  So, how should we respond?  How can we plan for all the possible eventualities of a pandemic year? The invitation for all entrepreneurs – and especially those starting new ventures during this time – is to see pandemic challenges as bringing new opportunities.  Every major industry has been impacted by the events of 2020-2021, and it’s clear that some are more willing to capitalise on this change than others.  As social impact entrepreneurs, we’re uniquely placed to listen carefully to the market, and respond with a solution that is timely, relevant and important.  We can ask ourselves: what’s the real need that I’m trying to address with my business solution?  How has this need been impacted by the pandemic?  And then, armed with the answer to those questions, we can craft a creative, relevant solution. The next normal awaits It’s clear that the theme of uncertainty will continue to be prominent as we move into the ‘next normal’, but there will also be a lot of other important themes coming into view.  For example, themes of innovation, or disruption, or creative rebuilding.  We’ve been given a unique opportunity to play a part in constructing the post-pandemic world, and it’s up to us – collectively – to decide what comes next. As entrepreneurs, we’re perfectly placed to think creatively about the systems, markets and industries we’re working within.  What will the ‘next normal’ look like for your particular sector?  How will behaviours and preferences change?  How can we shape our actions to create a world we actually want to live in? And on a personal level, as individual entrepreneurs, we’re given a chance to redefine our own working lives.  Many of us will have experienced remote work, and decided not to return to the office.  Perhaps you’re part of the ‘great resignation’ – the movement away from the work you previously did, and towards something different; more exciting.  Either way, we have the option to see ourselves as creators of our own working lives.  How do we want our days to be structured?  When are we most productive, and how can we support this with our schedules?  What do we most enjoy doing, and how can we do more of it?  These are questions about the ‘next normal’ that every entrepreneur has the ability to determine for themselves. It can be a lonely journey, but it doesn’t have to be One of the biggest things that struck me, shortly after leaving my corporate job, was the isolation of being a solo founder.  Without a network of colleagues, supervisors and mentors, entrepreneurs can end up feeling alone.  It can be difficult to explain your exact feelings about your business, or the challenges faced in a start-up, to someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of what you’re talking about. But it doesn’t have to be that way.  The shift to digital work has opened up endless opportunities for networking, connection and interaction.  Joining networks (like Social Enterprise UK) can be a huge support as you begin the process of building something new – use them to your advantage! And finally, as you go about your entrepreneurial journey – noticing the opportunities amongst the uncertainty, finding your feet in the ‘next normal’, and building up those connections around you – remember that you might just be part of a new wave of entrepreneurs who are stepping up during this time, to rebuild the world in a better way. AUTHOR BIO Eloise Skinner is a social impact entrepreneur, author and teacher.  She is the founder of The Purpose Workshop, a social impact consultancy, and One Typical Day, an ed-tech start-up.  Eloise’s book, The Purpose Handbook, was published in 2021.  You can find out more about Eloise on her website, or on LinkedIn. The Purpose Workshop The Purpose Workshop is a social impact consultancy, helping individuals and businesses navigate a sense of purpose, mission and values. We believe that purpose-focused work should be available to everyone, regardless of background or experience. As a business, our social mission is to channel profits into creating educational resources, shared with our network of schools free of charge. thepurposeworkshop.uk

Diversity and Ability is a pioneering social enterprise led by and for disabled people. It supports individuals and organisations to create inclusive cultures where diversity is celebrated and people can thrive. Based in Brighton, 85% of its team identify as neurodiverse and/or disabled. The social enterprise provides one-to-one support to people through the education system, runs training and workshops for workplaces and institutions and also runs an international programme which spreads its message of inclusivity and educates people on the practical means through which they can better understand and welcome disabled people. They work to redefine how society views disability, actively working to break down barriers that limit the opportunities and freedoms of disabled people to flourish through centering the importance of lived experience Reframing the discussion Two core modes of thinking run across the social enterprise’s work which inform all of its programmes – the idea of disablement and that of intersectionality. Far from being academic buzzwords these principles are used to both empower marginalised groups and shift attitudes amongst the wider