What a superb event this was. It was wonderful to see over 150 people attending, with over 40 different social enterprises represented. The whole day was a celebration of the enthusiasm, creativity and enterprise of people wanting to make a difference in Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire
It was a good event in so many ways; there were a range of inspirational speakers; encouraging and relevant workshops; the opportunity to network and make new contacts in a way that has started to put Social Enterprise Matters on the map. Getting good press coverage is always useful and the event was followed by a good article in The Sentinel.
There was also a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style event where 3 emerging social enterprises pitched their work. Congratulations go to Fiona Wood and her company, It’s All About Me, who won the package of support that had kindly been donated by Sherrats Wood, BES and SEWM.
It is so good to see some of the enterprises that we have been working with over the past year developing and moving on. The Students’ Union have secured funding to support them in running Farmer’s Markets in the coming year and Jake Cliffe is launching his business Human Nature Escapes in August. Full details of this can be found on their website. http://human-nature.org.uk/human-nature-escapes-cic-launch-event/
This year has also put us on the national map for social enterprise and at the time of writing it is exciting to be able to say that we have been nominated and shortlisted to receive 2 awards at the national awards run by UnLtd. These awards are for universities that support the development of social enterprise.
If you came along on the day we’d love to hear your thoughts. Please take a few minutes to complete our short survey.
Finally a big thank you to all the people and organisations that have come together to make this such a successful event and to raise the profile of social enterprise through Social Enterprise Matters.
Pete Twilley
