Business Live: for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs

Lotus Collaborations is a Community Interest Company, set up to address the needs of autistic survivors of sexual violence and sexual abuse.Its directors are Neurodivergent Survivors and allies with experience in accessing and providing specialist support and mentoring to victim-survivors of sexual violence."There's big gap in understanding among service providers and the general public," says director, Dr Susy Ridout, “and our needs very often don't get addressed. The autistic vo...

YWCA Yorkshire supports over 250 young women, children and families to build better futures. They may be homeless, escaping abuse, or in financial or other difficulties. It runs programmes to assist them in living happy, fulfilled and independent lives.A charity, it has operated locally since the 1940s. This Valentine's Day it launched a campaign to "spread the love and word" about volunteering. So I invited Diane Offers, YWCA's HR Manager, on air.. She covers:YWCA Yorkshire's range of accomm...

Welcome to episode 393 of Business Live, for purpose-driven entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. When Rotherham wanted to transform its adult social care offer for people with learning disabilities and autistic people and offer personalised services that people wanted, local social and micro-enterprises proved crucial. Helen Allen and Harry Clarkson tell me how.Community Catalysts (www.communitycatalysts.co.uk) is a thriving community interest company, running since 2010 and operating acro...

Social enterprises ploughed over a billion pounds into their social and environmental objectives last year. They make a vital contribution to the UK's economy, society and natural environment, as Dean Hochlaf describes today.An estimated 131,000 social enterprises in the UK collectively turn over £78 billion, representing over 3% of GDP. Many operate in the most deprived areas of the UK. They employ around 2.3 million people and made £1.2 billion in profit in the last financial year,&nb...

When I heard about the UK's first open-access factory, offering "pay-as-you go accessibility" so entrepreneurs and makers can access state-of-the-art light industrial equipment I was intrigued.Originally established in 2012, its co-founders call it the "missing link for solopreneurs and SMEs seeking to bridge the gap between start-up and producing at scale."And when I learned it was a social enterprise, with sustainability "designed in" – well, we had to get its co-founders in for a rad...

Many businesses make the same basic mistake when they want to make video content, says today's guest Joseph Palmer of Open House Pictures. His simple tip will help anyone wanting to use films to communicate, whether you want to work with a professional filmmaker, a local freelancer or even try to shoot them yourself.It's been a few years since Joe was last on the programme and Open House has achieved significant growth since then, creating jobs and taking on multiple creative and commer...

"I ended up being offered a permanent role as a junior programmer which is a dream come true – and I worked on an awesome game which is actually my favourite of all the current projects at Sumo."Many people would love to work in the games industry but don't know where to start. Today's guests Eva Kioseoglou and Ruth Dickens have both secured full-time roles as junior programmers, having graduated from a games industry apprenticeship programme on which previous game programming experience is n...

Naomi Hulston has experienced "pretty much every role" in her 21 years working for Catch22.The social business has been around for 200 years. It delivers more than 120 public services that meet local needs and support individuals within our communities. "We consider ourselves a business with the heart of a charity and a business' mindset." Those services include justice, education services, support for vulnerable children and families and many more.Naomi started her career at Catch22 as a vol...

Today's guests have bumped off nearly 300 people through their business.But they're not career criminals. Adrian Hobart and Rebecca Collins run Hobeck Books, a leading family-run independent publisher of award-winning crime, thriller, mystery and suspense books.What better business to get on air in National Crime Reading Month?Rebecca and Adrian launched Hobeck Books in the middle of the pandemic. Rebecca brought expertise from over two decades working in the publishing industry, with clients...

PossAbilities CIC provides services for people with learning disabilities, people with dementia and young people leaving care.Formed in 2014, PossAbilities has increased staff from 220 to more than 600, had eight consecutive years of growth and surplus, and grown its capital and reserves from zero to £6 million.It was formerly the Adult Social Care Provider within Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) and was one of the first 100 social enterprises to be formed by ‘spinning-out’ service...