Tag Archives: SocEntEastMids

Timely survival skills for the entrepreneur…

Survival skills for social entrepreneurs - a guide - cover image
Download this useful guide here …pdf

Survival Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” is a practical handbook that provides guidance on the seven essential skills needed to thrive in social entrepreneurship. The focus of the handbook is on adaptable, enduring skills that will be useful no matter how roles or organisations change. The seven skills are not specific to any particular industry or sector, but rather are “no regret” skills that will be useful in any context.

The handbook includes expert guides and activities for each skill, including creativity, resilience, communication, leadership, financial management, networking, and self-care.

The authors of “Survival Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” are Kevin Dunne and Claire Wilson. The handbook was published by the Social Enterprise Academy and Pioneers Post in 2021-2022.

The seven skills that social entrepreneurs need to survive and thrive, as outlined in the handbook “Survival Skills for Social Entrepreneurs,” are:

1. Resilience
2. Communication
3. Creativity
4. Leadership
5. Financial management
6. Networking
7. Self-care

Each of these skills is essential for social entrepreneurs to succeed in their endeavors, and the handbook provides expert guidance and activities for developing each skill.

The handbook “Survival Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” provides guidance and activities for developing each of the seven essential skills needed to succeed in social entrepreneurship. Here are some general tips on how you can apply these skills to your own social enterprise:

1. Resilience: Develop a resilient mindset and attitude by learning how to cope with failure, setbacks, and disappointment.

2. Communication: Learn how to communicate effectively with stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, and partners.

3. Creativity: Foster creativity by exploring new ideas and approaches to solving problems.

4. Leadership: Develop leadership skills by setting a clear vision for your organisation and inspiring others to follow it.

5. Financial management: Learn how to manage your finances effectively by creating a budget, tracking expenses, and seeking funding opportunities.

6. Networking: Build relationships with other social entrepreneurs, investors, and stakeholders in your industry or sector.

7. Self-care: Take care of yourself physically and mentally by practising self-care activities such as exercise, meditation, or spending time with loved ones.

By applying these skills to your own social enterprise, you can increase your chances of success and make a positive impact in your community or industry.

The handbook “Survival Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” includes several case studies and real-life examples of social entrepreneurs who have successfully applied the seven essential skills to their own enterprises. These case studies provide practical insights and inspiration for readers who are looking to develop their own social enterprises. Some of the case studies featured in the handbook include:

– The story of a social enterprise that provides affordable housing solutions for low-income families
– A case study on a social enterprise that uses technology to improve access to healthcare in rural areas
– The story of a social entrepreneur who started a business that provides job training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities
– A case study on a social enterprise that uses sustainable farming practices to promote food security and economic development in rural communities

These case studies demonstrate how social entrepreneurs can use the seven essential skills to create innovative solutions to complex social problems.

This copy was generated by AI – but ratified by a human before publication!

Driving through the socio-economic blizzard

At the end of another difficult year for many communities, hoping for a brighter, fruitful year in 2023 for all…being resilient, generous of spirit and offering support – beyond the Christmas break.

Happy seasonal holiday from the publishing team at MIning the SEEM

From the SmithMartin Partnership family of social businesses and community projects.

Community Interest Co’s – forms and action guides…

SocEntEastMids helping with your project framing…

On the 11th October 2022 the Business and Industry pages, of Gov.uk, were updated with revised guidance and forms to help you start your new CIC.

 

 

 

 

”The revised content, linked to below, contains the following…

  • Handy Hits and Tips before completing your CIC application
  • form a CIC online or by post
  • form a community interest public limited company (plc)
  • convert an existing company to a CIC
  • convert a charitable company to a CIC
  • convert an industrial and provident society (IPS) to a CIC
  • convert a private company to a community interest plc
  • convert a plc to a community interest plc
  • change or specifying an asset-locked body in the articles of association
  • alter clauses in the articles of association
  • alter the object statement of a CIC
  • change the status of a CIC to a community interest plc
  • convert a CIC to a charitable company
  • convert a CIC to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
  • convert a CIC to an IPS
  • arrange the voluntary dissolution of a CIC
  • file an annual CIC report and accounts online or by post

It includes links to the appropriate forms, model constitutions (including the memorandum of association and articles of association) and model special resolutions”.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-interest-companies-business-activities

This is an invaluable guide to anyone thinking of starting a CIC to deliver community facing business activity – the whole designed to be for community benefit, rather than personal profit.

SocEntEastMIds offer a range of supportive services and supplies to help you achieve your community business aims. We deliver them at no charge.

See our support offer here: http://www.miningtheseem.org.uk/?page_id=918790

Office image: Christina Morillo, Creative Commons, Pexels.com

Sharing wisdom - creating early stage growth...logo image
Sharing wisdom – creating early stage growth…

Re-imagining the village as a socio-economic rural powerhouse?

The Reimagined Village cover image...
Get your copy here (.pdf)

Featured article from our archives – October 2022

The architects BroadwayMalyan last year published a new report, which looks at the historical context, and future, of the UK village.

