SSE was at the Edge Upstarts Awards in London last night. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees: an impressive line-up, and some very well-deserved recognition. You can see the full list of winners here. Big winners on the night were Training for Life which was ‘Social Enterprise of the Year’, and their Hoxton Apprentice restaurant was named ‘Social Enterprise Team of the Year’. Their chief executive Gordon D’Silva missed out on a clean sweep (the ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year’ went to Safia Minney, the founder of fair trade fashion outfit, People Tree ) but, as I put it to him, in Oscar terms, Best Picture and Best Cast (OK, work with me here) was a good return, even if Best Director wasn’t forthcoming…panerai imitation

Ed Miliband also made his first appearance as Minister for the Third Sector, and spoke well, particularly (as he acknowledged), it was only his third full day in the job. Full marks also to the team from the Edge Foundation, several of whom were there last night. Not only were the Upstarts Awards a rousing success, but they have also backed London for the WorldSkills games in 2011, which has indeed been won for the capital (and announced in a front-page ad in the Guardian this morning). SSE left filled with optimism at their determination to promote practical learning and skills, which mirrors our own belief in the importance of action learning / learning-by-doing.

Finally, just to mention that, as we move from one set of awards to the next, the Enterprising Solutions Awards are now accepting nominations….