Business Live: for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs

"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 not required.

Ruth and Eva have some brilliant advice for aspiring programmers in today's episode.

They discuss their experiences in  the Sumo Digital Academy, a talent development programme that "creates new pathways into the games industry," offering opportunities to graduates aged 18 or above looking to make their first career move, those skilled in different industries, and those seeking a career change.

Eva and Ruth are the first two people to graduate from the Academy's Game Programming Apprenticeship Programme. It gave them C++ training, practical application through project work, Unreal Engine training and then placement experience.

They discuss why they applied to the programme. Applicants must demonstrate "their learning potential as game programmers" – Ruth and Eva explain how they did so.

We cover the programme content, the products and projects they worked on, the mist challenging and most valuable parts of the apprenticeship programme too – and Eva and Ruth both give their top tips for anyone thinking of applying this year.

Also on the show today: a new retail opening in Sheffield, some events and some funding opportunities.

Timings and further details:

• 0 - 1:41 Introduction
• 1:41 Interview with Eva Kioseoglou and Ruth Dickens. Applications for the 2024-25 Game Programmer Apprenticeship Programme will open on 4th September 2023 (and will close on the 29th September). Details will be available via https://www.sumo-academy.com/game-programmer-apprenticeship
• During the interview we mentioned the Sumo Digital Academy's Diversity Internship Training Programme, which gives people from under-represented groups the opportunity to receive training and mentoring in game programming to see what it would be like as a career. Details: https://www.sumo-academy.com/diversity-internship-training-programme
• 20:58 A new opening in Sheffield city centre: Atelier Japan, the brainchild of Johnny Pawlik (who's been on the show a few times) brings traditional and hand-made arts and crafts to Sheffield. It sounds wonderful.
• 22:42 Events including an International Youth Day celebration in Sheffield today (11 August); Sheffield By The Seaside until 29 August; Jurassic Week at Graves Park Animal Farm. See the Welcome to Sheffield website.
• 23:27 Sheffield City Council has re-opened its books for the Electric Van Trial. 15 vans are available to book – register your interest here: https://forms.sheffield.gov.uk/form/auto/apply_electric_van_trial
• 24:01 Grants of £10,000 to £75,000 are available to  community organisations tackling the cost of living crisis. Find out more at https://locality.org.uk/news/community-organisations-cost-of-living-fund

Thanks for listening to the programme and to Sheffield Live! for broadcasting us on DAB and FM radio.

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 volunteer before progressing in many different roles across the organisation, so when Naomi became chief executive she  brought valuable insights and understanding as a leader..

And in this interview she gives candid, thoughtful and powerful tips about how to foster an "intentional" culture; accountability, transparency and communication.

Anyone running a social enterprise, purpose-led business or charity should listen to Naomi's advice.

She also covers changing ways of working, making the "impossible" possible and collaboration.

And we learn about the positive impact of a "people-centred" culture – with practical and implementable tips about how to galvanize this. "People feel included, engaged, enabled, able to express their wishes."

Plus there's even a remarkable story about the Rolling Stones.

What next?

•  Visit the Catch22 website: https://www.catch-22.org.uk
•  Rachel has written a chapter for the new book, Vitalising Purpose – The Power of the Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services,  published this week by E3M, which I have co-written.
•  A 'must-read for chief executives, heads of transformation, commissioners and procurement officers, and social entrepreneurs,' the book, which I have written is available in paperback and ebook formats here: https://e3m.org.uk/vitalising-purpose-book/
•  And from Amazon here ( https://amzn.eu/d/6f25KJB )

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 such as Bloomsbury, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. She is also a published non-fiction author and poet. Adrian has been a broadcaster and journalist with the BBC for twenty-five years, and is an audiobook narrator, filmmaker and a writer.

This episode is a super business case study in itself, giving an insight into how Rebecca and Adrian launched the business, choose which books to publish, what works best to promote their authors, and the ever evolving world of the publishing industry.

We talk plot, character, what makes for a riveting read – and I couldn't resist asking Adrian and Rebecca for their favourite ways in which their authors have knocked off characters.

It's chock-full of tips anyone can use in their businesses too, with practical advice about branding, building an email list, giving radio interviews, and writing your own business book. And Rebecca and Adrian discuss their own work as editor and audiobook narrator too.

Today's show also includes upcoming events for entrepreneurs and some new funding opportunities after the interview.

