Business Live: for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs

Remember those stories you wrote as a child? Imagine the feeling if something you wrote was read or performed by an Oscar-winning film star. Or a famous author or familiar face from television.

Grimm and Co is a writing charity for children and young people. It champions the writer in everyone. It's richly imaginative and a joyful hub for creative adventures. An 'apothecary to the magical.'

Founding CEO Deborah Bullivant joined me for a radio interview today to unveil details of its virtual gala - an extravaganza of stories, poems, and songs - in May.

Academy Award winning actors Gary Oldman and Olivia Colman, and other 'leading lights from across the arts' including Joanne Harris and Mark Gatiss will perform some of the incredible work produced by young people who have taken part in the charity’s free writing workshops.

Deborah and her team of staff and volunteers are inspirational, and I don't say so lightly.

The work they do with children and young people 'changes lives, one story at a time.'

In this episode Deborah covers:

• Who else is involved in Grimm and Co's Here Not There gala which will showcase stories, poems and songs created by children and young people from across Yorkshire,
• How Grimm & Co is continuing to give folk magical and creative adventures even amidst the challenges we face now,
• Its strategies for resilience and its future plans for expansion into a magical new centre in the heart of Rotherham,
• Some book recommendations.

I loved hearing from Deborah and I hope this interview warms your heart as much as it did mine.

In today’s show: a social enterprise which has totally overhauled its service, to improve people's mental wellbeing by allowing them access to online events and resources.

Plus an interview with Sheffield prosthetics manufacturer, Blatchford, which has converted its facilities to make face masks to help protect frontline NHS staff.

Serial social entrepreneur Steve Rimmer has been a regular guest on the programme, talking about the Abbeydale Picture House and initiatives such as Ticket Bank and Tickets for Good.

A social enterprise and certified B-Corporation, Tickets for Good has been working with hundreds of charities and an extensive range of music and theatre venue partners through its ticket bank service to 'transform empty seats into life-changing experiences.'

Now Steve and his colleagues at Tickets for Good have created a new 'Virtual Ticket Bank' service. Now more than ever, marginalised people in society are at real risk of isolation and depression. The Virtual Ticket Bank will help improve people's mental wellbeing by allowing them access to online events and resources.

Plus an interview with Blatchford, a Sheffield manufacturer of orthotic and prosthetic devices. The firm has converted its facilities to make face masks to help protect frontline NHS staff. The company are using their highly skilled technicians, supply chain and facilities to assist the Covid-19 response. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke with Blatchford operations manager, Nigel Birkett.

It's a triple-filled radio show sandwich today featuring three different businesses – all doing great things.

Holly Jenkins of Jiraffe is first up. Jiraffe provides postural care equipment and support to  children and adults with special needs.

"The need of the children that we support is not going to go away because of the coronavirus," she says – so Jiraffe has launched two special initiatives to ensure some of the most vulnerable children and adults in society still have access to vital seating, standing, sleeping, and mobility support equipment.

Lots too in the chat with Holly about building a positive company culture and effective communication (Holly gives specific points about how Jiraffe does this).

Tim Elgar, Head of Culture and Leadership at Twinkl is next up. Twinkl is well known in Sheffield and worldwide. It offers hundreds of thousands of learning resources to people who teach. Now the firm has made these resources free to access – and it's also partnered with the S6 foodbank to distribute 500 copies of a beautiful, printed book for children. Tim tells us more.

Finally Paul Fletcher of call centre business CC33. His firm employs around 350 people across three sites. It moved rapidly to remote working, setting its people up to work from home. A gigantic logistical task.

Paul tells me how CC33 did this, and describes some positive consequences for its people and for the firm.

Timings: 0 - 2:20 introduction
2:20 Holly Jenkins, Jiraffe
29:43 Tim Elgar, Twinkl
36:29 Paul Fletcher, CC33

Not one but two guests in this latest Business Live radio show.

Tom French supports people to use data and evaluation better. He covers some examples of his work and how it helps to inform decisions, and has advice on what to think about when you're collecting or analysing data.

Tom is also part of Sheffield Data for Good and tells me about a recent collective effort with powerful results.

Also on the show: Daniel Stanbra of the Source Skills Academy. Would you like to boost your skills or help isolated staff boost theirs?

The Source, a registered charity, has made a variety of free-to-access training courses available online and through posted learning packs. Daniel tells me what they are and how his organisation acted rapidly to support Sheffield City Region businesses.

A comprehensive run-through of support available to businesses, social enterprises and the self-employed. Plus a great interview with Helen Williams and a super book review.

