Red Ochre ran the first of its Social Enterprise Bootcamps on 9th and 10th November. We called this the “Business Revolution” as social enterprise is fulfilling the deeply felt need amongst many entrepreneurs, and those who believe in enterprise, that there has to be a better and more ethical way of doing business. Red Ochre, a long term exponent of supporting and promoting social enterprise, is delivering the Business Revolution Bootcamps as part of the Mayor of London’s enterprise initiative. Supported by RBS/NatWest and Capital Enterprise, a number of Bootcamps are being run in London on different enterprise aspects. The two day intensive Bootcamp, galloped through all aspects of setting up, growing, successfully managing and reporting on a social enterprise. It was enthusiastically received by the participants. Attendees came from a wide background - existing social entrepreneurs, those thinking of social enterprise and those supporting social enterprise. Participants included social entrepreneurs from France and Singapore, employees of a local authority contemplating spinning out their service as a social enterprise as well as representatives from CAF/ Venturesome and the British Council. We were also graced with the presence of an MP from Singapore, Penny Low, a leading exponent and supporter of social enterprise in her country. The Bootcamp covered areas of vision, strategy, business planning, marketing, operations, finance, leadership, management, recruitment and teams, impact assessment, governance and risk. Each module was supported with key exercises, toolkits, handouts, and case studies. The intention is for the participants to leave with a practical set of tools and understanding that can be applied immediately to create success. Participants also had plenty of opportunity to network and learn from each other and the the visiting speakers and entrepreneurs. The workshop programme was delivered by Red Ochre trainers. Participants also heard from specialist financiers, successful social entrepreneurs from various sectors as well as a specialist in financing enterprises. Red Ochre strategic partners such as Social Enterprise UK, CAN and Timebank were there to explain how each of them are able to support social the Bootcamp participants with mentoring, subsidised facilities, discounted membership and access to other resources. Nick Howe, NatWest’s Regional Enterprise Manager explained how his bank can help social enterprises and of its long history of support in the sector. We are very grateful for Nick’s ongoing enthusiasm and support for the Business Revolution Bootcamp and the fact that he gamely sat through the whole of the 2 days! We hope he gained greater insight on social enterprise and the importance of the Business Revolution. We are running this bootcamp again on the 9th and 10th February. For more information please contact Anna Turner. ....................................................................................
Social Enterprise Conference in Korea The Beautiful Store is South Korea’s largest social enterprise. It operates over 110 stores selling recycled clothes, media and household goods. It has branched out in sourcing fair trade coffee and tea from Peru, Uganda and Nepal which are sold through its stores as well as other outlets. As a leading social economy venture, the Beautiful Store is actively promoting social enterprise as a business model. In partnership with the Korean Government’s Ministry of Employment & Labour it hosted this year’s BSEC Social Entrepreneur’s Conference on the 18th of October. The conference had two themes – Financial Support for Social Enterprise and the Social Enterprise Platform. Guest speakers from around the world were invited to speak. Uday Thakkar, Red Ochre’s managing director was one of a panel of speakers from the UK, Ireland, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Thailand together with a number of Korean practitioners and academics. Social enterprise is a growing phenomenon in South Korea reflecting a global trend. The conference was held at the Sungkyunkwan University and attracted nearly 300 participants, many of them young people. The range of ideas was astounding and the buzz of excitement was palpable. Interestingly, many of the projects had a pan-Asian dimension. Uday spoke about current trends in social enterprise in the UK, support available and the race for sustainability as government financial support tails off. Many of the audience were conversant in English although an instant translation service was available. Getting the audience to respond enthusiastically to a call for action and passion was, therefore, relatively easy. Other speakers spoke of support and activity current in their countries and the Koreans described with great enthusiasm their own projects. The talks were followed by a number of Q&A sessions – where there were many, many questions on social enterprise activity and support in the UK. The UK is seen by most people to be at the vanguard of social enterprise activity. Speakers then ran group discussions on specific issues and the questions and interest were relentless. Participants had to be physically evicted as they such a hunger for knowledge and majorly overran the time the hall had been booked for. The Beautiful Store was an absolutely wonderful host and arranged two days of social enterprise visits which will be detailed in a later newsletter. The conference was a great success and elicited huge media attention. Uday, making strange hand signals, featured in a large newspaper article. His enthusiasm in explaining to the Thai delegate what Red Ochre does obviously required multiple forms of communication!   | The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) has been offering its Fellows small grants to start social enterprise projects under its Catalyst programme. On the 22nd November the RSA hosted a Catalyst winners’ workshop in London. Almost 30 winners from around the country attended the workshop. Uday Thakkar, Red Ochre’s managing director, kicked of the presentations to the winners on pitfalls for social enterprises and how to negotiate them. Uday began with a punchy plea to the winners to articulate their vision better and to ensure what they were proposing to does really meet a need and will create positive social change. Uday emphasised the requirement for a practical business model that would ensure that social entrepreneurs were not deluding themselves, let alone their supporters and stakeholders. A well thought through business model, well articulated and passionately promoted, was the most likely way to get support and overcome challenges. Dan Snell, an RSA Fellow, from Arrival Education talked about his project and how it had grown. Colin Crooks, the former head of Green-Works, told the story of starting with an idea and £300 to create a successful social enterprise. Various support organisations, such as the founders of Buzzbnk and GoJaspa, also spoke about how to access finance. The Catalyst winners’ then had a access to numerous experts to discuss how best to finance, grow and report their social enterprises. Uday was involved with informing them about early stage finance and how to source resources and support for free. The workshop also heard from Albina Ruiz who is the 2011 winner of RSA’s Albert Medal. Albina started a project to recycle solid waste in the poorer parts of Lima, Peru 25 years ago. Her social enterprise project is now operating across South America, Africa and India. The meeting concluded with a speech from Matthew Taylor, RSA’s Chief Executive, extolling the Catalyst Winners’ and explaining how he believed they were the vanguard for the future of the RSA and what it does. For more information visit their website www.thersa.org | ....................................................................................