What next?

• Visit Hobeck Books: https://www.hobeck.net
• Adrian and Rebecca's Hobcast Book Show has been nominated as one of twenty of the best UK Mystery Podcasts. Listen here: https://www.hobeck.net/hobcast
• Rebecca worked with me and co-author Jonathan Bland on our new book, Vitalising Purpose – The Power of the Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services,  published this week by E3M. It's available in paperback and ebook formats here: https://e3m.org.uk/vitalising-purpose-book/ and from Amazon here ( https://amzn.eu/d/6f25KJB )
• Events mentioned on the show: Bagging Your First Investment, Wednesday, June 28, Electric Works, Sheffield: Details. And Fundraising for impact startups - Unrest, Friday, June 30, webinar. Details.
• Plus the Welcoming Cultures Celebration in Sheffield and Alternate Realities: Sheffield DocFest at Site.
• Funding; go to https://www.powertochange.org.uk/our-work/our-programmes/ and https://get-it-made.co.uk/grants/women-in-engineering for details of funding mentioned in the show.

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’ services which had formerly been run by public sector bodies.

It has become a regional rather than local provider – and much of this, says CEO Rachel Law, is through doing ‘the opposite of what we were used to doing as part of a local authority’.

Its organisational achievements are matched by its outcomes: PossAbilities CIC has used its own surpluses to build high-quality accommodation and to run numerous community initiatives and events, becoming a catalyst in the neighbourhoods it works.

Rachel gives us an honest description of how she and her team overcame barriers and challenges to ‘push the boundaries of what is possible’ as a social entrepreneur and former local authority officer leading a successful public service spin-out.

What next?

•  Visit the PossAbilities CIC website: https://www.possabilities.org.uk
•  Rachel has written a chapter for the new book, Vitalising Purpose – The Power of the Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services,  published this week by E3M, which I have co-written.
•  A 'must-read for chief executives, heads of transformation, commissioners and procurement officers, and social entrepreneurs,' the book, which I have written is available in paperback and ebook formats here: https://e3m.org.uk/vitalising-purpose-book/
•  And from Amazon here ( https://amzn.eu/d/6f25KJB )

Do we want to live in places full of thriving businesses and social enterprises, and where people don't get trapped by exploitative lenders and loan sharks? Sounds good to me.

Eleanor Russell is policy and programmes lead at Responsible Finance, which represents the UK's social purpose lenders (community development finance institutions, CDFIs). Their work has been covered extensively by media including the Guardian, Financial Times, BBC, Mail Online and elsewhere. 

I work with Responsible Finance and invited Eleanor on to discuss new figures about the social, economic and environmental impact unlocked by CDFIs, through increasing access to finance for people, businesses and social enterprises otherwise excluded from finance for a variety of reasons.

This £248m sector worked with nearly 95,000 customers in 2022 – a 22% leap on the year before – creating and supporting thousands of businesses and jobs, and helping households avoid millions in interest compared with higher-cost lenders. Eleanor gives us more details.

Also in this episode:

• Events:  Games Careers Week, from 19-25 June, which celebrates diverse pathways into a career in games for young people of all backgrounds; StartUp Meetup Sheffield on 30 May, and a "lunch with Claire Rimmer" event at Theatre Deli,  Arley Street, Sheffield, via the Social Enterprise Exchange programme. Claire is head of Operations at Sheffield-based creative arts organisation, CADS.
• Funding and support, including:
• Accelerating FemTech, an initiative aiming to support innovators to boost the development of technology solutions to address current challenges in women’s health. Learn more and apply here.
• The Power to Change Community Business Trade Up programme (open now, deadline 26 June, details here) and the Discovery Fund (which opens for applications on 1 June and closes on 21 July 2023, details here).
• UK SMEs can apply to Innovate UK's Future Economy investor partnerships, (deadline 5 July 2023,, guidance and details here).
• An interview originally broadcast in March with David Hanney, CEO of Alpkit, a business which has thrived after CDFI finance.

Timings:

• 0- 2:55 Introduction
• 2:55 New interview with Eleanor Russell
• 15:29 Interview with David Hanney, CEO, Alpkit (recorded in March 2023)
• 34:02 Events
• 37:03 Support and funding for SMEs and social and community businesses
• 40:42 Wrapping up

For a long time Claer Barrett vowed never to write a book about money. Now the award-winning financial journalist and broadcaster, who frequently answers the public's money questions on ITV's Lorraine, LBC radio and the Financial Times' Money Clinic podcast, has published 'What They Don't Teach You about Money.'