population. The concept of disablement originates in the social model of disability and the disabling situations in which people are placed. Framing things this way shifts the emphasis away from how an individual can change to fit in, to addressing the social barriers which result in people being excluded. In the words of Chief Executive Atif Choudhury, Diversity and Ability’s model looks at “what is a disabling situation and how do we change it”. The second principle of intersectionality recognises the importance and diversity of lived experience respecting how different people live different lives. An understanding of how race, gender, class, sexuality and other aspects of identity interact with each other and with the social concept of ‘disability’ is core to their work allowing the social enterprise to better tailor support and create system wide change. Using the examples of epilepsy, muscular dystrophy or cerebral palsy, Atif highlighted that how individuals experience these conditions is heavily influenced by socio-economic status, their support networks, sense of shame and trauma. Having an intersectional lens allows you to look beyond medical diagnoses to look at how society creates situations of disablement. “Intersectionality is just about basic respect – respecting the idea that people have different experiences to share and that they have been categorised again and again for the convenience of others” What does this look like in practice? Diversity and Ability is underpinned by the desire to “pave the way for a future where everyone is welcomed and included” and all their work, be that with individuals or with organisations is undertaken with this in mind. The social enterprise runs one-to-one support sessions for young people facing disablement providing individualised peer support through further education, higher education and on into the workplace. These are delivered by trainers with shared lived experience of disablement themselves. Individuals are provided with assistive technology training, mental health mentoring, study skills tutoring and also workplace strategy support and coaching. Assistive technology is tech that can help remove a barrier that is presented to an individual, allowing people to fully participate. This can include things like screen readers, screen masks or software to speak into which writes copy. It can also in a wider context refer to items such as glasses or even apps like Google Maps which addresses barriers of access. Diversity and Ability partner with businesses and universities on their Diversity and Inclusion agendas, centering once again the lived experiences of disablement and intersectionality. This work is not just limited to the UK and the business works with grassroots organisations around the world to transform perceptions around disablement and create environments where difference is celebrated. They work to put in place disability needs assessments that are enabling for an individual and which take advantage of free open-source technology. The work with organisations is similar to that with individuals – focused on shifting the language used and how environments can be changed in order to create “an anticipatory welcome for everyone.” Work with students is funded by the Disabled Students Allowance and Access to Work schemes as well as earned income through organisational training programmes and the social enterprise’s international work. “if it’s not intersectional, how can it be relevant” The lens of disablement and intersectionality is applied throughout these three workstreams of individual support, organisational training and international work. Diversity and Ability deliberately challenge the habit of corporate diversity and inclusion work to break off conversations into silos of race, gender, sexuality and disability recognising that dividing lived experience into silos takes away from the full experiences of individuals. As senior communications officer Ellie Thompson puts it “that’s not how disablement is experienced, that’s not how life is experienced”. In this way when a workshop is run on understanding disability and celebrating neurodiversity an understanding is established that these are not universal experiences with each disabled or neurodiverse persons experience being set within their other lived experiences. Shifting the narrative Diversity and Ability is helping reframe the entire discussion on disability, shifting the narrative to one focused on the societal challenges which place people within a situation of disablement. Their commitment to this and to intersectionality has led them to not just work within the education systems and in EDI training but to partner with organisations such as Crisis, St Mungo’s and Homeless Link to tackle homelessness and digital exclusion through building digital literacy skills. Over the pandemic they worked with local and national charities to provide internet access to those in emergency accommodation in the Brighton area, providing 100 tablets and Wi-Fi dongles as well as delivering personalised digital skills training workshops to digitally excluded people throughout the country. Research carried out by UnLtd and the New Economics Foundation has proven the incredible impact the social enterprise is creating showing that