It was clear to anyone that joined us at our Parliamentary event on January 31st, to celebrate the impact of 10 years of the Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme, that the programme created transformational outcomes.
Throughout the evening, our speakers all spoke to the impressive statistics from the report and highlighted the impactful work of SSE and our partners. The event was more than a celebration though; speakers such as SSE’s Sally Heard and Tracey Muirhead gave us a behind the scenes insight into what is different about an SSE programme and social entrepreneur Veronica Gordon highlighted what a difference that made to her organisation.
Convening to create impact
“This programme gave us an incredible opportunity to make connections across the public, private and voluntary sector” said Sally Heard (previously founder & CEO of SSE Cornwall, now director of development & external affairs at SSE). Heard highlighted the collaborative power the programme had across sectors. Commenting on the first in-person session between corporate mentors and programme participants, she highlighted the energy that immediately started to fizz in the room; “it helped us to convene and pull people together within the county… And that's the magic piece.” Tracey Muirhead (previously founder & CEO of SSE Scotland, now director of Scotland at SSE) echoed the programme’s significance in bringing people together and highlighted its long-last effects, “Lloyd's Bank and the Bank of Scotland investment allowed us to recruit from 32 local authorities in Scotland. We [in Scotland] have our own 10 year Social Enterprise Strategy and we’re heading into our last two years for its Action Plan with many of our students sitting at the table.”