It's a brilliant read – like having a chat with a friendly expert who wants to help you avoid pitfalls without confusing or judging you; Claer is honest about her own financial mistakes, clear and helpful. 

 Barrett is the FT's consumer editor and a trustee of FT-backed charity, FLIC (Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign). She joins me in this episode to discuss why she's written the book, some of the biggest emotional reactions to money, what we can all do to build better financial habits, what business leaders and social entrepreneurs can do to support employees during the cost of living crisis, her passion for financial education and literacy, the phenomenon of 'FOBSAG' (fear of being seen as greedy) and lots more.

It's a comprehensive conversation and a call for more openness, better communication and less embarrassment and shame when it comes to discussing our finances.

Also in the show: events and funding opportunities for businesses and social enterprises.

Timings:

• 0 - 40:23 interview with Claer Barrett. Get Claer's book from Amazon here https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-They-Teach-About-Money/dp/152914633X and Penguin here and find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/claerb and Twitter at https://twitter.com/claerb
• 40:23 Events including Sheffield Business School's Intercultural Innovation Programme for SMEs, a two-day introduction to social enterprise workshop, and Business Sheffield events
• 44:11 Funding opportunities including Future Economy Investor Partnerships SME round one (
• 46:33 Wrapping up

This is episode 382 of Business Live, broadcast on FM and DAB radio and online on Sheffield Live! and available as a podcast. Thanks to Sheffield Live for putting us out on the airwaves and thank-you for listening.

We can do it if we really want to: Alpkit is a business success story which has doubled employee numbers since last appearing on this programme while dramatically reducing its absolute emissions and carbon intensity.

"It's really positive and something ALL businesses can do, from small to big" says CEO David Hanney.

The measures it is taking, Hanney adds, align with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendations and processes which would enable the global economy to achieve  the 1.5 degree limit on global warming – if everybody does them.

I last interviewed David in 2020 when he talked about how businesses must take responsibility for driving positive changes and Alpkit's environmental sustainability reporting. Since then the firm, which makes and sells outdoor equipment and bikes, has:

• halved its total greenhouse gas emissions eight years ahead of a 2030 deadline set by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)
• reduced carbon intensity by more than 36% in three years
• set a path with its decarbonisation to achieve true net zero in line with SBTi deadlines
• achieved B Corp Certification and grown from 100 to 200 employees

How has Alpkit done this, and what's next on its  journey to Net Zero? What can we all do to minimise our impact? Why should we use outdoor gear as long as possible? And how does Alpkit measure and verify its Full Value Chain Carbon Footprint?

The word "inspirational" can be cheapened by over-use. But this story really shows that businesses can develop, create jobs and opportunities and do so while achieving measurable and transparent milestones on the path to decarbonisation.

Also on the programme: data about B Corporations (B Corps) in the UK; details of funding and events for businesses and social enterprises. Timings:

• 0 - 2:40 introduction
• 2:40 Interview with David Hanney, CEO, Alpkit (more about Alpkit's work on sustainability https://alpkit.com/pages/sustainability )
• 21:14 Gripple and Mina have recently been certified as B Corporations (B Corps) and March is 'B Corp' month –information and data about B Corps in the UK
• 24:00 Events: Doing business in the USA; The Business and IP Centre South Yorkshire; Business Planning for Social Enterprise; other Social Enterprise Exchange events and workshops. 
• 27:09 The Economic Recovery Fund; Sheffield Clean Air Zone Funding. Plus Innovate UK.

This is episode 382 of Business Live, broadcast on FM and DAB radio and online on Sheffield Live! and available as a podcast. Thanks to Sheffield Live for putting us out on the airwaves and thank-you for listening.

Dr Kirsty Smitten has gone from PhD Student to founder and CEO of MetalloBio Ltd: "I was writing my thesis while forming a company." Her firm is developing new compounds to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and is a spin-out from the University of Sheffield, incorporated in 2021.

Already the cause of 1.2 million fatalities every year, antimicrobial resistant infections are predicted to cause 10 million by 2050, more than cancer.

