'A work in progress'...
'A work in progress'...
Case study: Action Learning Sets, Kim Furnish I joined the Action Learning Set because I found the sessions useful during my School of Social Entrepreneurs course. At that time my focus was on starting my business, consequently the topics were focussed on issues such as taking on a board of directors, creating a logo, and managing social media accounts. My business has been established for seven years, and so my focus now is more on... read more »
Motivations and experiences of the social enterprise sector
We are excited to present you with a unique opportunity to participate in our Social Enterprise Research Project which is aimed at exploring the motivations and experiences of the social enterprise sector. Our Social Enterprise Research Project aims to gain valuable insights into successes and barriers within social enterprises organisations. By exploring the experiences and perspectives of social enterprises like yours, we aspire to provide more targeted support, identify best practices and evidence-based strategies which... read more »
SSE Graduation 2021-22
13 October 2022 St Paul's Church, Winchester 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm You are warmly invited to join our graduation event for the new SSE fellows of the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme. It's a big one - we're celebrating the 10th year! Join us for an evening of reflections and a celebration of their fantastic achievements. Please sign up via this eventbrite link. The Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme is... read more »
Enterprise Essentials Workshops
Ashlene was particularly motivated to begin something new as a response to her addiction, to create a living for herself and to also give others the opportunity to change their lives for the better. Ashlene identified the Inspiring Enterprise programme as being a perfect springboard. Approach Ashlene attended two Enterprise Essentials workshop organised by Action Hampshire in January 2019. These workshops covered the basics of starting a social enterprise, including idea generation, business and financial planning... read more »
Boardgames and Boozers!
A blog by Keith, on behalf of the whole Social Enterprise team. Set in an old pub in the heart of Southampton, Board in The City CIC is a gaming café that takes great pride in their all-inclusive culture and extensive outreach work. Part of this outreach work was to host a social enterprise awareness day on August 16th which we (the amazing enterprise team) were delighted to be invited to. Having never been to the... read more »
SSE Hampshire Connection Event
Join The School for Social Entrepreneurs Hampshire, SSE Fellows, past participants, newcomers to the world of social enterprise, friends, supporters and those interested in social business at our Connection Event in Winchester on Wednesday, 27 April 2022, from 18:00 - 21:00. There will be important updates from SSE in Hampshire, opportunities to network, lively discussions about change and what it means for social entrepreneurs, and we’ll also be launching the Sustainable Futures Group in partnership... read more »
Interested in rural places and how we can help our communities with levelling up?
Illustration by Tracy Worrall Social Enterprise Seminar - 18 May We're hosting the first in a series of webinars on building resilient rural communities with key speakers on social enterprise, health and digital futures. View the brochure here or book your webinar place here: 18 May - Social Enterprise 15 June - Tackling Health Inequalities 13 July - Digital Futures read more »
A place to plan our 2020 vision stories.
The phrase 20/20 vision means normal vision, explains J. Kevin McKinney, MD. “A person with 20/20 vision can see what an average individual can see on an eye chart when they are standing 20 feet away,” This is how we have always viewed it: someone with normal vision. But, now, could it also mean something different? Could we now say that, with our 2020 vision, we are looking back on a year that changed the world. Instead... read more »
Supporting Social Entrepreneurship in Hampshire
A modest group of social entrepreneurs in Hampshire are proving to be a powerhouse of positive change in the region: benefiting the lives of thousands of people in need, while creating meaningful jobs. An independent study looks at the effect of supporting 89 social entrepreneurs in Hampshire, who have gone on to benefit the lives of 2,600 people in need. They have also created the equivalent of 200 full-time jobs, often for people most... read more »
Assessing the potential for social enterprise
When we talk to new participants on the Inspiring Enterprise programme about their socially enterprising idea, 99% of the time they talk about a need (a problem they’d like to fix) that they have identified, either in their local community, or, in some cases, more generally. For example, ‘people need access to healthier food’, or ‘there needs to be a more holistic approach to mental health’. However, when it comes to social enterprise, identifying a... read more »
Building the Right 'It'
The Inspiring Enterprise programme is designed to support people not in paid employment who are interested in developing a social enterprise. Given many of the participant’s circumstances, it’s essential that they can develop their idea in the knowledge that there will be a market for it, minimising the risk that the idea they’ve put lots of time and effort into developing is doomed to failure. As a result, the ‘if we build it, they will use... read more »
Resilience is Key for Social Entrepreneurs
Participants on the Inspiring Enterprise programme, available via this link, tend to be at the very start of their journey as social entrepreneurs, and have little in the way of finances, time and knowledge to build their business. There is no doubt that this makes for a challenging time. People who have faced these challenges head on and come out the other side to run a financially sustainable business that has real social impact, will tell... read more »
Social Enterprise explained
Action Hampshire is one of the delivery partners for the Inspiring Enterprise programme, available via this link. Our main focus is on supporting people to start up their own social enterprise. With the number of social enterprises increasing rapidly in the UK, the chances are that you will have heard the phrase and may well have bought a product or service from a social enterprise, whether you realised it or not. However, at Action Hampshire we... read more »
Community business - what's that then?
You might have heard of this new category of economic activity called social enterprise. Action Hampshire is very involved in this – see more on our website via this link. Social enterprises do all manner of different things, and some of them can also be categorised as community businesses. This is in the Community Buildings section of our website because many community halls and centres could be thought of as community businesses. Your organisation may well... read more »
Groovy Times or the proof of the pudding…
… a particularly apt aphorism for the Government’s new Civil Society Strategy, available via this link. That the government now has a strategy for working with our sector should be welcomed. As should its recognition of the importance of what is now being referred to as “civil society” or “the social sector”. The strategy is founded on “five foundations of social value: people, places, the social sector, the private sector and the public sector.” Equally a... read more »