October 21, 2008 by Sleepy Joe
Last autumn (2007) a cohort of bright-eyed social entrepreneurs and social entrepreneur advisers sat in a room in an unfashionable part of Nottingham in some anticipation of what was to follow over the preceding six months. This was the start of the course for social enterprise leaders and advisers. After the obligatory stand up and say who you are session the group settled down to find out what we had signed up for.
Looking back across the year my main impression of the SE course is one of being part of a part time big brother show. Every session there would be fewer and fewer of us. When the ‘evictions’ settled down leaving a core of students the second round of diminishing returns was concerned with who would submit work for examination and who would not.
I am not entirely sure how many of the original cohort completed. Those that did not missed a golden opportunity. How often these days can one study for something worthwhile and have the fees supported automatically by being accepted on a funded course? I am sure that anyone still paying off their student loans will appreciate the rarity of this opportunity.
Well, I finished and am glad to say that it was worth it. The funding of the course by GNP was vital to me being able to undertake the course. Without that support I would not have been able to afford the study. Cheers chaps.
It would be most interesting to hear what everyone else thought.
In reflective mood, Alan
Tags: Course, EMSSE, GNP, Nottingham, social enterprise
Posted in Projects, Rant | Leave a Comment »
September 16, 2008 by Sleepy Joe
New business live! is a FREE one day event for all east midlands start-up’s and businesses that are under 3 years old.
Sponsored by Business link the day will offer over 30 seminars and presentations with Wayne Hemmingway talking about how he went from running a shoe stall to a multi million pound fashion company as well as 2 other headline speakers.
There will be industry experts on hand to give 1:1 advice for the 1000 delegates we are expecting, 100 exhibitors and the opportunity to network with local entrepreneurs and business owners.
It’s shaping up to be a fantastic day, we are adding exhibitors, speakers and seminars daily to our website so please keep looking at the website or email us at nbl@consortiumevents.co.uk to receive updates.
Book your exhibition space by visiting www.newbusinesslive.net or calling consortium event management Ltd on 0115 9622499
On a personal note, I was privileged enough to hear Wayne Hemmingway speak a few years ago, the chap is dynamo and a true inspiration for everyone either engaged in or thinking to engage in social enterprise. I urge you all to book for this early to avoid disappointment; especially as we all need a bit of a lift in January. – Alan -
Tags: Nottingham, socail enterprise, Wayne Hemmingway
Posted in Events | Leave a Comment »
July 11, 2008 by Sleepy Joe
Last night I attended the launch of Nottingham’s Creative Business Awards. The event was hosted by a spanking new casino of all places. Last year Area Four Records was shortlisted so I suppose its only natural that I attended this year’s bash.
This year I have left all conventional creativity behind. I have embraced the triple bottom line beloved of social enterprise culture. It hurts. Envelope stretching projects are no longer the norm. These days it’s below the bone costing, very little profit snf even less sense of the new, fun and “I don’t know, let’s find out together shall we?”
As a creative social entrepreneur all I ever want is to make work that both my client and I can be proud of. Working mostly in the V.C.O. sector has left me feeling that emotions like project ambition and project pride have given way to make do and pander. It is the difference “why and who” verses “what and how”. As a third sector media social enterprise we try to raise communications to be on a more strategic level; but to be met with constant micro management by people who are not interested in what is involved in delivery leaves me hankering for the shallow life I have put behind me.
The way I see it, you wouldn’t buy a dog and bark yourself, would you?
Tags: Creative, Nottingham, social enterprise, VCO
Posted in Events, Rant | Leave a Comment »