In the first week of a PhD in Chemistry and Microbiology, Kirsty adapted compounds to be more readily taken-up by bacteria "and they worked." That's not a typical PhD, she adds, "it was a real shock and surprise." Kirsty describes the whirlwind progression from filing a patent in 2019, joining a market validation programme, establishing the need for the compounds, and then getting onto the Innovate UK ICURe programme – "I don't think we'd have a company if we hadn't got onto that."

She gives valuable tips about getting onto incubation and acceleration programmes, securing support from Innovate UK, raising funding and demonstrating impact. Kirsty's comments aren't only relevant to biotech firms and spin-outs: they will be useful to listeners across many sectors.

MetalloBio is developing its two lead antimicrobial compounds for two areas: to be used in drugs and treatments to combat multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria; and to be used in medical devices, and material coatings and additives.

The firm has received multiple awards and accolades: Kirsty was listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare Europe, and named "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" by The FSB Yorkshire and the Humber. But winning The Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Technologies Competition 2022 - Health is probably her favourite, and she tells us why.

She also covers:

• How she secured nearly £2 million in non-diluted funding,
• MetalloBio's routes to market, its new raise, and its revenue potential,
• The need for appropriate laboratory space in Sheffield,
• Why she used to dread pitching but now loves it – with a top tip,
• Why universities should introduce modules on commercialisation and entrepreneurship for their PhD students.

"I always thought I wanted to be an academic but now I wouldn't do anything else – I love my job," says Kirsty, and finishes with more valuable advice.

What next?

• MetalloBio Ltd website https://www.metallobio.com
• Thanks for listening and to SheffieldLIve! for broadcasting the show.

It's three years since Louis Speight, a former men’s European record holder, was last on the programme.

His social enterprise Omnis Circumvado CIC is a specialist sports coaching company which works with children, young people and adults who have complex needs. "We are games-based" says Louis, and "our approach is to make sure everybody is having fun and they engage."

Omnis runs inclusive activities in SEN (Special Educational Needs) schools and with people in day centres. How did this social enterprise make it through the pandemic? And what are the biggest challenges in 2023?

• What are the widely-held misperceptions of disability sport and how is Louis addressing these?
• Is it right or wrong to think its activities can be paid for by people who use them?
• What does Louis think about typical contract lengths for social enterprises? What does he have to say about social investment?
• And what does he mean by "jumpers for goalposts"?

It's a comprehensive conversation with many learning points about resilience, funding, social investment, storytelling and commissioning.

What next?

• Visit the Omnis Circumvado CiC website here: https://www.omniscic.co.uk
• Listen to my last conversation with Louis Speight: from zero-hours frustration to super social entrepreneurship for record-breaking athlete, here.

Thanks for listening and to SheffieldLIve! for broadcasting the show.

In today's show: cost of living support and new funding opportunities for businesses and social enterprises. And it's the 'season of goodwill' – can't we have goodwill all year round? – but a time when many love to give presents.

It's a horrifyingly difficult and challenging time for many. But it's also a crucial time for small businesses and social enterprises. If you are on the hunt for presents, I've rounded up a few ideas, many from businesses previously featured on this show.

I wanted to highlight thoughtful, high quality, great value gifts, which could bring joy to recipients and ideally make a positive impact in the world. This Positive Gift Guide has plenty of ideas starting from well below £5.

Timings and links:

• 0 - 3:20 Introduction
• 3:20 Positive Gift Guide featuring Vertebrate Publishing (recent interview), And Other Stories (interview here), Iain Broome's A for Angelica, Maria Popova's Figuring, Bullion Chocolate, Harry Specters Chocolate, Positive News magazine, Sheffield Tribune,  The Foundry, The Climbing Works,  Alpkit (listen to this interview with CEO David Hanney),  Rapanui Clothing, Naked Ape, Gifted Sheffield, Record Collector (check out this interview with Mark), Printed By Us (check out this interview), The Treehouse Board Game Cafe, (check out this interview with Ruth) and Independent Sheffield.
• 13:50 The rising cost of living is challenging for businesses and Sheffield City Council has published new, free resource guides, and is offering free, one-to-one support. Details.
• 15:54 Funding: The DCMS Create Growth Fund, grants for feasibility studies that develop new approaches to improve resource efficiency, and the UKRI circular fashion programme: recycling and sorting demonstrator. Details here. These are all via Innovate UK, check out last week's show for some tips on applying.

Thanks for listening and to SheffieldLIve! for broadcasting the show.