for every £1 spent on Diversity and Ability’s services a return of £16.55 of social value is created. When expanded to look across their higher education work this translates to £9.48 million of social cost-benefit a year. Diversity and Ability’s work is helping broaden the conversation on what disablement means and the harm done when society prevents the meaningful participation of so many people. As Atif puts it “D&A isn’t really about assistive technology or disabilities, it’s about participation and what does it take to meet that participation. What are the barriers involved in preventing meaningful participation and what do we lose as a whole civil society when we lose that meaningful participation” With only around 53% of disabled people in work compared to 81% of other people[1],  the work done by Diversity and Ability also raises an important challenge for the social enterprise community – how can we do more to address barriers to participation and inclusion so difference is celebrated and lived experience is at the centre of our work? As businesses committed to social justice and reducing inequalities it is important that we challenge an economy and society which creates disabling situations in order to strive towards the fairer future we are working towards.  Based on an interview with Atif Choudhury and Ellie Thompson at Diversity and Ability diversityandability.com

By Jennifer Clair Robson - Content Director at Climate Action North The shift toward net zero will bring economy-wide transformation on an unprecedented scale. The transition will impact many industries, jobs, and communities. A Just Transition concerns the fair treatment of workers and communities affected by these changes. It involves investment in new skills and infrastructure while protecting and creating high-quality jobs and employment for a green economy. Approximately 6.3 million jobs in the UK, equating to around one in five, are likely to be affected by the transition to a green economy, according to the Just Transition Jobs Tracker. A Just Transition applies not only to large multinational corporations and governments; it is also critical that small and medium businesses, who play a crucial role in creating employment and are often at the heart of communities, are involved. Yet, while the importance of a Just Transition is a priority for the global climate agenda, it has been noted that many people don’t fully understand what it means. Here we demystify the Just Transition and consider: what is the Just Transition, why should I care, and what can my social enterprise do? What is the Just Transition? The Just Transition movement is a rising concern calling for the fair treatment of workers and communities who will be most affected by the shift to clean energy and the phasing out of fossil fuels. Greenpeace is campaigning to ensure that this move doesn’t leave anyone behind; they want to see workers, especially those in the oil and gas sector, retrained to keep green energy powering the world. The COP26 summit saw a 190-strong coalition of countries and organisations commit to phase out coal power and agree to: End investment in new coal power generation domestically and internationally Phase out coal power in economies in the 2030s for major economies Rapidly scale up the deployment of clean power generation Make a just transition away from coal power in a way that benefits workers and communities The push for clean and renewable energy is important because coal is responsible for nearly half of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. A report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in August 2021 was described as “code red” for humanity; it warned that without immediate deep cuts to carbon, including the phase-out of coal, the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement will be unreachable.  Why should I care about the Just Transition? Without a Just Transition, many workers, particularly those in the oil and gas sector, will lose their livelihoods creating unnecessary hardship for them and their communities. Many will have spent a significant proportion of their life employed in their area of expertise and will not have the abilities to work in evolving professions. New jobs may not be available in the same locations that jobs are lost, and they may not be available at the time when people become unemployed. This is a pattern that has been repeated around the world, closer to home it happened when coal miners across the North of England lost their jobs in the 1980s. Sunderland City Council Deputy Leader Claire Rowntree told Climate Action North: “it’s vital that we do all we can to ensure the communities and jobs most affected by the inevitable switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy receive the levels of support required as we plan for a cleaner, greener future.” Fossil fuels is an obvious example, but the impacts will affect other industries such as automotive production, agriculture, construction and housing, manufacturing, and scientific and technical services. All affected industries will need to upskill their workforce or hire new employees. It is often forgotten that the Just Transition applies not only to large multinational corporations and governments. It is also relevant for small and