“There is a huge spirit, particularly in Sheffield at this time. That will remain, particularly if we stick together,” says Helen Williams, a coach who helps business leaders with their mindset. In today’s challenging and terrifying times, how is she helping folk cope with anxiety and uncertainty? You can’t control what’s uncontrollable, but Helen has practical tips to apply right away.

Also on the show: a big run through of many support packages and grants now available for businesses, social enterprises and self-employed people, both from government and elsewhere. Some you will have heard about, others you probably haven't, so don't miss this.

Plus we cover several community initiatives and some specific things to support (if you are able to).

And I review a recently-published autobiography of Drayton Bird, who, it's been said, knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world. At 83 he has “lived long enough to make some ghastly mistakes.” What do I think of his autobiography? Listen to find out.

Music teachers can use online platforms such as Zoom, FaceTime, Google Hangouts and Skype to deliver lessons, and this episode includes practical advice about how to do it. It's a must-listen for self-employed teachers and it also covers livestreaming performances and building online businesses.

Today's guest is David Taylor, a former jobbing cellist who works with globally-known orchestras and arts organisations - and with individuals. David founded Yorkshire Young Sinfonia and is an expert in using digital technology to deliver arts and performance projects. He's been described as an arts innovator and featured in a Forbes magazine 30-under-30 list.

Which online platform should you use to teach? What are the pros and cons of each for giving music lessons? How do you teach effectively through a video-call? David is generous with his advice and tips.

We talk, too, about how to live-stream music performances and events. Again, there's lots of practical knowledge here based on David's experiences, covering platforms and techniques, from simple setups to multi-camera affairs.

The programme also includes ideas about how to generate or supplement your income through online business activities. And we cover increasing access to, and participation in, music.

Listeners will already know that the coronavirus pandemic and the disease (Covid-19) it causes is having a dreadful impact on people's lives and health.

Many people have already been asked to work from home if they can. The measures we need to (and clearly must) put into place to protect people's health, will also put jobs and livelihoods at risk.

It seems likely that music teachers will, whether voluntarily or under direction, cease teaching face-to-face for some time. But this doesn't mean they have to stop teaching altogether. Please listen to this interview with David for essential advice.

Today's guest is Professor Ian Rotherham of Sheffield Hallam University, an expert on a range of environmental issues, including urban wildlife, extreme weather, flooding and climate change.

Recent floods had an enormous human and economic impact. I met Ian at a recent "Flood Risk Management" conference, which examined integrated and natural flood management approaches and caught up with him afterwards for this short but fascinating chat.

Ian covers how his own interest in flooding and rewilding came about and how the "rules of engagement" with nature have changed.

He describes how flooding and droughts are two sides of the same coin and our actions have consequences. He offers some steps which businesses can take to support flood resilience and makes the business case for natural flood management as part of a sensible approach to flood risk management.

Ian has also long been involved in regional economic development and is an advocate for using environmental measures to trigger economic growth. All new developments must and should be "water positive" he says - and explains why.

Timings:

• 0 - 3:00 This week's Budget included measures to "bridge" (in the Chancellor's words) instability caused by the Coronavirus epidemic. A quick summary.
• 3:00 Other Budget measures relevant to businesses and social enterprises.
• 5:30 Professor Ian Rotherham.
• 16:18 The Budget: other measures announced this week.
• 18:50 The Budget: responses from Social Enterprise UK and the Federation for Small Businesses.

More about Ian here https://www.ukeconet.org

How can we break the vicious cycle of period poverty and the shaming and stigma which so many people experience around menstruation? What’s the best way to advocate for social change and make a real impact? How do you measure what matters? And what makes an effective leader?

In this episode of Business Live we’re joined by Emily Wilson, Co-founder and CEO of Irise International, and Calum Smith, the charity’s Head of Operations.

Irise is a global leader in menstrual health programming, research, advocacy and policy development, transforming peoples’ lives through period equality.  It works in the UK and East Africa and this wide ranging interview covers Irise’s mission to create a world where people can realise their potential unlimited by their periods, through its research, partnerships, advocacy and programmes.

Simple policy changes can have a big and powerful impact, as Emily describes, though there’s much work to do. She covers co-founding Irise in east Africa and how learning of the UK’s “blind-spot” in terms of menstrual health led to Irise working here too (and Emily is now working with the UK Government on their Period Poverty Task Force).

The show also covers leadership, with some powerful insights about what makes an effective leader; plus exclusion and inclusivity, whether through language* or though digital communication tools.

