An inspiring encounter in Kazakhstan

One of the things I love most about working with social entrepreneurs is their ability to surprise you. You think you’ve heard all the best ideas, or someone has moved you in a way you’ll never experience again but then someone comes along and leaves you in total awe. I just had this experience when I was in Almaty, Kazakhstan a few weeks ago. I was over there with the British Council and Chevron to share lessons from the UK social enterprise space and one of my meetings took me to meet a young social entrepreneur, Eldos.

I arrived at 5pm to meet Eldos in the lobby of his hotel. He’d traveled from his region of Kazakhstan to Almaty and was also due to speak at the conference the next day. He proceeded to tell me his story…

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Standing with JC: Have I got Social Enterprise News For You

Image: Catherine Bebbington/Parliamentary Copyright

Image: Catherine Bebbington/Parliamentary Copyright

I have taken part in many events around the country and had conversations with many people about what they thought of email newsletters. Many people told me they thought that newsletters were too theatrical, that Have I Got Social Enterprise was out of touch and too theatrical, and they wanted things done differently. So I thought, in this newsletter, I would do it in a slightly different way.

So I sent out an email to thousands of people and asked them what questions they would like to put to Have I Got Social Enterprise News For You and I received 40,000 replies.

There is not time to ask 40,000 questions today, so here is a selection of those that came in…

@davemcglashan

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Lessons from our ‘Working with Corporates’ workshop

Kate Van Der Plank gives us an overview of how CSR teams function.

Kate Van Der Plank gives us an overview of how CSR teams function.

Last Friday I sat in on our ‘Working with Corporates’ workshop. It was a super day, well attended by about twenty participants from various charities and social enterprises. Big thanks to Paula Rogers (Lloyds Bank), Louise Smith (Linklaters), Anju Saush (PwC), Kate Van Der Plank (Connect Five Consulting), Kate Chester (Ambition), Alastair Wilson (SSE) and Michelle Benson (SSE) for sharing their wisdom through the day, and to Amy Barbor for taking on the facilitation duties.

Here are some of the key themes that I took from the day…

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Meet the new boss, same as the old boss: Have I Got Social Enterprise News For You

Apple on desk

Why that subject line? Because I’ve got a new boss! Although she isn’t the same as my old boss who was (and still is as far as I know) a he.  It was just a good opportunity to use a lyric from a Who song. Anyway, I’ve been on my best behaviour all week. Remember all those old Have I Got Social Enterprise News For Yous making fun of the management at SSE? Didn’t happen. The one where I may have been a little hungover? Wasn’t me. The one with the swearing? I was hacked.

On with this week’s news, as well as some obvious/terrible/ridiculous pointers from a list I found online about how to impress a new boss, should you find yourself in a similar situation…

@davemcglashan

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From charity worker to social entrepreneur: the leap of faith

by Melanie Glass (@devinshb)

SSE Fellow Melanie Glass has just celebrated the first anniversary of her business Devenishgirl Bakery operating as a social enterprise and to mark the event is writing a series of articles covering her journey; from taking the leap of faith to start a social enterprise, to the impact their work makes, how to dream bigger and several other themes.

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