Social ventures sow seeds of success

Social ventures in Devon, which have been chosen to benefit from a share of £600,000 in funding and development support, have met for the first time at the official launch of the exciting South West social accelerator programme Seedbed.

Representatives from the 19 ventures selected to take part in the cutting-edge Seedbed project, came together at the SPACE Creative Centre at Dartington Hall, Totnes, to find out how they can capitalise on the initiative, which will provide development training and finance to take their ventures to the next level.

Programme leaders joined the social entrepreneurs at the launch, where they unveiled the content of the programme and how it will help each venture to grow, create sustainable jobs and contribute to the local economy and community.

They included Seedbed Programme Manager Dave Miller, Futures Director Professor Gideon Maas and Social Enterprise lead Judith Reynolds of Plymouth University, Seedbed Director Dirk Rohwedder and Social Justice Director Celia Atherton of Dartington Hall Trust and Managing Director John Peters and Fund Manager Chris Burt of SWIG Finance.

Social entrepreneurs were then given the opportunity to ask the experts questions, enjoy lunch and share their own experiences.

A sustainable energy business, surf school, arts programme,  media company, employment project, pre-school, nature project and waste reduction initiative are among the ventures that have been chosen from an impressive number of applicants to take part in the initiative.

Over the next nine months, they will work with a team of experts, coaches and facilitators to develop their ventures, while accessing the financial support they need to make it happen.

Among the successful Devon applicants is Bird Milk, in Totnes. It plans to use its Seedbed investment to develop a sustainable leisure business that finds innovative solutions for industrial waste products, while providing funds for disaster relief overseas.

The company rents out German-made humanitarian shelters for luxury accommodation at events such as music festivals. In turn, it will reinvest its profits to help improve the quality of life in displacement camps and find ways to remove and re-use waste from these camps.

Christiane Fullalove, of Bird Milk, said: “Although we’ve been running for around two years now, we are not entirely sure of the social enterprise aspect of the business.

“We’ve been successful so far but we really want to use the framework of Seedbed to build a sustainable business. We’ve been impressed so far and we’re very excited to start.”

Melody Mussell, of The Tanglewood Project, Crediton, said Seedbed offered the opportunity for the project to expand its work with young people, reconnecting them with nature and increasing their rural skills.

“At The Tanglewood Project, we’ve had some great success so far but we have found that in order to grow, we need more advice on the business aspect. That is where Seedbed comes in.

“We love nothing more than helping people to reconnect with nature through a number of activities and would love to expand our reach to help even more young people rediscover the joy that nature can bring.”

Seedbed is one of only ten government sponsored social incubator/accelerator programmes in the UK and the only project of its kind in the South West.

Each venture recruited has social and/or environmental objectives at its core, and will have access to a £8,500 support package as well as thousands of pounds in loaned finance to further these objectives.

Places on the programme are free due to joint investment by the Social Incubator Fund, which is being delivered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of the Cabinet Office, and project partners Dartington Hall Trust, Plymouth University and South West Investment Group.

The Accelerator runs over 25 days between now and December, during which time social entrepreneurs will learn how to successfully compete for tenders and contracts, service growing markets, promote their ventures and play a significant role in supply chains, through a series of workshops, master classes, coaching, business panels and web-based seminars.

This development support will be provided by the Dartington Hall Trust and Plymouth University, while the South West Investment Group will share its experience in financial management and social finance.

Dirk Rohwedder, Seedbed director and director of Dartington Hall Trust’s School for Social Entrepreneurs, said: “We have a fantastic and diverse range of ambitious social ventures starting out on their Seedbed journey. It’s an absolute privilege to work with these inspiring entrepreneurs on the Foundation phase of the Accelerator and we hope that many of them will go on in to the development and growth phases later this year. The Seedbed project is unique here in the South West and we are determined to emulate the success of similar ventures in London and the North.”

To find out more about Seedbed visit www.seedbedenterprise.co.uk