It views the village in its historic landscape and looks forward to how the village might develop given the ‘right’ or ‘necessary’ infrastructure support.

View, print or download a copy of The Reimagined Village here (.pdf)

In the sixties the economist J.K. Galbraith came to see suburbs as a sort of camp, or island,  for the affluent. There is something of this perception in the BroadwayMalyan analysis.

‘However, existing villages do have their drawbacks. Villages are the most expensive places to live in the UK outside London…’

The report attempts to map existing constraints on village life, and overlay new opportunities, or issues, that might be grasped. For example…

• Rural villages, as bases of multi-faceted active economic output, have diminished capacity historically.

• UK villages tend to have an older, affluent demographic and this affects the utility of local village schools, for instance.

• As costs rise, and services need to adapt to new consumer demand, the village needs to be flexible and opportunist to take advantage of new markets. Many are not able without creative development thinking.

• The internet plays a key role in community and economic development, particularly post-Covid. The slow spread and lack of investment in high speed broadband hampers village development economically.

• Low density of population mitigates away from the delivery of core direct health and well- being support. Another factor hampered by the reach of the internet, as above.

• With older age cohorts in villages, the use of the car is a necessity to many, which contributes to poor distribution of joined up community transport and environmental harm, for example.

This document, The Reimagined Village from BroadwayMalyan, offers a number of new perceptions and objectives for a creative and effective socio-economic housing cluster – the UK village. Their view ahead is not all pessimistic…

‘If new villages are to become an effective antidote to
the housing crisis, they need to be reimagined to better accommodate the needs of modern society – both now and into the future – all while retaining the identity and charm that makes them an attractive prospect, and an integral part of Britain’s cultural fabric.’

Within the pages of the report lies an acknowledgement of difference and a recognition that each community, wherever it lies in the rural landscape, has a unique and particular tradition, and perhaps, a different view on the thorny political questions of economic development and new infrastructure.

It was comforting to see. Discover the work of BroadwayMalyan at their London office here.


Update: 19th May 2021

We subscribe to the Strong Towns Movement news-feed in the USA – they are currently publishing a set of articles on strategies and structures necessary for community development in the widest sense.

It is interesting, we think, how in the final analysis from the U.S./capitalist point of view, that public funding should be seen as the key catalyst for sustainable development in communities, of whatever size.

See the article The Modern Approach to Development Doesn’t Work for Local Communities

The Journal provides it’s readers with an eclectic mix of localism, community wealth building and enterprise creation that will not be unfamiliar to UK social enterprise readers.

Discover Strong Towns here..


 

All you need to know about submitting a successful CIC application

From the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies

Sign up to our “All you need to know about submitting a successful application ” webinar taking place on 25th February 11am-12pm here

webinar attendee at the keyboard...image
Preparing for my webinar!

‘This is your chance to get some tips on how to complete a successful application of incorporation or conversion to a community interest company, and to acquire further information on what the Regulator looks at when considering an application and solutions to the common errors that we see.’

 

 

You can sign up for this helpful event here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5109013132460694030

Webinar image: Austin Distel, Creative Commons, Unsplash

 

Re-building the economy, the feminist way?

The organisation, UN Women, has just published a new report arguing for economic development in a new era, the purpose of which is to ‘…support the survival and flourishing of life, in all its forms’.

The quotation above comes from a web article by Jayati Ghosh, on the web pages of Social Europe, in which Ghosh argues that the world economy needs to rotate 180 degrees and become focused away from the notion of market forces. Forces which can bring riches or disaster according to some unseen lottery of life.

If we live in an economic and deterministic world all we need, Ghosh argues, is the will to restructure institutional forms into better, more humane and democratic models.

Feminist plan for sustainability and social justice cover image
A resonant new model…download a copy here…

It is a telling argument, well supported by the UN document – Feminist Plan for Sustainability and Social Justice. (.pdf)

The chapters in the report are challenging and an informative read, providing not only argument, but examples of how economic change can be restructured in the post-Covid landscape.

The report is not, in itself, a social enterprise driven map for the future.

Rather, we would argue, that social business and community enterprise can play their full part in re-modelling of local and national economic agendas, in the feminist mirror the UN paper holds up to us all.

Post-Covid, the illustrations and challenges of the report are already the common currency of ideas in the re-build agenda. Ideas and directions of travel that will already be familiar to the SocEnt community.

  • Economics that support the livelihoods of women.
  • Putting Care, note the capital C, at the heart of economic and community change.
  • Making the instruments of finance and economics gender-just.
  • Creating a new feminist global politics for the post-Covid era.

We recommend it as a formative read this winter.

Discover the article by Jayati Ghosh here.

Discover UN Women on the web here, global champions for gender equality.