medium businesses and social enterprises who may struggle to adjust without support, advice, and incentives. Yet the International Organisation of Employees (IOE) has stated that it believes that not enough focus is placed on small businesses in the Just Transition. It is essential social enterprises are engaged. They add a huge amount of value to communities and are connected through employees and their families. Any changes made in a social enterprise will spread out through the community via its workforce. Businesses that fail to act will face mounting pressure from investors, customers, staff and potential recruits, and legislation. In a nutshell, embracing a Just Transition to net zero and a green economy can help ensure the sustainability not only of the planet, but also of your enterprise. What can my social enterprise do? The most important step you can take is to commit to act. Simply making a Just Transition priority by including it in your goals will ensure it gets the attention it needs. Look at your social enterprise and find the smallest, easiest ways you can begin to make a difference. Start with your own impact and what you’re able to do. Get a holistic picture of risks climate change pose to your enterprise and operations with the Climate Action North business toolkit. Scrutinise your resilience against climate risks, identify areas of improvement, and put in place an action plan to reach net zero. It is important that those in the supply chain take account of their social impact when on the net zero journey. As well as working to strengthen local supply chains, you must consider regulations, apply due diligence for your workforce’s best interests, and ensure all environmental impacts are considered. This will make it easier to secure funds and contracts and enjoy the wider local economic and community benefits this brings. A Just Transition may bring challenges, but it will also present opportunities such as the upskilling and professional development of you and your workforce, and the creation of new jobs. These benefits need to be accessible to everyone so engage with your workforce to make sure they’re heard and are actively involved with all issues and opportunities. Climate Action North hosts events that focus on achieving a Just Transition in the North of England. They focus on strategies to create green jobs along with retraining opportunities for small businesses to help them be ‘skills-ready’ for the Just Transition to a cleaner, greener future. Sign up to our newsletter for details on events as they are released. Follow Climate Action North projects and get in touch to support our work and get involved. Our actions now will make a difference to tomorrow.

The area around Anfield has a proud sense of community and at its heart was Mitchells Bakery, selling pies to locals and to football fans on match-days. However a lack of investment in Liverpool coupled with what has been described as the controlled decline of the city resulted in people moving out of the area, rising unemployment and boarded up housing. Mitchell’s Bakery was forced to close. In 2002 the area was identified as a ‘market-failure’ with properties designated to be demolished and rebuilt under the Housing Market Renewal Initiative. When this scheme was pulled in 2010, the area was effectively abandoned. Taking regeneration into their own hands What followed was an ambitious attempt by members of the local community to save the bakery and take ownership of the local area to steer development to benefit residents. It all started with an arts project, 2 up 2 down, which worked with local people to rent out the bakery space and use it as a site for public discussion on planning the future of the area. It was decided by residents that the bakery should be re-opened as a community led business and in June 2012 Homebaked Bakery Co-operative was formed. The following year a community land trust (CLT) was formed to take on responsibility for the development of the bakery building and future community assets. A bakery at the heart of the community In October 2013, Homebaked Bakery was opened as a social enterprise dedicated to feed, employ and train the local community with an absolute commitment to improve the local area. The bakery’s strapline is ‘more than a pie’ with the shop employing local people, running training courses and using the space as a community hub. What started as a small business has now grown into a thriving social enterprise turning over £500,000, employing 16 people and supporting many more through its training programmes. Pre-COVID-19, 90% of the business’s income came directly through trading. Football income from matchdays is used to subsidies affordable prices and the business’s pies have attracted national fame and recognition Despite taking a hit during the pandemic the bakery continued to be a constant source of support for the Anfield community– providing freshly baked loaves and rolls to local foodbanks and organising the delivery of free school meals. The bakery is emerging out of the pandemic with ambitious plans for the future, looking to increase pie production beyond 3,000 a week, build up stronger links with both Liverpool FC and Everton and to continue to find more ways to feed, employ and support the local community.

