Hello! I’m back! I’ve discovered that two weeks in the sun is just about long enough to forget a) all your work passwords and b) how to type. It took me pretty much all week just to login so that I could put Have I Got Social Enterprise News For You together and get it sent out today.
We’ve got loads of new subscribers, so welcome to you all. If you’re not sure what you’ve signed up to, I can only apologise in advance for cluttering up your inbox each Friday with poorly constructed syntax and attempts to be funny. You’ll find the unsubscribe button at the bottom, but bear in mind that I get my wages docked each time someone uses it and it’s coming up to Christmas.
On with the news…
In event dubbed ‘the Oscars of Social Enterprise’ (by me, just now), this week we announced the winner of our Social Entrepreneur of the Year award. Almost 9000 of you cast a vote, with Jem Stein of the Bike Project emerging as this year’s winner. Closely behind were Nick Green of Incredible Farm and Michelle King of Little Miracles, who took second and third place respectively. Congratulations to all the finalists – you can read more about each of their organisations here on our website.
In another event dubbed ‘the Oscars of Social Enterprise’ (also by me, also just now) you can now vote for the UK Social Enterprise Reader’s Choice Award 2015 at the SEUK awards. I’m not biased, but you should definitely vote for SSE Fellow Cemal Ezel and his fantastic organisation Old Spike Roastery: Vote here.
SSE London’s start up Fellowship course is still open for applications. Information sessions and interviews kick off on November 16th so register your interest now if you’d like to be considered. All the info that you need is on our website.
Social Investment Business have opened the ‘First Steps Enterprise Fund‘, a package of loan-grants to help organisations grow their services and become more sustainable. You can apply for up to £30k, but need to do so by 11th December.
Landmark Trust are offering 50 charities free stays in their properties as part of ’50 for Free‘, celebrating the organisation’s 50th anniversary. You can stay even stay in a lighthouse on Lundy Island (arriving by helicopter) which sounds pretty cool. Put in your application by 30th November.
A couple of opportunities from Ashoka: the Unilever Sustainable Living Young Entrepreneurs Awards 2015 are open to young (classified as 18-35 year olds, which makes me very happy) entrepreneurs working towards the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Fabric of Change is ‘looking for innovations that transform the apparel & fabric industry anywhere on the value-chain from production to manufacturing to the consumer’, so get involved if that’s your (Fairtrade) bag.replique montre france
The Welsh Innovation Centre for Enterprise has £250,000 worth of support available to 50 individuals looking to start an organisation (including social enterprises). Y Ddraig Goch ddyry gychwyn!
SSE Yorkshire and Humber student Ann Fomukong is offering 15% off her logo and website design services to all readers of Have I Got Social Enterprise News For You. If you are interested, contact [email protected] quoting SSE15. You can take a look at Ann’s website here.
This Sunday is Remembrance Sunday and SSE student Catherine West’s organisation Significant Seams has been commissioned to deliver ‘The Giant’s Garden’, a project which draws if the positive threads of social change and innovation that came from the horror and upheaval of World War I. You can find out more here and you can buy crafted goods on their ebay page to support the scheme.
Cafe from Crisis, a social enterprise which contributes to homeless charity Crisis’ aim of ending homelessness through enabling people to move into employment, currently have two job vacancies: a Cafe Manager and a Training Programme Manager. Both roles are based in Spitalfields, you can find details here.
Also recruiting are the fantastic Now>Press>Play who are looking for a Marketing and Admin Assistant. It’s a tremendous organisation which uses wireless headphones to bring the school curriculum to life. Check them out!
Pat yourself on the back if you’ve got this far. This is beginning to resemble War and Peace. “We’re Just Not That Into You — Surviving This And Other Letdowns From Potential Customers” is a good article exploring objection handling when you’re trying to make a sale.
If you’re in the South West, there are loads of events taking place in Plymouth over the next couple of weeks as part of the Plymouth Festival of Social Enterprise.
Current SSE student Christina Murphy is organising ‘Awakening -The Second Coming – London’s sober night club‘ on Saturday 5th December at the London College of Communication. Tickets are only £11.50 and the event runs from 8pm – 2am.
Business in the Community’s flagship social enterprise support programme, arc is recruiting social enterprises wanting to grow and create new jobs in Yorkshire and London. The deadline to apply is 2nd December.
Ahead of this weekend’s Emerge conference in Oxford, SSE North West Fellow Robbie Davison asserts that the ‘social finance industry has got the wrong money‘.
Finally, if you’ve made it all the way through this you’re going to need to free up some time elsewhere. ‘How to find work/life balance as an entrepreneur‘ has some good stuff in it.
That’s it, all done. We’re at the Locality conference in Liverpool next week, so come over and say hi if you’re there.
Coming up at SSE
- An Introduction to Measuring Social Impact, SSE Yorks, 24th Nov
- Sources of Funding, SSE London, 27th November
- Writing Successful Bids, SSE London, 4th December
- Kickstart Your Social Media Strategy, SSE London, 21st January
- Crowdfunding for Social Enterprises, SSE London, 27th January
- An Introduction to Legal Structures, SSE London, 28th January