 

 

Social Marketing – training event, on-line

Social markets…

Social Marketing for Small Enterprise – Business events – University of Derby

 

If you’d like to create an innovative, cost-effective marketing strategy for your small business, sustainable company, or social enterprise, then this session is for you. Learn how social marketing is quickly becoming a driving force for positive change.
Source: www.derby.ac.uk

Event on-line: Tuesday, 22 March 2022, 11.30 hrs – 13.00 hrs.
Sign up for this useful short event:
”Why Social Marketing?
It is an approach used to encourage social change by promoting a behaviour rather than selling a product or service. It can be a powerful, cost-effective tool for small businesses – particularly those with an environmental or social focus – helping guide clients and partners towards more sustainable and charitable behaviours.
What will I learn in the session?

During this session, you will learn how social marketing techniques can help your organisation achieve consumer and employee support, whilst influencing behavioural change. You will also have an opportunity to share your communication or marketing challenge with our experts, who will apply their knowledge of social marketing and work with you to develop the best solution.”  Source: University of Derby

City of Derby montage: source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby


The social entrepreneur skill landscape ahead?

The future, post-Covid and all the economic and social change that lies ahead, will need to bring with it a commitment to both training and re-skill for many, but also a distinct, hardy and tenacious set of practical and soft skills for the enduring entrepreneur.

Image, looking to the future
Looking to the future: Image by Benjamin Davies, Creative Commons, Unsplash

This is the message contained in a useful and perceptive series of articles to come from Pioneers Post. It is a landscape of compassion, certainly, given the context of the work, but also a landscape of uncertainty that will be managed through endurance, creativity and a survival ethos.

List of skills updated: 6th June 2021 – see below…

A heady cocktail of needs for the social entrepreneur looking to the future.

See the original article here: https://www.pioneerspost.com/business-school/20210331/how-no-regrets-skillset-can-arm-social-entrepreneurs-uncertain-future

‘Experts have warned that half the world’s employees will need to be reskilled by 2025. But with which skills? In our new series, Emerald Works’ Kevin Dunne and Social Enterprise Academy’s Claire Wilson set out seven critical, “no regrets” skills that social enterprise leaders will need to flourish in the post-Covid-19 landscape.’

The seven key skills, promoted by the authors of this thinking are sound and relevant  – especially if you are on the brink of leading your new SocEnt project up the enterprise foothills to sustainability.

We were worried, diving into the article, that this was a promotional pivot for a hardened, corporatist lean-into enterprise for good. We should not have worried. Vigorous commitment to the seven principles espoused can, we see, develop individuals with strong technical skills.

Skills that allied with the compassion that got them into the sector in the first place, may well be the key to all our survival.

Read the Pioneers Post article and see if you agree with the position? We do!


Update: 06.06.2021

Resilience, the first skill in the survival argument – see more https://www.pioneerspost.com/business-school/20210331/survival-skill-no-1-resilience

Adaptability – the second skill for survival – see more https://www.pioneerspost.com/business-school/20210512/survival-skill-no-2-adaptability

Creativity – the third skill for survival  – see more

https://www.pioneerspost.com/business-school/20210604/survival-skill-no-3-creativity


Social Enterprise and the UN SDG’s 2030

This brief article provides information about a University of Derby free event for Social Enterprise organisations, which provides a detailed and reflective focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

SocEntEastMids is a proud supporter of the event, and we are completely aligned with the aims of the day – and in supporting participants and partners beyond the confines of this single event too.

Creating a more sustainable, compassionate world.

 

Date and time
Thursday, 17 June 2021
10.00 – 13.00

Location Virtual online event

You can find full details, speakers list and book your place herehttps://www.derby.ac.uk/events/latest-events/social-enterprises-and-their-contribution-to-the-sustainable-development-goals-2030/#d.en.133377

‘This free event is aimed at social enterprises, to engage them with the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the targets identified by the United Nations to achieve global peace and prosperity.

The event includes a series of talks from academics, policy experts and social enterprises in the field. It will also feature a learning activity, where social enterprises can learn about mapping their social impact and identifying untapped future potential using the SDGs, by reflecting on how these link to forms of wealth that a social enterprise can generate.’

Source: University of Derby


Some key web links to inform your decision to attend:

What are the sustainable development goals?

See https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

What is the Fair Share model?

See https://fairsharemodel.com/the-fairshare-model-launches-a-movement-to-reimagine-capitalism/

 

Globe: Image by Kyle Glenn, Creative Commons, Unsplash

We have moved home…

We are relocating our business base to rural Norfolk.

Our commitment to the support of SocEnt seedbed development, with individuals and partners across the UK, remains undimmed and unfaltering.

All our usual webmail, phone numbers and e-contacts remain as before.

We are now situated on the outskirts of Swaffham, Norfolk UK. We are two minutes away from the the local Waitrose store and the town wind turbine blades cast a shadow across our access road. (Easy to spot…Ed).

Swaffham is an ancient market town, and from the 14thC was a centre for the wool trade in Norfolk. Now the town has a wealth of local entrepreneurship and businesses to support the rural hinterland.

Location map for Swaffham UK...
Find us here on the edge of town…

PE37 7XD

EcoTech Business Centre, Offices of SmithMartin LLP, Unit 27d, Turbine Way, Swaffham, Norfolk, UK.