Emily and Calum also discuss Irise’s work setting up and catalysing community owned businesses and micro businesses, and how this has not only had a powerful economic impact, it has changed gender dynamics too. Plus there’s essential advice for anyone wanting to advocate for social change.

When Louis Speight was 15 he announced he wanted to become a wheelchair racer. Born with cerebral palsy and often told “you can’t do things” in his childhood, Louis had experienced bullying and an eating disorder.

"My own parents were sceptical, and rightly so," he says. "To look at me you'd have never said I would make an athlete." But Louis describes how his bloody-mindedness propelled him to become the men's European record holder in one of the most competitive of sports.

Sport made a profound impact in his life. "I am healthy and I can't see how I could have been healthy without the role that sport played," he says.

He understood how sport could help others, too, and after a sports science degree in which he specialised in clinical rehabilitation, started giving sports coaching on a zero-hours contract basis. Which proved frustrating: Louis "paid my dues" but felt undervalued and exploited.

So he and a colleague quit their jobs to launch Omnis Circumvado, a specialist sports coaching company which gives inclusive opportunities to people with complex needs.

The business works with children and young people in SEN (Special Educational Needs) schools and with elderly people in day centres. When launching a social enterprise "the house will set on fire," says Louis: it's not always plain sailing. But that determination along with careful planning paid off and Omnis is now thriving as Louis describes in this episode.

What next? Would growth be good? Is expansion the right thing to do? How did Louis put those fires out? And what's the story behind the name of the firm? Listen to this episode of The Business Live radio show with Louis Speight.

• 0 - 1:00 introduction.
• 1:00 Louis co-founded Omnis Circumvado CIC after competing as a wheelchair racer in the T33 classification, predominantly as a sprinter.
• 4:30 Wheelchair racing is highly competitive, great to watch and has its own mystique, for reasons Louis describes.
• 5:37 The profound difference which sport made in Louis' life. 
• 8:15 Louis started doing some sports coaching on a zero-hours contract basis.
• 12:45 How a pilot project planted the seed for Louis and colleague Richard to launch their social enterprise.
• 19:45 The story behind the name Omnis Circumvado.
• 22:00 Some of the activities Louis gets participants involved in.
• 25:03 "I have never been so insulted," says Louis, describing one funder's response to the social enterprise's name.
• 27:00 "The house will set on fire. It just will." What does Louis mean?
• 32:45 The business is at capacity now. What are their future plans? Does this involve growth and would growth be good?
• 35:30 Succession planning and a fatalistic or realistic viewpoint about accidents.
• 37:30 Culture, values and a story of how working with Louis helped a profoundly disabled child.
• 42:45 Recap and Louis' training regime.
• 45:24 Many PTs and physiotherapists are under-trained, says Louis.
• 46:30 Branding around the Paralympics about "superheroes" and the idea of inspirational people isn't always helpful, says Louis, and describes why.
• 48:30 Why Omnis worked with Key Fund, a responsible finance provider, and how this helped the organisation.
• 50:30 Omnis' services are free at the point of use for children, young people, and adults with the most complex needs in school and community settings. How to get in touch.

What springs to mind when you think of the media and journalists?

The profession is dedicated to gathering, assessing, verifying, editing and presenting facts, data, news, information – and stories.

It is, I believe, crucial to a democratic society. Journalists give voices to people and communities excluded from dialogue; hold power to account; expose miscarriages of justice; present information in the public interest. They inform, engage and entertain. Yet many people don't trust them.

Sadly it's easy to find bad and ugly practices in journalism. But most journalists don't enter their profession to exploit or abuse people. Most want to make a positive difference and  today's guest, award winning Michelle Rawlins, shows the power of sensitive, responsible journalism. 

Michelle is proud her articles help "many who otherwise wouldn’t have a voice." A true-life story specialist, Michelle has 25 years of experience working for national newspapers, magazines and online publications. Her work has also created awareness of issues, led to changes in the law to better protect people and helped to raise thousands to support children needing surgery. 

Michelle's empathy and compassion shines through every word she writes. It's loud and clear within this interview, too.

Michelle describes her motivations as a journalist: who she works with and why she does it. She has important advice for social enterprises and charities working with vulnerable people, who want to communicate their impact while protecting the dignity of their clients.  And as an advocate for the reporters of tomorrow, Michelle (who also holds a journalism teaching post at The University of Sheffield) gives must-hear advice about how to create a career for the future.

I hope you enjoy this conversation with a fantastic journalist who cares deeply about the people whose stories she helps to tell.