Kelly Klein – founder, Student@Home
Dear Kelly Klein,
My secret social enterprise-inspired Valentine? Well that would have to be Kelly Klein, the CEO and founder of student-staffed tech support company Student@Home. She first caught my eye when I learned of her background as a private banker – that’s two traditionally male-dominated sectors that’s she’s made her mark in.
The work she is pioneering at Student@Home is helping hundreds of homes and small businesses across London to get online, through partnerships with universities and housing associations across London (and soon beyond). This is inspiring to say the least.
Not only is she helping IT students to gain well-paid, flexible work and experience but small business and individuals are benefiting from a cost-efficient computer support service. Basically, if Kelly and her team can support my nan in getting set up online and make her feel part of a community then this has to be the woman of my dreams!
Mark Boden – deputy community leader, Emmaus
Dear Mark Boden,
I work for a charity called Emmaus. We help formerly homeless people by giving them a place to live and work in our social enterprisesacross the UK. One of the guys at our Cambridge community used to be a heroin addict, and by his own admission spent a lot of his life wasting time. Now he’s a deputy community leader. He led a project to teach people how to pack 40-foot containers full of goods to send to poor communities overseas. He is learning to drive, even though it scares the life out of him, and he heads up the Emmaus Cambridge five-a-side football team. He also came out with me recently when we had to pitch for a corporate partnership in a legal firm. If he was nervous, he didn’t show it. If talking about his past unsettled him, then he did a great job of hiding it. His candour and appreciation of Emmaus, and what our social enterprise charity had done for him, meant that we won the firm’s support.
Ivo Gormley – founder, GoodGym
Dear Ivo Gormley,
I’ve got a professional crush on GoodGym founder Ivo Gormley. I am lucky enough to work for an organisation that supports GoodGym, which is a social enterprise with a mission to get people to get fit by focusing on people and places rather than pounding an indoor treadmill.
Not only does GoodGym’s inherent message speak to my heart (and my much-to-be-desired post-baby body), but the reframing of exercise as a force for good sings to my mind. This social enterprise had me at “good”. And all before I had come across Ivo.
Ivo, to me, is the embodiment of the best of humankind. He’s smart, creative, engaging, empathetic, a leader and story teller, and humble. He paints a vision of a better place I want to be a part of. In a world where there is so much talk, Ivo and GoodGym does.
Just watch GoodGym’s short film The Runners and you too will be weak at the knees and warm in your heart.
Fin Irwin – co-founder, The Bike Shed Theatre
Dear Fin Irwin,
I’d like to nominate Fin Irwin. He’s a beacon of social enterprise here in Devon. Several years ago he inherited £10,000, and he used it to start a cafe and arts theatre for local people. The venture failed but he didn’t give up, he went on to co-found The Bike Shed Theatre which is a cafe-bar and theatre here in Exeter that supports local actors and scriptwriters and shows a great variety of plays, including stories with a social conscience.
Fin is a real inspiration of many of us in the southwest, but his work has never really been recognised formally. He doesn’t do what he does for recognition, but to make things better for the community – a community that he has helped to build through years of hard work.
Tom Tobia – co-founder, Makerversity
Dear Tom Tobia,
Tom is one of the founders of Makerversity. I have only met him once and then only for about 15 minutes but he impressed and inspired me mainly for two reasons. Firstly, because it is a brilliant idea that challenges the status quo of the educational establishments, the value of traditional routes to start-up, and even co-working (itself challenging the status quo) and because it is democratising in giving access and support to young people early in their start-up journeys. Secondly, and more personally, I found him inspiring because of his energy, passion, attitude – he didn’t sit around thinking and planning for months and years about what he would do if he could, or spend forever trying to get funding and support; he just took an opportunity and ran with it. He is open and honest (or seemed so!) about the risks, challenges, chances of success, and shows no arrogance about what is the best way to do things or why his way is better – he just wants to get on with it and do something different to give others a chance. As someone who works in and has founded two social enterprises myself, I see daily how easy it is, even in this apparently innovative, brave, different sector, to get stuck chasing funding, and getting bogged down in governance etc. Against this approach is refreshing and to be applauded, whether Makerversity ultimately succeeds or not. He reminded me why I went into social enterprise in the first place.
Happy Valentine’s Day from the Guardian Social Enterprise Team!
Originally posted February 14 The Guardian