by  SSE students Melanie Glass (Devenishgirl Bakery) and Rosie Ginday (Miss Macaroon)

We are two social entrepreneurs who meet fortnightly to talk business, gain support and advice from one another and enjoy a drink. We began meeting about 18 months ago and, initially, the meetings had a business focus. However, we were both challenged by a session we were leading on Rosie’s MACMADs programme which involved helping the young people develop a five year plan. We realised we were helping them create something that we ourselves didn’t have. This also coincided with Melanie being challenged by a book by Chris Guillebeau called ‘The Art of Non-Conformity’. In it he talks about developing a year plan and then, each November, reviewing it before developing a new plan for the coming year.

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by David McGlashan

Our Unlocking Social Finance workshop took place last week, and as something of a neophyte to the world of social investment I sat in on the day. Speakers from Big Society Capital, Social Finance, Esmee Fairbarn, Social Investment Business, London Early Years Foundation and Crowdcube provided an extensive introduction to the subject from both investor and investee perspective.  Here are some of the key things that I took away from the day…

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By Charlotte Young. Chair of Trustees, SSE.

What do you think when you hear that one organisation has a much better customer satisfaction rating than another? Does it make you feel it is a better organisation and nicer to deal with? Well,  be careful because it just isn’t as simple as that- especially not in our world of social entrepreneurship where we are trying to change the world! Continue reading →