Robert Foster, co-founder of Red Ochre, will be following up his successful teaching trips to China earlier this year with remote training in December. Robert will be supporting and delivering three online training sessions with Chinese undergraduates in Beijing on enterprise skills and social enterprise in the UK. If you would like to know more about this flexible and cost-effective way to deliver support contact Robert on robert@redochre.org.uk  Collaborative working and partnerships There is a growing tendency by statutory purchases to award contracts to larger organisations. Many grant making bodies want to cross community and multi-disciplinary delivery projects. Many smaller organisations are struggling with limited resources. A potential solution is to partner or collaborate with one or more organisations. This workshop will look at why specific groups should consider partnerships/collaborations and the potential impacts, benefits and challenges involved. It will examine the difference between partnership and collaboration and explore strategies for successfully recruiting a partner organisation, building and structuring the relationship as well as addressing risk and funding issues. Who should attend: This workshop is aimed at voluntary/community sector organisation and social enterprises that are considering, or are currently in the process of, collaborating or setting up a partnership with another organisation for fundraising, tendering or service delivery. Date: Tuesday 24th January 2012 Time: 10am – 1pm Venue: The British Library Business & IP Centre Price: £30 Inc VAT Pitching for contracts
This is an interactive half-day workshop for organisations wishing to understand the challenges and opportunities available to secure contracts through official procurement routes. Course Content: -
Definition and vocabulary:
- a guide to common definitions -
What commissioners are looking for
- motivations and drivers for commissioners and procurement officers -
Tendering processes
- the commissioning process and how to engage through the official tendering processes
- PQQ
- the tender
- the pitch -
Managing the contract
- SLAs, managing service delivery under a contract, and associated operational issues including monitoring and reporting Course outcomes: Delegates will be able to understand and communicate tendering processes
have a sound understanding of what makes a successful proposal
be able to effectively communicate the impact of their service delivery Who should attend? Directors, trustees or members of the management committee; members of the senior management team; or any member of staff with a remit to respond to commissioning and procurement opportunities. Date: Thursday 23rd February 2012 Time: 1pm – 4pm Venue: The British Library Business & IP Centre Price: £30 Inc VAT Please contact Anna Turner to book your place. Impact & evaluation – knowing you’ve made a difference
All organisations will likely need to understand and measure their performance and for many that will mean more than profit. How can you measure what matters to you and your people, so that you can improve it? In this workshop we will consider three steps that any individual or organisation can use at any level of expertise to get to the heart of your organisation’s impact. Who should attend? Anyone interested in understanding the work they are doing and their organisations impact. Including founders and CEOs, members of the senior management team with a performance remit, operational staff with a performance remit. By the end of this course, participants will: -
gain a better understanding of what impact means for you and your organisation -
leave with a three stage plan to guide your impact work -
run through practical impact exercises and methods -
identify one or two of the most important things for you to measure -
have the options in how to then go out and measure them -
be better able to answer the questions, who do I need to tell, what do I need to tell them and in what form do they need to know it? Come to this workshop and improve your impact leadership and impact attitude as well as your impact measurement. Date: Tuesday 20th March 2012 Time: 10am – 1pm Venue: The British Library Business & IP Centre Price: £30 Inc VAT Please contact Anna Turner to book your place. .................................................................................... |
 | Other News & Events Digital Marketing - 6th December 2011 Web experts Lucidica look into the rabbit hole that is ‘pay per click’ advertising through Google and other networks and explore the hidden features and options that can increase your return on investment. For more information, click here.
Growing into new markets - 7th December 2011 If you are a decision maker at a successful SME, you will constantly be looking at new growth opportunities. The UK and Eurozone economies are stagnant, but there is fantastic growth being seen in many emerging economies, and not only the “BRICs” : we’re coming cross many businesses generating new sales in countries such as Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey and parts of Africa. However, entering new markets is challenging - what can you expect to face? Read more...
Green in the city - 8th December 2011 ecoConnect's Green in the City Forum: where UK Green Industry comes to do business.
Bringing together top funding executives, entrepreneurs, leading innovators and opinion leaders - key people driving the development of green industry policy, technologies and investment in this rapidly expanding market. For more information please click here.
How to validate that new product idea - 8th December 2011 Discover whether your idea could be turned into a profitable business at this workshop with business advisor and experienced product developer, Bob Lindsey. Read more...
Social Enterprise Exchange - March 27th 2012 Social Enterprise UK and Social Enterprise Scotland have joined forces to host the world’s biggest social enterprise event. The Social Enterprise Exchange will take place on Tuesday 27th March 2012 at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow. Book now. | |
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