Adam was a student on our PowerUP Liverpool programme at SSE North West.
This is his story…
Category Archives: Entrepreneurship
The Feed – a recipe for resilience
Latest in the new ‘More Expert by Experience’ series by SSE Fellow Chris Lee
The Feed is a trading arm of Community Interest Company LEAP (www.norwichleap.co.uk) providing fine food, catering services and more, in and around Norwich. They’re passionate about food and people – well, that’s what it says on their website – and nothing The Feed’s founder Barry Allard, a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs in Ipswich, tells me makes me think otherwise.
I’m re-interviewing Barry 18 months on from our first chat about what starting a social enterprise demands and how he and his growing team have overcome the challenges.
An inspiring encounter in Kazakhstan
One of the things I love most about working with social entrepreneurs is their ability to surprise you. You think you’ve heard all the best ideas, or someone has moved you in a way you’ll never experience again but then someone comes along and leaves you in total awe. I just had this experience when I was in Almaty, Kazakhstan a few weeks ago. I was over there with the British Council and Chevron to share lessons from the UK social enterprise space and one of my meetings took me to meet a young social entrepreneur, Eldos.
I arrived at 5pm to meet Eldos in the lobby of his hotel. He’d traveled from his region of Kazakhstan to Almaty and was also due to speak at the conference the next day. He proceeded to tell me his story…
Meet our witness Jan Golding
A key part of our programmes are ‘Witness sessions’ when students hear from inspirational speakers (witnesses) who have first-hand experience of the issues our students are facing. Like witnesses in a law court they give testimony about what it’s really like to start and grow social organisations. Our Witnesses are some of the most inspirational entrepreneurs around who take time out of their very busy lives to help our social entrepreneurs. We’d like you to meet them and be inspired!
Meet: Jan Golding, Founder RootsHR
Student spotlight: catching up with Florence
In November last year some new SSE students contributed to the blog as part of a ‘Student Spotlight’ series. As their time with SSE is now coming to a close (where has the time gone?!) we thought it would be good to catch up and see how things have progressed, here Florence Norman, CEO of Sweet Cavanagh gives us an update.
Florence at her workshop.
The middle of the summer is always the quietest time; we are working with about 7 women at the moment. One of our graduated members Amy, is a wonderful example of someone who has thrown everything into her recovery. She’s now back in full time work and had this to say about her time at Sweet Cavanagh:
“Having the support and structure of Sweet Cavanagh enabled me to feel safe in the early stages of my recovery. It is so important to have a routine. Being creative is also key to my personal recovery. For many years, my illness saw me loose interest in doing anything enjoyable. Making jewellery reignited a creativity in me that I had suppressed. This social enterprise is so important – not just as a safe environment but also as the provider of free support (something that is few and far between). I am now back in full time work and miss my time there, but am extremely greatful for the support it provided. I feel my experience there is directly relevant to my current ability to work productively and do my job well. “