The Sewing Rooms have designed and are manufacturing The Sew Fab Thermal Cooking Bag which reduces the amount of cooking fuel consumption by up to 70%  with the potential to save hundreds of pounds per year. The SewFab thermal cooking bag is inspired by medieval ways of cooking, the straw and haybox method as well as third world versions. The fact is, we use our ovens to cook casseroles for 3 or 4 hrs a time not realising that ovens are among the most energy-demanding appliances in our homes. Aside from our fridge, the oven is likely responsible for the highest energy consumption out of all our kitchen appliances.  Lots of us are feeling the pinch and having to make choices about where we can save money. Some of us have tougher choices to make than others.  The elderly and food bank users, already experiencing hardship, are finding that this latest hike in living costs is forcing them into fuel poverty and into impossible living conditions.  And we at the Sewing Rooms wanted to be part of the solution. As Iceland’s managing director, Richard Walker reports: “It’s incredibly concerning. We’re hearing of some food bank users declining potatoes and root veg because they can’t afford the energy to boil them.” To hear that those people already struggling to feed their families sufficiently are now unable to heat the little fresh food that they do have access to, is heart breaking. We hope through this campaign to raise a minimum of £5000 to help us to distribute The Sew Fab Thermal Cooking Bag to Food Banks  and community initiatives across the country we need your help to reach this goal. The more successful we are the more SewFab Thermal cooking bags we can gift to our most struggling communities. How does The Sew Fab Thermal Cooking Bag reduce fuel costs?  The thermal bag is based on medieval methods of cooking and more recently “Haybox Cooking”; a process which has been developed over the years and now, here in Skelmersdale, we have produced our own modern, portable, washable version. By choosing The Sew Fab Thermal Cooking Bag over your usual oven method, you can reduce cooking fuel consumption by up to 70% per meal, saving on average 1 ton of carbon emissions per year (based on twice weekly usage)  We estimate that 1 family using this cooking method  wice a week can save on average  £6 per week on fuel costs, that’s a saving of around £312  per year.   A family using this method 4 times a week can save around £12 per week with an estimate saving of £624 per year  That also a saving of 2 ton of carbon a year*.   Oven cost per hr Times per wk using oven 3.5 hr oven usage cost Cost of fuel oven use over the year times per wk using sewfab bag Cost Saving on fuel per week Cost saving on fuel per year 61p 1 £2.14 £111.28 1 £2.14 £111.28 61p 2 £4.28 £222.56 2 £4.28 £222.56 61p 3 £6.42 £333.84 3 £6.42 £333.84 61p 4 £8.56 £445.12 4 £8.56 £445.12 61p 5 £10.70 £556.40 5 £10.70 £556.40 61p 6 £12.84 £667.68 6 £12.84 £667.68 61p 7 £14.98 £778.96 7 £14.98 £778.96  So, How does it work?   This short video explains how the Sew Fab Thermal Cooking Bag works: https://twitter.com/SewFabAcademy/status/1538900662469156864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1538900662469156864%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.socialenterprise.org.uk%2Fmember-news%2Fthe-sewing-rooms-presents-the-sew-fab-thermal-cooking-bag-a-product-that-helps-us-in-the-fight-against-fuel-poverty-and-climate-change%2F What is it Made of?  Environmental impact The Sew Fab Thermal bag will use unwanted rolls/roll ends of textiles which are gifted  to us by Lancashire based companies, The Senator Group and Panaz Fabrics. Their help and support is invaluable as we will repurpose this fabric for the thermal bag, in addition we will be using their offcuts/scrap pieces of foam/textiles/polyester,  which we  shred to create a hybrid filling for the thermal insulation. Each Sew Fab Thermal Cooking Bag saves approximately 6 kg. of materials from going to waste.  Support the Crowdfunder! CEO and co founder Paula Gamester explains: “So many people are facing difficulties and hardship, and we at the Sewing Rooms wanted to be part of the solution so we did some research and designed the SewFab thermal cooking bag. We have launched a crowdfunder https://crowdfunder.co.uk/p/sewfab-bag  our target is £5000, however the more we raise the more people we can help.

Social Enterprise UK member Fair for You has been nominated for a prestigious Global Good Award alongside the supermarket Iceland for tackling food poverty in the UK.  The affordable credit provider and the retailer are piloting a scheme offering micro-loans of between £25 and £75 so that families can smooth out their income in the school holidays, or when hit by unexpected bills or hardship, to ensure they can continue to put food on the table.  Early data from the pilot already shows 65% of customers reducing their food bank usage, 80% having improved mental health, among other positive outcomes.  The scheme means Fair for You is one of six finalists in the Community Partnerships category of the Global Good Awards, with other nominees including projects in Argentina, India, Pakistan, Rwanda, Turkey. The winners are announced in a ‘hybrid’ (virtual and in-person) ceremony on 13 October.  Simon Dukes, CEO of Fair for You, said: “We’re very proud that, by working with Iceland, we can help families put food on plates without having to resort to food banks – an option which is not always available to all who might need it.  “We’re proud of the impact we’re having and this global recognition. We’re also very grateful to Iceland and those investors who have made the scheme a success so far, and hope to continue its rollout.”  Following an initial trial in two locations – Huddersfield (Yorkshire) and Rhyl (North Wales), the Food Club has recently been rolled out to Liverpool, Chester, Wirral, Newport (South Wales), and parts of Manchester, Scotland and London to further test the scheme.  One unemployed single mother in Yorkshire told Fair for You she would barely eat for the last week of the month without Food Club. Another in Wales, who works as a teaching assistant, commented: “I do have an alright monthly income, but it’s not much after the rent and the car comes out. The Food Club has been really good, you’ve got that option of filling up for the holidays, it’s good peace of mind knowing that it’s there.”  Under the terms of the Food Club, a £75 loan paid back over eight weeks will accrue interest of £2.89. For a £25 loan, it is just 40p. Loans are loaded onto a pre-paid shopping card for use in Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores only. By borrowing through the Food Club, customers are able to improve their credit rating and potentially then access other financial products which many of us take for granted, such as mobile phone contracts.  Fair for You was founded in 2015 and has since lent to more than 50,000 customers, enabling  those excluded from mainstream credit to take control of their finances and purchase what they need to create a comfortable home and a healthy family – and avoid falling victim to predatory, high-cost lenders. Owned by the Fair Credit Charity and backed by leading charities and foundations, Fair for You is focused on supporting rather than profiting from low-income households and has a 4.9 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot, as well as a string of industry award wins.  fairforyou.co.uk

Community reporters from the UK’s first older people’s led newsroom have been awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.  The team of volunteers which run the Greater Manchester-based news platform Talking About My Generation create news stories, videos and podcasts every month covering news, views and nostalgia – all while challenging ageist stereotypes.  Bob Alston, volunteer Tameside reporter and magazine designer and editor, said: “I am over the moon that we have received this award. I have been on the team since the start of the project and have loved watching it grow with all of our hard work and dedication. We are all so proud of being the first UK’s older people’s led news team.  “We have all learnt something new or have refreshed an old skill or interest whilst volunteering and have all made great friends in the process. I can’t wait to see how big our community can get and continue to change the record on growing older in Greater Manchester and share stories that challenge ageing stereotypes.  “And it is made even more special to receive this award in the Queen’s Jubilee year.”  Stories the community reporters cover range from national issues like fuel poverty and effects of the pandemic on mental health, to looking back at childhood memories, podcasts with actors and authors, sports reports, video vox pops at conferences and Pride events and reviews of vegan restaurants or gigs.   The Talking About My Generation volunteers are one of 244 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year – the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.  They will receive an award crystal and two members of the news team will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2023.  Kirsty Day, Media Director of social enterprise Yellow Jigsaw, which manages the Talking About My Generation project, said: “I am so chuffed at this announcement. It is well deserved. This team of volunteers first got together in 2019 and have gone from strength to strength – with their dedication to reporting never waning through the pandemic.   “Some joined the team having never listened to a podcast, been in front of a camera, written a news report or had the confidence to speak at a conference and now they have all the skills of any regional news team, and thrive in this environment, so much so they are now training up new volunteer community reporters so they continue to grow and give a voice to older people across Greater Manchester – showing they are valuable not vulnerable.”  The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to benefit their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate The Queen’s Golden Jubilee.  Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation.  Learn more about the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service here and visit the Talking About My Generation news site here.